At my house, the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been consumed, the dishes washed, and the decorations have been turned over to Christmas.  It is a festive time when we host friends and family more often than the rest of the year and a challenging time to stay in budget – financial and caloric.

The challenge for me is in the outdoor decorations.  By nature, I am a competitive guy.  I see the YouTube videos of the homes with thousands of lights dancing to music.  The neighbors down the street have enough lights to read legal documents comfortably.   I heard the guy on the next street over just got an extra electric box put in to handle his lights.  There’s even a few neighborhoods that police handle directing traffic at night.

I want outdoor decorations.  Lots of them, in all sorts of colors.   I like positive attention.  News reporters broadcasting from my front lawn because I have the best decorated house in the city is appealing.

But I won’t.

Christmas decorations are fun.  But they are not worth it.

I can buy enough lights to warm up the neighborhood.  But I cannot afford them.  I would have to buy that many lights on credit – which is simply not an option.  Just looking at prices for the LED light sets, which are more expensive but more energy efficient, I seethe price ranges from $.15 per light to $1 per light.  To get 10,000 lights to put up, it wouldcost at least $1,500, not counting extension cords, junction boxes, and controllers.
The scary part is that is small for a mega-display.

The other part of the cost that I do not want to pay, is the electric bill.  For example, look at LauderdaleChristmas.com.  The switched to energy efficient LED lighting, and their bill was still $384!  I’ve heard of others whose electric bill for December runs into the thousands of dollars.

So, I’ll stick with my existing 10 strands of lights, on a timer, and just spend some money on gas to drive around and look at the displays that other people have put together.  And count the savings all the way to the bank.

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