Christmas debt - will you go deeper into debt?

mintymoneysaver

May be a bit too late for this Christmas, but I have taken part in internet surveys and used the vouchers from those to buy presents.I have had £15 WHSmith vouchers from valued opinions and nectar points from myTNS.i'VE ALSO JOINED YOUGOV BUT THEY ONLY SEND A CHEQUE WHEN YOU REACH £50 so maybe I'll have that in time for next Christmas!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

My view is that christmas is for the children.

So where possible if adults can agree to only buy presents for the children that helps.

e.g I will get a christmas present for my nephew but his mum & dad(my brother) will get just a christmas card.

A lot of people are cool with that and as me and the wife don't have any children at the moment it works out particuarly well for others who follow our philosophy ie they are not under any pressure to get us something.

The other thing the wife does is save up all the sainsburys nectar points over the years shopping and then at christmas use these vouchers that / points to do a big shopping run ie some additional luxuries / presents etc

The key is live with in your means and don't feel pressure to over spend at christmas otherwise you will have a not very nice financial hangover in 2006 !!!

LumpyCustard_2

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote:

My view is that christmas is for the children.

So where possible if adults can agree to only buy presents for the children that helps.

e.g I will get a christmas present for my nephew but his mum & dad(my brother) will get just a christmas card.

Yes, my family have just agreed to do that for the first time this year. It will save a bit of money, although we've decided to put some towards a meal out instead, but the big thing is that helps me not having to think of four presents for my brother, sister and spouses, and just focus on niece and nephew (babies) instead!

Being single I suppose I don't spend that much on Christmas anyway (a few cards and presents, no decorations or food except the odd bottle of Baileys or a tub of cashew nuts), but the biggest saver tip I have is to think of things throughout the year for presents and buy them. If it doesn't save much money, it saves the last minute stress of dashing around the shops in December.

Robert_Sterling_3

Every year we would take our three children to their grandparents for Christmas ... 300 miles away up North.

One year we could not go because of a petrol shortage.

Their presents were sent down to them in a large cardboard box.

The present went down well as usual.

But favourite was the Cardboard Box.

They took turns siting in it almost all day long.

frosty

I always buy lots of gifts in the sales,I buy them as and when I see them through the year,they are used for birthdays and christmas,this has saved me a lot of money over the years,I also have friends who do this aswell and we phone each other up if either of us have nothing suitable for someones birthday or christmas gift then we have a swap,I always buy christmas crackers,wrapping paper,christmas cards ect in January when they are cheap,in january the crackers were 4.99 down to 99p,wrapping paper 9p a roll,gift tags were 4p a pack and christmas cards were 40p for 50 cards in Asda.
I start buying 2 food items every week from the beginning of july so by christmas theres not much to buy.Since joining this site I have saved a fortune,and picked up a lot of helpful tips, a big THANK YOU to everyone. :T

tattooed_lady

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote:

My view is that christmas is for the children.

So where possible if adults can agree to only buy presents for the children that helps.

e.g I will get a christmas present for my nephew but his mum & dad(my brother) will get just a christmas card.

A lot of people are cool with that and as me and the wife don't have any children at the moment it works out particuarly well for others who follow our philosophy ie they are not under any pressure to get us something.

The other thing the wife does is save up all the sainsburys nectar points over the years shopping and then at christmas use these vouchers that / points to do a big shopping run ie some additional luxuries / presents etc

The key is live with in your means and don't feel pressure to over spend at christmas otherwise you will have a not very nice financial hangover in 2006 !!!

We've been doing this for several years now and it's so much easier!!

elona

I used sites like the book people and also offers from world books and got books worth over£100 for about £12 - I still have to buy a few books at ordinary prices but they can be used as birthday presents.

I got two sets of Wahl hair straighteners from two magazine subscriptions, Calvin Klein "Truth" perfume from another subscriprion and a load of cosmetics from wwwbuycosmeticsdirect.co.uk with free cosmetics added to my order.

Found a reference to a jewellery site on here and got some lovely costume jewellery for my daughters in a sale.

Best buy was a Simon Cowell talking figure from a pound shop - youngest daughter will love this as a stocking filler.

Managed to get a wallace and grommit mug for free with tea bags for youngest daughter.

DH has slippers in a sale - two pairs of pyjamas and a jumper from a sale at Kays online which I saw mentioned on this site.

I got the £12 free cream from Zest as a present for myself and some of my favourite author's latest books (see above).

youngandreckless

Secret Santa is one of my fave pressie saving ideas, because you only have to pay for one pressie, you can be inventive to keep within the set amount and you have the fun of guessing who the pressie was from!
I think the pressies that you really think about are the best ones, not the ones that cost the most. My two best friends have each had a particularly rubbish year - break ups, bereavements, lost jobs - you name it we've had it. So their xmas presents are a diary each for next year, I've written them a note in the front of each, saying how much they mean to me and challenged them to write the diary for next year and keep a record of a really good year and we'll fill it with as much fun as we can pack in. Hopefully this will mean more than a £40 perfume or the like x

Big_Nige

To quote Martin Lewis "christmas is on the 25th of December every year", so why is it a suprise to everyone & they have to get into so much debt over it.

niceshoes_2

I started thinking about christmas presents back in August time and started with a list of those who I had to buy for. I have picked presents up along the way and have found this much cheaper and easier than shopping the week before christmas. It also means that I have budgeted for christmas throughout the year, and have not had to spend a great big wad of money at once. I have paid using cash and have only put one thing on my c/c which cost £40. I do not intend to put anything more on it.

I have taken advantage of boots and used the 3 4 2 offers, the extra points deals that have been made availiable and used these to help pay for christmas. For ex I ordered 2 perfume sets on behalf of my Grandma and got £30 back in extra points. This I used to buy some aftershave for the OH, so in effect that was free.

I have also used the book clubs to buy some lovely books for some children we buy for. In years past we would have just given them £20 each (there is 3 of them) in Next vouchers, but this year we have spent £20 on books and intend to add a selection box to them, so we have saved money there too.

Internet shopping has been the way forward for me and I use this site to get free delivery codes of money off etc. I also went to Debenhams and got my mum a designer handbag, with the 25% off and then an additional 10% off when I opened the store card.

In years gone by I used to spend a fortune making sure my wrapping paper all matched with the expensive tags, bows and that stringy stuff you attach to pressies to make them look nice. I used to send expensive christmas cards to everyone, in addition to the special ones you get for close family ie, to special parents, aunty, brother, cousin and so on. Well not this year!

I have decided who gives a monkeys if the tag doesn't match the paper and I am refusing to buy any fancy bows and tags. Who really cares if it all doesn't match. Instead I am using what is left over from last year and if that means sticking a winnie the pooh tag on an adults present that doesn't match the wrapping, then I'm not bothered, if it means I don't spend more money.

Same with Christmas Cards, I have told everyone that I am not sending cards this year, instead I will make a contribution to a charity. I will send a couple of cards to people that we don't see, but again I have cards left from last year that I shall use.

Christmas will not be put on my credit card this year and I hope that I will be all finished in the next 2 weeks. I do not want to add it to any debt that I already have. I've managed to buy some lovely presents for a fraction of the price that I would have spent in previous years and without spending an absoulute fortune too.