The holiday season typically brings plenty of cheer, but it can also bring with it a heavy dose of financial stress.<\/p>\n
Just ask Dale from Missouri, who recently called into The Ramsey Show with a holiday headache (1). His wife loves Christmas traditions, but many of them involve gift giving, which results in them spending between $6,000 and $7,000 a year.<\/p>\n
Dale is wondering if the \u201ctradition\u201d has gone too far.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how Dave Ramsey says he can inject \u201ca little touch of common sense\u201d into their holiday tradition.<\/p>\n
Many Americans have grown up cherishing Christmas as a time for family and giving. But what is the cost for all of the tradition and glowing memories?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how Dale sees his situation. While his wife loves the tradition, he feels stressed by the spending.<\/p>\n
Along with buying regular gifts for each member of his wife\u2019s family, Dale says they have a yearly tradition of buying children\u2019s books and stocking stuffers for everyone, which costs about $3,000. He believes the books are a \u201cwaste\u201d since they look at them briefly and then put them aside.<\/p>\n
Dale says his household income is around $200,000. Ramsey calculated that the book-stocking tradition takes up about 1.5% of Dale and his wife\u2019s income, so the issue is more about clear communication, as well as knowing their finances well enough not to feel the pinch around Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis thing has continued to go on, and frankly, some of it doesn’t even make sense,\u201d Ramsey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, at least, you need to understand from her why this is $3,000 worth of important.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a classic financial clash: the heart versus the numbers.<\/p>\n
And Dale isn\u2019t alone because, across the country people are spending and feeling the pinch around the holidays:<\/p>\n
Core retail sales rose 4% in the 2024 holiday season to a record $994.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation (2), with average spend for 2025 predicted to be the second-highest on record, at $890.49, compared to $901.99 last year (3).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
36% of Americans took on debt during last year\u2019s holiday season, with the average balance being $1,181, according to LendingTree (4).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
20% of U.S. adults reported they thought it would be May 2025 or later before they\u2019d recover from holiday spending in 2024, and a whopping 73% said that financial stress steals the joy from the season, according to a survey by Achieve (5).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Story Continues <\/p>\n
\u201cSpeaking of Santa, he says to make a list and check it twice,\u201d Ramsey said. Meaning that Dale should be making a Christmas budget, putting a dollar amount beside each person\u2019s name, totaling it up and setting the money aside, now.<\/p>\n
Read more: Are you richer than you think? Here are 5 clear signs you\u2019re punching way above the average American\u2019s wealth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n From \u201cbuy now, pay later\u201d offers to sky-high credit card interest, consumers are finding it too easy to overextend themselves in December.<\/p>\n That generosity hangover can last and erode savings, delay home projects and even push retirement contributions off the calendar.<\/p>\n In Dale\u2019s case, his wife\u2019s heart is in the right place, but the spending scale is starting to feel unsustainable. Here\u2019s how he and anyone in a similar situation can approach it:<\/p>\n Ramsey told Dale it\u2019s important to \u201ctalk it through\u201d and agree upon a budget<\/a> as a couple, and then stick to that budget, something Dale admitted he and his wife are not good at.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re choosing to pick on the one thing you can pick on, while the whole thing is out of control,\u201d Ramsey said.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get the whole thing in control. We can use this as a jumping off point for the discussion [about] that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dale should start the conversation about setting a holiday budget with kindness, letting his wife know that he loves her giving nature and how much joy she brings to others, but he\u2019s also worried about the financial strain and how it impacts them as a couple. He can keep the conversation focused on shared values instead of bringing blame.<\/p>\n If trimming back feels like a loss, maybe it\u2019s time to rethink the traditions. It could be time to ask, \u201cWho still really expects gifts?\u201d Maybe adult kids get one shared family present instead of individual ones. Keep the heart, ditch the excess.<\/p>\n Or, it could be a great time for a new tradition, like choosing names and only buying for one person, as Ramsey said he\u2019s done with his own family to \u201cjust calm things down.\u201d Each individual receives a more thoughtful gift and the wallet can breathe a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n Come January, check in: Did the joy outweigh the stress? Did the budget hold up? Learning from one season can help you to set healthier traditions and expectations for the next season.<\/p>\n When both partners are part of the decision, the budget becomes a shared project, not a battleground. The secret is balance, to keep the spirit of giving alive without letting debt steal the joy from the season.<\/p>\n Traditions can be a wonderful way to create lifelong memories, but if they\u2019re forcing you to spend beyond your means and leaving you with January debt and regret, it\u2019s time for a reset.<\/p>\n Join 200,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Ramsey Show (1<\/a>); National Retail Federation (2<\/a>), (3<\/a>); LendingTree (4<\/a>); Achieve (5<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: Missouri man\u2019s wife insists on spending thousands on gifts every Christmas. How Dave Ramsey says to \u2018calm things down\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The holiday season typically brings plenty of cheer, but it can also bring with it a heavy dose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,16838,91041,1400,18,5384,97124,97125,19,17,9791,234,235,37501],"class_list":{"0":"post-169620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-christmas-traditions","11":"tag-dave-ramsey","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-financial-stress","14":"tag-holiday-season","15":"tag-holiday-tradition","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jeff-bezos","19":"tag-personal-finance","20":"tag-personalfinance","21":"tag-robert-kiyosaki"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115513790498346125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}