Many families do one of the “traditions” every Christmas play Elf on the Shelf with their children. The “game” consists of buying a book, which has an Elf included with it. The parents put the Elf on the Shelf in different places, and the children must find him (her?).
This Elf on the Shelf goes back to the North Pole every night and reports to Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice (think of it as Santa’s version of the NSA). To me, this is a pretty darn creepy-looking elf, and I am not sure what it is teaching our kids, but if you read the Wikipedia entry for the game, you might get a hint.
Suppose we had a Financial Elf on the Shelf™ might that helps us control our Festive Christmas Spending? Better still, how about this idea, knowing how our friend Gail Vaz-Oxlade hates over-spending, how about a Financial Gail on the Shelf™?
If every time you came back from shopping, a small Gail Vaz-Oxlade was waiting for you, that said, “What did you buy this time? Could you afford that?”, and every night she went back and reported to “Santa” on whether you were good financially or not? (and if you were naughty, Santa cut up your credit cards).
Better still, the Gail on the Shelf can also go into your wallet and replace your credit cards with cards that say, “You Cannot Afford this!” and a picture of Gail wagging her finger?
I could make a pretty penny selling this (of course, I’d have to give Gail royalties as well). Have I missed the point on this odd new Christmas “tradition”?
The poor woman would be bored in my wallet… The last time I used my credit card was for an online purchase for a Payroll Compliance Legislation college course I started in Sept. As I am not in Ontario, (where the Payroll Association is,) I have to do it online. I get to do the same this month for the next course that starts in January. Wrote my exam yesterday and confirmed that I have passed the course. YAY!!!
I have been putting money aside for the costs of this course since Sept. knowing it was coming, just like I put money aside for my annual car and house insurance and other things. So when the bill arrives, there is no panic about where to get the money to pay for it. So, poor Gail, I would have to find her a nice picture of some hunky guy to be in my wallet with her for her to not get lonely! Maybe she could teach him about credit card use!