Over in the pit they are talking about the various sales reports for Christmas spending.
So let us have an unscientific poll about spending on Christmas this year.
Did you spend more or less this year then last year? Or roughly the same?
I spent less. Much less.
The same, with about a $20 total margin of error across the ~20 people we buy gifts for.
Less. To be fair though last year was unusual for me spending wise, mostly because of the $750 or so I spent on a laptop for my sister. (Plus extra spending on others who didn’t get something as big as a laptop) I spent more this year than I did in years before 2006.
I spent ~$250 more, but I was also buying for an additional person this year (boyfriend) (no, the entire $250 didn’t go to him :)).
I think I ended up spending less than usual but not by much. I wanted to do $50/person instead of $100/person but everything added up to about $75/person.
I’ve only got 4 people to buy for, so it’s no big deal to spend that much. And I got really great gifts 
Less, and intentionally so. I made most of my gifts, and my husband had to tighten his budget, as well.
I thought I kept a pretty tight rein on it, but I wrote everything down and added it up. It was the first time I’ve done that, and I wasn’t happy with the number I wound up with! I think it’s because the kids each requested something rather expensive, and I probably could have made them happy with less. I’ll try next year.
Less. I only bought for my parents and siblings this year instead of my whole family and a couple friends.
More. Because I’m doing very well this year, I got our family a wide-screen LCD TV, and still presents (which they didn’t expect.)
It upped my average by quite a bit.
More.
I’m finally making money and I wanted to spoil my family, and my boyfriend, a little bit.
Much, much less. We’re all boycotting (unintentionally or otherwise) Christmas consumerism this year.
Less. Ivylad and I are on a plan to get debt-free and didn’t have hardly a Christmas at all.
Next year, though…we’ll start saving in January and woo-boy, look out!
Probably a little bit more. I bought very generous presents this year, but for fewer people than last year.
More! I have two new nieces this year, and there’s no prohibition (yet) on gifts for them. (For the rest of the family, we draw names and only buy one present, for $50 or less.) So I had my regular Christmas shopping, plus bought them some presents, and then because both of their birthdays are close to Christmas I had to buy even more presents for their birthdays.
Plus I bought myself some new stuff. Including bookcases! I’ve now gone from having books crammed into a couple of small bookcases into having whole shelves empty! It’s making me itch to go buy more books…
Much less, because we’ve stopped using credit cards. We probably spent $1500 or more last year. This year it was less than $500.
I spent less than last year, but that’s because I am making less. If I had it, I would spend it, I love to buy gifts for my friends and family!
Much much less.
Last year I probably spent a few hundred dollars.
This year I spent twenty bucks. And I have two children!
More, which I ended up regretting since I got hammered with a huge unexpected series of vet bills.
Still, the presents were all exclaimed over and useful. It’s all good.
Significantly less than last year. We’ve all just decided to cut down on the “buying for the sake of buying” mentality. Everyone already has too much junk as it is.
More but for the first time ever, I bought presents as I saw them over the year. So I only had a couple of small gifts to buy in December and didn’t help the retail figures any.