How much have you saved on your Christmas Shopping

nearlyrich

I have saved loads this year by shopping around on line, deals from Amazon and Play, I had never come across Play before using this site. I managed to take advantage of Boots 3 for 2 deals and even got a nice surprise in Body Shop when it was 20% off day on Saturday. Argos had some great bargains too.

I have my 0% card ready for Jan to BT from my Tesco card, after getting the points to save up for next years Christmas groceries etc. (This year we had over £200 in Clubcard vouchers.

Thanks to all MSE'rs and Martin for all the tips and advice, it's going to be a very merry Christmas and I'll offer a toast to you all in cut price Champagne!!

gk172

Well with boots this year ive managed to get loads from the 3 for 2 offer and also £180 worth of points in the past 2 months.

Lx direct for the phone £20 off and free posting, Amazon and the sony walkman deal, not forgetting the argos deal and which spurred a look at indexs old stock i reckon must have saved £100 ish and various others too. My kids this year are getting things that we wouldnt normally  have looked at ;D ;D


BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE AND MARTIN FOR THIS GREAT FORUM

PTLD

LOTS ;D

coppersaver

AAAAAAAAAAAH! Reading this has reminded me that I had a £5 voucher that I meant to use in Argos today and I forgot all about it.

So I've saved minus £5 today.

Emmacw

When the boots points bonanza was on in the summer (100 points for each natural collection item) I bought all my female relations items from the natural collection and put it in a gift bag (natural collection).

I also emptied all my local boots of the conditioner sachets (never did see a toe seperator). ;D ;D

With £130 in boots points suddenly amassed (and all female relations christmas pressies bought) I then went shopping in boots once their sales were on and got most of my male relations FCUK gift boxes reduced to £5-6 from £15-22 using my boots points and a few kids toys for pressies.

I reckon I spent £60 on female pressies and got nearly 15 pressies for free using the points ;D ;D ;D

What a wonderful time I had - it feels good to get a bargain ;D ;D ;D

aliasojo

If the truth be known, I don't think I've saved anything. :-/

In fact, I think I've probably spent a bit more than usual this year......BUT I've got better quality gifts and things that I wouldn't normally have been able to afford so I don't mind (too much ).

nabowla

I spent exactly the same as last year - which is excellent!!!

Normally, I'd increase my Christmas budget each year so that I could buy 'better' presents for my relatives. This year I stuck to last year's budget, read all the tips on the MSE boards and bought lots of things half price/BOGOF etc (I'd never done this before - now I'm addicted ). My family got much more than I would otherwise have been able to afford and virtually nothing went on the credit cards. Result!!!

robnye

I spent exactly the same as last year - which is excellent!!!

Normally, I'd increase my Christmas budget each year so that I could buy 'better' presents for my relatives.  This year I stuck to last year's budget, read all the tips on the MSE boards and bought lots of things half price/BOGOF etc (I'd never done this before - now I'm addicted  ;)).  My family got much more than I would otherwise have been able to afford and virtually nothing went on the credit cards.  Result!!!

same here.

same budget..... cheaper prices for items through MSe links n tips

still over bought on the food front.... but i'm working on that..... ;D

nearlyrich

I am feeling quite smug on the food front because we really cut down this year and we have eaten almost everything we bought. OK there are some boxes of BOGOF chocs in the cupboard but I have a couple of Jan birthdays so that's OK. I was in a bit of a panic because I thought we would run out of certain things but it didn't really matter.

My ambition for next year is to have all the presents bought by the end of October and everything paid for before Christmas.

Sofa_Sogood

If the truth be known, I don't think I've saved anything.  :-/

In fact, I think I've probably spent a bit more than usual this year......BUT I've got better quality gifts and things that I wouldn't normally have been able to afford so I don't mind (too much  ;)).

I don't think I gained either because most of my bargains were given away as presents ;D It just meant people received better presents

But I've already bought a LOT of presents for next year, some from Harrods Sale too! And they weren't at all expensive! Honest. ;D

What this board has done for me is point out where to buy and when. In fact, I've found shops that I didn't know existed so the choice has been far superior.

Added to that is the fact I wasn't able to go shopping at all this year, so my husband's saved on petrol, headache tablets and time.

All in all I have gained haven't I? ;D

Thanks to all that helped me. (My husband will second that too )

tiff

I have the same aim as you nearlyrich, to be more organised on the present buying front next year. This year food wise, we have done really well. We still have some chocs left but Christmas stretches into January when you have kids, so they will be used.

I am so grateful for the food buying tips and coupons, I already have lots of meat and fish in the freezer, so wont have to spend much on groceries in January.

We are the kind of people that usually overspend and never put anything by, so when Christmas comes or any other major expense we are stuck. This is my new years resolution, to be more organised (already started buying savings stamps in Tesco, and car tax stamps from the post office).

Not sure that I saved much this year on Christmas presents as I came to MSE late in the day, but what a great start to the new year! ;D