Paying For Experiences Instead of Items
This year for Christmas, I asked for a gift from my spouse that was different than any gift I’d really asked for before. I asked to be able to go to a scrapbooking weekend where I could work on my daughter’s first year album and another album of a vacation we took with our son to the west coast before my daughter was born (another of my spouse’s work conference vacations). I already own all the scrapbooking albums and supplies, and all the pictures from the trip are already printed. The only thing I needed to buy were prints for my daughter’s album (which I used a free coupon through MyPoints and got printed for shipping costs only, about $3) and pay the fee for the weekend ($20). The big part I was asking for as my gift was the gift of time and experience.
I enjoy scrapbooking. I enjoy the product that scrapbooking produces, but I also enjoy the sheer doing of it - the taking of pictures and paper and stickers and other items and turning it into a beautiful page all about a trip or a person or an idea. I love the weaving in of souvenirs and other related items and letting your pictures tell a story. The process is relaxing and exciting for me at the same time. The experience for me is worth as much as the finished product, if not more.
And that is a big shift my thinking has taken over the course of this debt reduction journey - understanding that sometimes, it is worth spending money, and knowing when that time is. That most of the time, it isn’t the possessions we acquire, but the experiences we have that are worth the most. That scrapbooking weekend is tonight and tomorrow, and I intend to enjoy every minute of it. Lucky for me it is non-refundable and already paid for, since my more practical side might have yanked the $20 weekend fee and thrown it at the car repair if I could have. Instead, I shall scrapbook for 12 hours and enjoy every minute of it. And maybe even win a door prize. 
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January 18th, 2008 at 7:47 am
I’ve been doing something similar lately. I’ve been editing our family pictures from our last vacation. Been doing a few pictures a night. When it’s done I’ll have all of them printed. It’s fun going through everything we did on the trip as well as creating lasting memories with the photos.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:56 am
My mom recently pulled out an old scrapbook that she had made of me and my brother when we were kids. I hadn’t seen it in about 3 years.
I can’t tell you how funny it is to look at those photos and go over them with your family, talk about the memories behind them.
My parents will often expand on what was going on in their lives at the time, and I often learn something about them I didn’t know.
Those kind of scrapbooks bring the family together and are well worth the time. My mom is always telling me to take photos and document things, because someday you’ll be happy you did.
Someday when I have kids I hope to scrapbook and do the same thing my parents did for me and you’re doing for your kids.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:36 am
What a nice gift! I have never heard of anything like this - is it a group of folks getting together like a seminar? Recently Mr. Accountability’s job (he works for a recycling company) got in three 40′ long trailers of brand new (the only “problem” - the materials were last year’s model!) scrapbooking materials for *recycling*!! Which as you can imagine, sparked my interest in the hobby!
Now I have two boxes of papers, albums, a computer program and two books with ideas, but haven’t had a chance yet to try it. Mr. A and I were remarried last October (after a 15 year hiatus ;-)) so I hope to scrapbook some memorabilia from our wedding.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Your columns are always an inspiration for me! I have been lamenting the cost of a recent trip to see family and friends. It was a costly trip with plane fare, kennel boarding for doggie, rental car and airport parking, plus spending money during the trip. But, I rationalize it as an experience that is more valuable than a material possession and something you can’t put a price on.
Enjoy your weekend. Your scrapbooks will be lovely!
January 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I also love to scrapbook. Our kids who are grown now love to look at “their” books and our vacation ones when they come home. They usually drag them out every time! I find that scrapbooking is even more fun when done with friends. Have fun!
January 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I totally agree that experiences are great! I just don’t get why people love to scrapbook! My friends all love it…they even have scrapbooking rooms in their houses. I like the final product, but the process is such a pain in the butt!
January 18th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I couldn’t agree more. For me, as a knitter and crocheter, I’ve fallen into the trap of loving to buy more yarn - before I’ve even used what I have, and without a project in mind!
But as fun as stash acquisition can be (especially when using multiple coupons) it doesn’t even come close to comparing what it’s like to work on and complete a sweater, an afghan, or a pair of socks!
It’s a little different than your experience, I know, but it was the correlation I made to my own life. It wasn’t as great to get the material possessions as it was to have accomplished something - and perhaps learned a new skill!
January 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
My Step-mother (a quilter) has this great little paperweight:
The one who dies with the most fabric wins.
Of course, really, if there was a contest, the one with most quilts would definitely have to be the winner
Nice post, BTW. I live in a family tree where nobody really “wants” for anything, so giving the gift of time (a night at the movies, a sit down wine & cheese, a weekend gathering) seem to be the best gifts that I can find anymore. I’m happy you’ve found some “time” to appreciate.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Nice post. Also, the cool thing is that experiences often are free. I have found that taking the kids to the park is more fun than an expensive outing to the movies. Time spent is priceless.
January 26th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Scrapbooking is one of my hobbies, too!
It can get pricey if you buy lots of doo-dads and paper by the sheet, but there are ways around that (such buying paper in bulk and / or on clearance sales).
Besides: If you keep in mind that the REASON to scrapbook is to preserve the photos and memories so that you can enjoy them years to come, it’s a lot easier to decide when to use the expensive products to make a page look pretty and when you just need to put a photo on archival paper and move on.