Every year we write a letter to Santa with our children. Granted, little man has a pretty flexible wish list, and it centers mostly around my cell phone and the television remote, but his big sisters are starting to get fairly detailed with their requests. This year, my middle child is totally in love with Paw Patrol, which is her favorite cartoon, and Skye, the helicopter flying cocker spaniel/poodle mix is her absolute favorite character. So this is the toy that has topped baby girl’s letter to Santa this year, and as Santa’s secret helper, I had every intention of making sure it was under the tree come Christmas morning.  

 

Being an internet shopper, I checked my usual online stores…Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Toys’R’Us, Meijer. They all carried Skye, but apparently my baby girl wasn’t the only child in love with this little doggy. They are ALL out of stock. So I logged into my trusty mainstay, Amazon, and started searching. Were there Skye toys available? Yes. Were they horribly overpriced? YES. This little pooch was priced at $13 in the stores, but on Amazon, the cheapest I could find was $35 plus shipping. Now, hold on a minute, I thought to myself. I’ve signed up to be alerted when these toys are available again at normal prices. I’ll just wait! And then I sat back and watched that price climb higher and higher on Amazon.  

It’s funny that I’ve never experienced this before as a parent. My oldest child loves presents as much as her siblings, but I guess we’ve just been lucky so far.  This is the first year I’ve been faced with finding the “hot” toy of the season. Since my husband and I have started using a Christmas Club account from Afena Federal Credit Union to plan ahead for the holidays, I have a fairly strict budget for holiday spending. A $50 plastic pooch and helicopter the size of my palm aren’t exactly on the list. But as I sat there watching that price climb higher and higher, and I kept looking at the letter to Santa, I found myself adding that toy to my cart and checking out. Skye will be under our tree on Christmas morning.  

I love budgeting. Looking at my family’s needs and goals and building a plan that will help us reach those goals is exciting.  And cashing out our Christmas Club account at Afena for a holiday shopping spree probably tops my list of fun things to do every year. One of the most important rules in creating a budget is to allow for some flexibility, and that means having an emergency fund, but also being realistic in your expectations and leave a little room for the extras. This year, my little extra is a spunky helicopter flying dog named Skye. I’m Claire, the Afena blog mom. Thanks for reading.