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Saving Money At Christmas

by Jessica Amey

I wrote a post last year about why we were having a second-hand Christmas.

saving money at xmas

I just don’t understand the concept of spending too much money at Christmas and having to start the new year in a huge amount of debt.

I do think it’s possible to still enjoy Christmas and even give gifts without spending a fortune though.

Here are some tips and ideas to save money at Christmas.

Make little gifts instead of buying them. Admittedly it takes a little bit more time but at least you can do it in your own home while listening to music and having a festive drink. Much more enjoyable than hitting the heaving shops in the freezing cold weather.

There is a whole range of things you can make too. Homemade alcohol is a great gift for adults, my  friend is making homemade limoncello to give to her family. Pinterest is full of ideas and I’ve just found this spiced pear vodka, creamy Nutella liqueur and you can even make your own Bailey’s, yum!

I’m planning to make some chocolate truffles, I did this a few years ago and it’s really easy and fun. Plus you can flavour them in any way you like. I’m also going to make some dairy free ones for Mr C who’s allergic.

If you have children then you can get them to do the hard work and create presents, this works especially well for grandparents who love receiving things that have been made by their grandchildren. Salt dough decorations are a great option and if you take care of them can last forever. We made these ones last year, it’s a really easy and fun activity too.

If you really don’t want to make something and don’t have any money to spend either then offering your services can be just as good as a gift, if not better! If you’re good at cooking then why not offer to cook someone a meal? If you know someone with kids then give a IOU babysitting voucher. Offer something that you are skilled at but the other person isn’t. Obviously you wouldn’t want to do this for everyone as it could mean quite a lot of work but for close friends and family it’s a good way of giving without spending.

Buy second-hand. I love finding bargains in charity shops and on eBay. Local Facebook buy and sell groups are fab too, kids don’t know whether something is brand new or not, obviously it doesn’t work for everything depending on what they are into but for books / play sets etc it’s great. Also anything washable like clothes / cuddly toys as they appear as good as new after a good clean.

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Be organised. This is something I am not and will never be but I know some mega organised people do their Christmas shopping in the January sales, or at least spread it out throughout the year so it’s not such a big blow to the bank account come December.

I also know someone else who saves up her Tesco clubcard points all year then uses them to buy all her kid’s toys at Christmas.

And lastly shopping around can be a really great way to find the product you want at the cheapest price. I live near a Sainsbury’s and they quite frequently run 25% off clothing deals, as a result I don’t like buying anything when the offer isn’t on. It’s always worth comparing prices of something you want to buy as it will always be on offer somewhere!

The cost of living is so expensive these days and everyone is saving for something. First time buyers need such a huge deposit these days and trying to save for it requires a lot of careful budgeting. Then comes the job of trying to find a mortgage, this calculator is a great tool that allows you to compare two scenarios based on mortgage amount, annual interest rate and mortgage term.

How do you save money at Christmas?

Post in association with TSB.

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