A Few Tips For Saving Money This Christmas

I can’t believe we are saying this but it really is just around the corner. We have just put up all our decorations and I must say they look absolutely amazing – I love them even more than I did last year. I have already booked my online food delivery and My Three have written their final lists of the gifts they’d like to receive. It really is beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas in our house.

Money is a little tighter for us this year due to many factors but this has made us take stock and make sure that we only spend what we really need instead of just buying for the sake of it. This year we are only buying for the children in the family and my brother in laws family as they are hosting Christmas dinner this year. Some of the things we plan to do this year to ensure we have another stress and debt-free Christmas include:

Using online discounts

I personally find it easier to shop online – I don’t drive and Matthew works odd hours so trying to organise Christmas shopping trips can sometimes be a pain. If you’re like me and do the majority of your shopping online you might find that it’s not only easier but that you save money in doing so too. You can easily find the items you are looking for without having to traipse around the shops and you can most likely find them for a cheaper price especially if you are actively looking for a discount, a site such as DontPayFull is a great place to start when you are shopping online. So it not only saves you money but it saves you time too.

Shopping around

If you are planning a shopping trip it pays to shop around. You can have a quick look online to see what prices items are in the shops especially if you are planning to visit a specific place for a specific gift, for example, a computer game might have £10 off in one shop but be £5 more expensive in another. Even if you have to go a little out of your way it could save you a lot of money especially if you can buy other gifts whilst you are there too.

Make homemade gifts

You don’t have to spend a fortune to show someone that you care. Homemade gifts are more thoughtful and in my opinion sometimes better than receiving a shop bought gift. If you enjoy baking you could make a cake or some cupcakes, sweets or biscuits. If you make your own beer and wine you could also give some of that away as a gift too. My mum and mother in law both love to knit and the boys often receive homemade jumpers for their presents.

Buy used items

eBay, Preloved and even Amazon are great places to look for secondhand items for sale. Secondhand doesn’t always mean low quality. You could also look at local selling pages on Facebook so that you can actually go and see an item before you buy it.

Stick to a budget

This is probably one of the most important things you can do when it comes to planning anything. If you don’t have a lot of money, be honest to both yourself, your partner and others – work out what you can realistically afford to spend without getting into debt. There is so much pressure these days but honestly what is more important? being in control of your finances and not in debt or buying way out of your means and being stressed about how you will afford it. If you can only afford to buy for your children then so be it you don’t need to buy more than you can afford.

Secret Santa

If you have a large family and/or friends group who you always buy presents for why not suggest a secret Santa within the group. That way you can all decide on an affordable budget and only buy one present rather than buying lots of presents. This will save everyone both time and money in the long run. You can even use Elfster to take away the hassle of matching everyone up.

What do you do to keep the cost of Christmas down?