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

fedupfreda

This year we have made an agreement within the family to spend £10 max on token presents for each other. I have also spent the summer making pickles, jams and lots of homemade wine (hic!) the cider has just started bubbling and should be ready for Xmas, so thats the Xmas cheer sorted......;)

But the best idea we had was to put £10 in a pot every week, we started after the summer holiday and should have £160 by the time Xmas gets here, which will cover the extra food with maybe a bit left over for the sales :j

pursekeeper

An idea for getting the family out and about together before christmas and help with "fresh" christmas decorations is to go on a lovely walk collecting holly along the way. Dont forget to take some gardening gloves, scissors and bag though! You could even perhaps all get together and help decorate it with glitter or spray gold/silver or leave natural. i do this every year and it looks lovely. cones look good natural or sprayed too.

cjmumto2

I have started buying pressies on ebay and have been getting brand new goods for under a fiver. My max spend is £5 per person.

My kids are getting 2nd hand they are too young to know the difference.

On Xmas day we have a huge get together and everyone brings one dish, ie one person brings a turkey, other brings beef, other salad, and veg, dessert etc.

We also dont buy presents for all the adults, we just do a secret santa and buy one gift which goes into a big box. So everyone gets one gift and a lovely meal and we are all together. None of my family do cards, it is a waste of trees and money.

MargB

Like so many on here, I've been guilty of buying the complete supermarket up in the past, only to have most of it unused/wasted etc.

Me and the OH have already sat down and decided what we will have a in the edibles department this year....
- one tin quaility street - already brought on cheap offer
- 2 small packets choccie biscuits (our favourites) - already bought and in the cupboard
- one pack lager - neither of us are big drinkers and if the past is anything to go by, it will last us till easter !!!

I've already got wine from last year that was given to me and a Christmas pud. I've made a load of chutney from the tomatoes this year.

We're thinking that we'll go for a turkey breast joint or even turkey steaks rather than a small bird as there is no waste. If I see any on offer, they'll be bought and put in the freezer ready.

As for pressies, I've been keeping to a limit this year for birthdays and I'm doing it for Christmas as well. I'm enjoying using my imagination to think about what the recipient would really like and then hunting things down. Paper and cards were bought in Jan sales and when a local card shop closed down.

And lastly, both OH and myself have made a list of things that we would like, to give each other some guidance as to suitable and useful presents. We've set a money limit and we'll review it in mid-Nov, to see if it should come down, as there is no point in spending money on rubbish just to make up a total.

cjmumto2

Gosh just checked Ruthies post £100 per child, my word. I would be broke if that were the case. I have never spent that amount of money in one go for the whole of christmas day

veggienorah

oooh, please could I have your recipe for your chestnut roast? I'm veggie too and always looking for new ideas for Christmas dinner......

BigMikeyG

I am trying to limit it to one present each and a bar of chocolate to make it better. The other half is gonna get abnout 5 presents. I just got to work out what they are :-). We made the mistake of booking a holiday at beginning of Dec so Christmas will be cheaper after for sure.

Liz._5

We've always had a £10 limit for presents since the kids were 18 and a secret santa where everyone is told in advance who to buy for, for those coming on Christmas day). This year we are adding that all presents have to be re-cycled. I.E Charity shops (got a crystal vase there for an aunt, new with labels) or home made or offers of time. Stockings are a bottle of wine, books from charity shops and freebies collected over the year (see Andrea's).

plzhelpmesave!

Love the recyled theme Liz - really good idea.

We celebrated Eid a few weeks ago, and i managed to get cheap pressies for all of the kids through this site, hotdeals and getting things cheap when out shopping. Kids loved everything and got it all for under a fiver per child!

It's just about making the day special for the kids and fun for everyone - which comes from spending time together.

kidcat

LogJam wrote: »

Frankly, this thread puzzles me. Now, there are some people here who have posted that they or someone in their family have been made redundant, but for everyone else what has changed since last year? As far as I can make out in the forest of disinformation and rumour (otherwise known as the media) most of the financial "crisis" that we are seeing is about consumer confidence and isn't all this talk of how we're going to cut back at best a symptom and at worst the cause of this lack of confidence?

I think that most people are struggling with the extreme increases in both fuel and food. I know my DH wages did not go up at all this year (not even inflationary) yet our Gas and Electric have gone up loads. Petrol ( DH makes 40 mile round trip 4 days a week to work) again has risen so much. Added to the massive price rises for food, I ma finding that we are considerably worse off this Christmas than last.


This year for Christmas I am tackling it by being more organised, again have picked up loads of tips for baskets etc that will save loads ( kids teachers, friends and family). Along with buying stuff earlier, I am really hoping that December will be a shopping free month and can be spent enjoying the season not rushing from place to place trying to find original gifts for people.