Credit Crunch Christmas - how are you cutting down this year?

ngotb

not sure if this has already been mentioned, but another idea is to buy one present for a couple, rather than each individual - saves half the cost. i like the secret santa idea too ... all family afterall!

ethika

don't know if this has already been posted but I found a great site for books:

http://www.greenmetropolis.com

most books sell on here for £3.75, inc postage, gift vouchers are available from £3.75 upwards - if your friends don;t mind helping you recycle!

And, best of all you can put books up on the site for sale, you get £3 for each boook which sells - so everyone's a winner!:j

ethika

ethika

Alan_T wrote: »

Being a non-christian (or indeed a follower of any other religion) it's just another day to me... no need to buy any extra crap that's not actually needed.

I class my self as non-christian non-any religion - but that doesn't mean that I think that lets me get away with downright rudeness!

I love buying present for friends and family - whether for Christmas, Eid or Hannukah - I also love eating all the lovely foods which are associated with these feasts. And in a day and age when many people are non-religious I think it is great that we still have events which will bring people together as fami;ly, friends, communities.

you need to lighten up Alan_T and stop being a meanie.

salster1

we decided earlier in the autumn that as all our neices and nephews have mobiles then they would be given vouchers for the phones, as they will be used anyway.
a few years ago we asked family not to send us anything for christmas as we were going to send to oxfam instead on their behalf, which we felt great about but family didnt listen so we just felt mean. so this year we decided to do token pressie to family and still send donation to oxfam, well thats the theory anyway
have just looked on the greenmetroplis website, looks great thanks for the tip ethika x

karenpayne

Hi there
I have been a member of MSE for a while now and love reading all the hints and tips, especially the ones about Christmas, shopping and things to do with the children. Is there somewhere on the site where all the ideas for homemade presents, recipes etc. are posted. That would make it so much easier to find things. Thanks for all the great ideas.:j

pickles_4042

Hi

Im also cutting down this year. Set my self a budget back in August and wrote it all down in my Christmas notebook (sad I know but done it for years)

Thanks to all on the site for all your inspiration. Since Sept I have made presents for 36 family and friends. it has cost me the sum of £97.35!!!

Made all the women the same, door hangers (thanks rainmac)xx i bought them from Bakerross.co.uk and paid £3.00 for 6.
Also made Memo/shopping lists for fridge. Used Mount Board in different colours from The Range (79p for A1 size - huge) pack of shopping list pads from discount sort (99p for 6) and a decorated them. Bought self adhesive magnet from ebay so they stick to fridge.
Our local QD store is selling wooden boxes/chests with brass hinges and catches (£2 or £3 for a set of two) Used 1 of them and a cheap photo frame (99p also QD) to make a set and used the decopatch idea to cover them. Look amazing.
Came up with a really good idea. Made a couple of individual hampers. Made one for SIL "Girls Night In Hamper" Bottle of Wine (half Price) Bar of Choc, Pretty Woman DVD £2 and bubbles all in a basket wrapped in cellophane.

Amazed how much I have saved this year. Really looking forward to it.

shazzer22

Well last year I kept every single receipt for the stuff I spent with the intention of making sure I halved it this year... problem being the bag of receipts must be at the bottom of a drawer somewhere so I'll have to dig that out!

I bought my first Christmas present at Tesco (Dove gift set for Granny, for some reason she loves them!) on Thursday night.

This year its not so much the present and food buying that's a problem its all the works drinks, Christmas do's and driving around all over the place that racks up the spend. So this year I am pledging to...

Only walk to the shops, I live a 10 minute walk from a big shopping centre, I could do with the exercise and the prospect of having to carry the gifts home will deter me from getting anything to big! Saving fuel and parking money.

I've already bought my dress for the works Christmas do, I bought a plain black silk dress which has a gold bow, so quite versatile (wore it to a wedding the other day too) and I've only accepted a couple of invites; to my own work party which is subsidized to £10 a head for a three course meal, drinks and disco although I would normally stay at the hotel have decided not to and have already sent emails out to people I live near to share the cost of a taxi home.

I've decided to cook for my bro and dad Christmas day, once I'd added up the cost of fuel to travel home to theirs it worked out more than I would spend on a nice, but fuss free roast with all the trimmings, plus they are excited because they have never seen where I live so it'll be an adventure for them!

The only bit I'm a little concerned about is that I am spending Christmas eve with my boyfriends parents, they are a fairly comfortable family and although not flamboyant with money they do buy expensive gifts. So I need to have that conversation with him I think!

One great thing some friends of mine do, and what I'd love to do, is to one year buy some really lovely big Christmas cards and send with an explanation and for the past 6 or 7 years they have sent the same cards backwards and forwards to their friends, dating the message with the year and thinking up some really meaningful words or writing a little funny poem, they now have these amazing cards that sit on their fireplace that are hilarious to read and have lots of memories, plus saves buying new cards each year!

whitesatin

This one probably sounds a bit crazy but both my husband and I hate going to our works' do. We hate the fact that they are generally held in local hotels where they seem to think they can get away with serving up inferior quality food because most people are half drunk anyway and just want to have a dance and drink more booze. Not our style at all and also not generally cheap either. This time we have decided to go to our local restaurant for a gourmet evening. It is owned by a well known tv chef and situated in a lovely area. It will cost us £99 each plus around £12 for taxis to and from. We have eaten there often and know the food is excellent. They do this thing where they serve a different wine with each of the 5 courses, specially chosen etc. It is not cheap but at least we know we will enjoy the food, drink and company (it is quite friendly there).

We will be cutting back on food on Christmas day anyway as we will be on our own for the first time in years. We have the (aforementioned) John Lewis vouchers to pay for our Waitrose shop so we won't be going without anything at all.

sassyb_3

Hi all

For almost as long as we have been married my husband and I have set a limit of £15 to spend on each other for Christmas. It has now become a bit of a competition as to how much you can buy someone for so little. With such a limited amount it cuts out a lot of unnecessary presents and you end up getting something more meaningful and well thought out. Go on and give it a try and with the help of this website we should all be able to do very well with freebies and/or 2 for 1's as they count too (i.e one for me and the free one for him!) - you know the kind of things; a chocolate orange or chocolate money, that free mascara (not for hubby - of course). It is great fun especially when you get down to the last 2p!

mistyw1973

I am "trying" to be ruthless this year ! Not cutting back too much but a little !
Have managed to cut a few people off my list (by mutual agreement of course!) and have really impressed myself by setting a budget for people (never really done and stuck to before!) and if I get a bargain I take the pre-bargain price as knocked off the persons budget (does that make sense ) I am not feeling obliged this year to then buy extra to make it up to the price I was willing to spend.
As for food we have 9 for dinner this year, but after doing this for a couple of years I know where I need to cut back this year..so won't be going mad...especially for Xmas day tea...where last year I put loads of stuff out, that we really didn't touch.