One of the ways we attempt to keep marketing material away from the children is to minimize their tv time and their exposure to commercials. We have a rule in our house, “when the commercials come on, the tv goes off”. They are trained to shut the tv off for a few minutes while the commercials play and then turn it back on when the show they are watching resumes. We are usually close by to enforce this rule. The kids have limits on the shows they are allowed to watch as well as the length of time per day.

Another way we minimize their exposure to advertising is by throwing out all the toy catalogs and magazines that are sent their way. American Girl is one of the worst offenders. We have never purchased anything from them, but somehow they got our daughter’s name. They faithfully send her their latest catalog so she can see all the dolls she simply must have, at a cost of $100 or more per doll. Yikes! Now we sort through our mail before bringing it into the house, and toss any catalogs or sales flyers directed at the kids.

For myself, I don’t browse catalogs or stores where I know I will be tempted with impulse purchases. I have come to recognize that simply removing these things from my line of vision helps me to see more clearly our goal of saving money and living within our means. When I am feeling particularly emotional, I avoid advertising like the plague. No TV, magazines, online shopping, etc.

Now we don’t tune out all advertising. That would be impossible to do. However, we find that by keeping it to low levels, everyone in the family is not focused on the next “thing they have to have”.

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With our children we have emphasized the true meaning of Christmas and tried to downplay the commercialism.  We let each child make a list of 3 items they would like.  (We figure if 3 presents were good enough for Baby Jesus, then 3 presents are good enough for our kids).  We do tell them if they put something extremely expensive on the list, the chances are they are not going to receive it.  When they come up with more than 3 items, then we help them to form a prioritized list, i.e. “If you could have item A but not item B, which would you choose?”  Usually it becomes pretty apparent very quickly which items they really want.  

We emphasize the family traditions during the holidays which include nightly drives to look at Christmas lights, our Church Christmas party, lighting the advent candles, and adopting a family for Christmas gift giving. 

We opted out of the family gift exchange a few years ago for several reasons.  First, it was costing too much money and was really a stressor on time to come up with gifts for the names we had drawn.  Second, the kids were getting too much stuff and the emphasis was leaning to how much stuff they got.  Of course, family members were initially hurt, but over time they have come to realize that we still love them even if we do not participate in the family gift exchange.  Grandma and Grandpa still give the kids gifts, but it is usually in the form of clothes (which they need anyway) or gift cards. 

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When choosing an MP3 player pick the one that best fits you. The IPOD is a good MP3 player but do you really need to store 20,000 songs? The three main companies that make MP3 players are Apple (IPOD, Nano & Shuffle), Creative Labs (Zen & MuVo) & Sandisk (Sansa e200 series, c200 series & c100 series). There are many more (Samsung, Sony and others) but the first three are the three I see most people have or at the stores.

I like the Sandisk because you get more for your money. It also comes with a FM tuner. The Apple products are good but are over priced and you have to pay extra for some items. The Apple does have many more accessories and those cost extra. Shop around at all the main electronic stores (Best Buy, Circuit City etc.); look at Target, Walmart and all of the office supply stores (Office Depot, Office Max, Staples etc.).

The three main items to look for when buying your MP3 player is the cost, the power source and the memory. The memory is important because if you buy to little you will not have room to put all of your music on it. Then you will have to put some on and take some off when you want to listen to that new song or CD. When I purchased my MP3 player, I thought that the memory amount I selected would be enough. It was not. I always try to save money but when it comes to memory get the next size.

Get an MP3 player with a power source inside the unit that can be recharged and you can listen why it is charging. I found this out the hard way as well. I thought that 15 hours with one AA battery would be enough. It is not. It gives 15 hours for a new battery maybe. I would not recommend MP3 players that run on an AA battery.

The cost is important because it is your money. You want to get the best product for the best price. Shop around a lot and look for the deals. When you find the MP3 player that best fits your needs do not buy it right away. The prices have been coming down. Microsoft is supposed to be launching its own version of an MP3 player. This will drive more competition and hopefully bring better prices.

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