best old style money saving christmas hints and tips

Butterfly_Brain

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

Hi all,

I am new to MSE and am loving the tips!

I buy wrapping paper etc in the January sales.

However, I have moved out and after settling in last xmas have decided to have some family round for dinner - any tips as I need to keep a strict budget and I wanted to help my parents out by doing is as they are in major debt x

Turkeys are expensive this year so try a large chicken instead - make your own mince pies and sausage rolls etc A nice bottle of Lambrusco would do for wine - Asda's is nice and so is the co-op's, get your brussels, parsnips carrots and freeze them now so all you have to do is prepare the potatoes on Christmas day.
Buy ordinary sausages and cut them up and use streaky bacon to wrap them - again you can do them now and freeze.
Start getting a few bits every week it makes life easier.
Make a trifle - for those who don't like Christmas pud and buy a smart price pud they are just as nice.
Agree a maximum limit on pressie buying and make some pressie yourself if you can.

Kiwisaver_2

Olliebeak wrote: »

I've planned my main meals for over the holiday period and made shopping lists. Some stuff has been crossed off the list as I've already got a 'Christmas Goodies Stash' - gradually accumulated over the last couple of months and now hidden in my bedroom.

Me too, I now have everything I need apart from the rather a long list of fresh stuff to get and it has all come out of my usual weekly shopping budget. I'm buying nothing else now until my Christmas Club money becomes available on 1st December. December should actually end up being a cheap month overall.

My mincemeat is cooking as we speak and I am just about to write some Chistmas cards. Last year I learned a lesson, not to miss the deadline for posting overseas mail, it's firmly in my head that I have to post them before 23rd November.

I have also 'saved' some money by incorporating lots of choccies, nuts and goodies in a hamper for OH, so that I don't need to buy that much additional stuff in the usual shopping.

culpepper

Buy your mincemeat early else all that is left is expensive small jars .
If you make crackers,you can find some excellent jokes on line and print them out in small fonts.
When you put your lights away, make a thick cardboard rectangle frame to wrap them around, cut slots for the wires to fit into. It is easy next year to just unwind and no more impossible tangles or broken bulb covers.
Keep recycled wrapping in a cardboard tube after ironing it smooth.

Olliebeak

My OH is a self-confessed alcoholic (dry for around 12 years :j) and I don't drink in the house at all. We have something like Schloer (or the Asda ExtraSpecial equivalent which is a sparkling grape juice) with our Christmas Meal - already got three bottles of this in the Christmas Stash.

For the first couple of Christmasses, people were a little bit '' about not being offered alcohol in our home BUT they are now used to it and know that they get very well 'fed and watered' in other ways instead.

I've still got 3 bottles of wine from LAST Christmas that were bought for me as presents by people in work who didn't realise. Should have given them away to departing guests at the time, I suppose :rolleyes:.

knithryn

We don't buy crackers. As Other Half's family do the whole 'big family get together' everyone contributes something to the meal. Our role is to make the crackers.
I buy the 'DIY' kits in Hobbycraft in the Jan sales (£1 for a set of 6 crackers). Then throughout Nov and Dec we look in pound shops etc for little gifts that people might actually USE.
Instead of putting the gift inside the cracker, where it might not fit, we put a number inside, and fix the number on the wrapped gift.
After pulling the crackers everyone has a swapping/bartering session to get the gift that suits them best.
Examples include screwdriver sets, mini manicure sets, leads to connect any mobile phone to cig lighter in car and recharge it, little torches etc.
I know this means each cracker costs just over £1, but it prevents the whole cracker thing being a complete waste of money - the money being spent on a little gift item that will actually be used instead of somme worthless item nobody wants. Plus the extra 'opening little pressies' at the dinner table has now become a bit of a tradition and everyone loves it.

purpleivy

When I was a primary school teacher we always made crackers and I bought a large bag of 'snaps' from the craft suppliers. 19 years later (I'm on 'maternity leave' you understand LOL!) and I'm still using that pack up. I don't make them every year by any means, but it's a lot of fun!

Needhelpsaving

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Turkeys are expensive this year so try a large chicken instead - make your own mince pies and sausage rolls etc A nice bottle of Lambrusco would do for wine - Asda's is nice and so is the co-op's, get your brussels, parsnips carrots and freeze them now so all you have to do is prepare the potatoes on Christmas day.
Buy ordinary sausages and cut them up and use streaky bacon to wrap them - again you can do them now and freeze.
Start getting a few bits every week it makes life easier.
Make a trifle - for those who don't like Christmas pud and buy a smart price pud they are just as nice.
Agree a maximum limit on pressie buying and make some pressie yourself if you can.

Wow - had no idea you could do this!!! I have a freezer thats always got room in so will give this a go - thanks!!!!

Skint_Lynne

timmmers wrote: »

My Mum used to have a "thrifty" old lady neighbour she looked after and every Xmas she came round and gave her a card and waited until she opened it...then spirited the unwritten envelope away when she left to use again :T

Her tightness was better then any decent Xmas pressy as it was sooo funny. The pening of Elsies present became a feature of the day, Mum used to recieve things like an old coathanger wrapped in second or third time used paper :rotfl:

As a daily routine this old lady used to wash her face in a morning using the warm water from her hotwater bottle from bed :rolleyes:

t

Oh man,

This has made me laugh so much - is it true? Good on her for being so thrifty.:rotfl:

Kay_Peel

I find shop-bought mincemeat too sweet but haven't got the time to make my own. So I cheat.

I microwave a chopped apple, orange and /or a lemon and a shredded carrot. Then I add the whole lot, including the juice and some extra mixed spices, to my shop-bought jar of mincemeat. Not only does it bulk up and double the quantity, but it tastes so much nicer in mince pies.

Stephen_Leak

Firstly, make use of as many special offers and "freebies" as you can. Thanks to a £9.99 penguin soft toy free with an iTunes voucher, the £10.50 nail varnish on the cover of the £2 Glamour magazine, Virgin Vie's £11 lipstick for just the £2.50 P&P, and ASDA's 3 for £10 wines, I currently have presents to the value of £50.97 for just £11.50!

Secondly, if things are really tight, set a limit. The Xmas after I was made redundant, the ex-wife-to-be and I set a limit of just £5 and also to try and get as many decent (ie. not just poundshop rubbish) presents as possible. It can be done. I decided to split it into something to drink, eat, read, wear and something smelly, therefore with an average of £1 each. Any savings on one category would allow me to go a bit over on another, if necessary. I got off to a flying start and realised that it could be possible, when M&S came up trumps for eat, drink and smelly with a little cube of Xmas cake, a taster bottle of wine and a travel size cosmetic, all for just under a £1 each. Something to read was a bit trickier, bit I eventually found a cheap paperback of daily horoscope predictions for her starsign for the coming year. I did cop out out on something to wear and got a £1 gift voucher from one of her favourite clothes shops. It really made us think about the true meaning of giving and Xmas.