First Debt free Chrismas!

kittykat100

Hello my lovelies

I went BR in Feb of this year and now Christmas is fast approaching. I have managed to buy pressies over the last couple of months (am having a frugal Christmas) and put money away and Tesco voucehers for food shopping next week.
I cannot believe I have managed to fund Christmas withour going into Debt and to be honest I don't feel like I am deprived. We will still be having a proper dinner and Boxing Day feast. I have gone from spending obscene amounts of money on pressies to under £20 per person. It took a bit of extra effort to find the right pressies but it can be done.

Going BR however traumatic was the best thing I have ever done. I have a little bit of money left over in my account at the end of the month, I don't owe anyone anything and my bills are all paid on time. I am finally in control of my finances.

Kittyx

curly04

Well done

This year everyone is not getting a lot of me as only went BR in November.
I've got myself a pre paid mastercard to save up for next year.

have a good time

Curly

dojoman

Thanks for sharing your post BR experience. it always helps to hear how people get through it..Hope you have a great Christmas..

nervousmother

I too am looking forward to a fantastic debt free christmas :-)

I started buying a bit extra back in september, got some amazing food to look forward to!
Iv not bought for half the people this year, but my kids are sorted and close friends/family
For the first time in years im all festive too! playing christmas music as we speak (type) I do think 11 days off work has something to do with it.. haha.

pmg19680

Hi kittycat,
I feel just like you do. Usually this time of December my oh and I are smiling about xmas but then feeling like crap because we know that it all has to be paid back from January and it has always taken us well into june to get it paid off. Well not this year!!:T. Its such a nice and rewarding feeling to know that all this christmas has been paid for with our hard earned wages and not one single thing on tick. There is no feeling like it.
To make next year even better I joined Park Hampers last month at a manageable amount so that we can really push the boat out.
Merry Christmas :rudolf::rudolf:

RichesToRags

I'm the same, been buying bits and saving bits for a few months and now everything is bought and wrapped and I don't owe anyone a penny for it. I've always enjoyed chrismas but this one feels even better than usual and I'm much more relaxed about it all.

Been thinking of doing the Park Hampers thing myself for next year Pmg ever since Miche mentioned them on a thread a couple of months ago. I'm just a little wary after the whole Farepack fiasco.

curly04

richestorags I lost a lot of money with farepack

I've now got a pre paid card which i can top up free and then it charges £1 ever time i use it ( or when i come to use it can change it to £4.95 for the month) and then i can get my christmas shopping from where ever I want to next year, and no cheap stuff trying to look expensive like most hampers

RichesToRags

Curly

It must have been awful for you, to think you had christmas all planned and then for that to happen. I know a few people who lost money through farepack and it was devastating for them.

I was only considering getting the vouchers from Park as I think everything else is over-priced but I may try your idea instead.

curly04

We did vouches one year and then ended up not spending them as just couldn't find anything to buy LOL

katsu

Have you considered supermarket saving stamps? They give you a small bonus for getting them, and it enables you to lock the money away fairly safely - I can't see tesco or morrisons going bust.

When we were very poor my grandmother used to buy us a £1 stamp per week with her food, so that we had £50 to spend at Christmas. It was a godsend.

Leesmom

Well done! It sure is a nice feeling to know there will no huge bills after xmas, like you ours will be very frugal indeed but we are really looking forward to it.
Have a good one!