Keeping down spending on "stuff"

Sue_R_2

Why not make presents for grandparents etc., of salt dough. (2 cups plain flour, 1/2 cup salt, few drops cooking oil, enough water to make firm dough, then knead for 10 minutes until smooth & pliable)

Make flat round about 1" thick, then put hand or foot print of your child in centre, bake at very low heat (reg 1) for around 2-3 hours until solid. Let cool then paint in shape with kid's paints in a pastel colour (water colour or poster) write name of child & date of making around left rim with fine felt tip & varnish with clear polyurethene varnish when dry. Glue ribbon hanger on back. This is a unique present that any relative will love!

The kids can also cut out gingerbread man shapes of salt dough & decorate and paint as presents.

biglass

Along the same lines as MMSparkle for jobs-schools are crying out for supply classroom assistants -working as and when you can.Again @£5.90 per hour,but school hours and hols off! Most schools will be prepared to let you come in a wee bit later and leave 10 mins earlier or so to pick up your own kids(even easier if end up working in your own kids school!) Our local authority interviews for these posts on a monthly basis ,they are so short staffed-and it would look good on your CV once you are job hunting after uni!
Good luck!!:D

lisa_75

Mumsie wrote:

When the realisation hits that spending has got out of control and debt arrives at the door you think life has become intolerable. Worse when you have a family to support and I dearly sympathise with anyone out there in that position. However, life must go on. You HAVE to be positive but it also helps to completely change-your-lifestyle. Your way of thinking, ideas, shopping habits and it is HARD. It can be hard for months and months, years possibly, but some positive things come out of debt. I cried and cried till I could cry no more. My relationship with my partner was akin to walking on eggshells. My whole world fell apart. For a while I was so numb with it that I couldn't even deal with it.

Thank you for sharing your story. It means a lot to me. At the moment I feel so angry at myself for not being able to manage money like a "normal" person and I feel such a faliure in life. We still rent, we can only afford to run one car and a holiday this year is out of the question. I just want a normal life, nice house, 2 cars, hoilday every year, night out once a week.

I am glad that my feelings of anger and hopelessness seem a normal reaction. Seeing on this board how people have got through the worst and come out the other end has really helped. I am just at the beginning and am feeling a lot of pain and resentment, but your post and all the wonderful advice on here has given me hope.

cheekyweegit

Hi there,

Have you thought about knitting ?

I have just finished knitting a few of the hairy scarves which are currently fashionable for a grand total of £2 each. They sell in the shops around Christmas for £15+. The good thing about these is you can do it for both adults and children and its really sweet if you have a mother and daughter who are close and do matching ones. Same for siblings. For smaller children say up to the age of 5 you only need the one ball of wool and the little one will be the envy of all her friends. Up to the age of 12 depending on height 1½ balls and 2 for a larger child or adult. The wool is on sale in The Works for 99p a ball or 12 for £9.99 and there is the hairy wool and softer wool. My kids describe the wools as tickly for one type (hairy) and cuddly (soft one).

If anyone wants to know how many stitches and size of needles i used along with the lengths they turned out PM me please.

Also keep an eye on sports shops and places like TJ Hughes if you can. Yesterday I picked up a pair of adidas joggy bottoms and jumper for £5 each in TJ Hughes for my friends 12 year old son’s Christmas. In a sports shop normal price would’ve been more than double this for the trousers alone. They were also selling make up sets in a beautiful box for £1.50 not that long ago and don’t rule out the big shops like Debenhams either which a lot of folks think are out of their remit – great bargains to be had in their blue cross sales, one is on now. Again beautiful make up sets often in pretty little boxes which can double as jewellery or hair accessory boxes for £5 or less – jewellery on sale at Asda with 75% off just now as is BHS so double the gift at not much expense. Hair accessories can be picked up cheaply at places like semi chem and savers or even Asda in their sale just now.


Don’t rule out 3 for 2 or BOGOF offers for smellies. Take full advantage of this and also practical things too as you can make up baggies or create a theme. Pay attention in folks bathrooms when you go to visit to see what they like and you can look out for it on offer.

I got my great niece for this Christmas, a hairy scarf as above £1, a little table from Ikea, £7.99 to £3.99, two little stools to go with it £1.50 each, a colouring book set 75p from The Works, a pencil case from Asda in the shape of a sheep for £1.

To finish off her Christmas there will be a bag of sweeties, probably haribo at 97p or the swizzles packs of lollies / sweets in the pink or yellow packaging which are usually BOGOF round about Halloween for £1.49 although Woolies have these just now with 50% extra free on BOGOF. No selection boxes from me as i feel they are a rip off.

I sometimes give Pringles as an alternative as they are often BOGOF or have some kind of offer on them round Christmas and they always go down well as an alternative to chocolate which a lot of folks get fed up with.

Grand total of £10 for my niece but its not £10 of tat. Some folks feel they have to get as much as possible for as little as possible. Bad idea!

For older kids or families, again what I do is buy a large tin of sweets, often 2 for £10 at Christmas. I’m sure you know the ones I mean, add to this, tube of Pringles, nuts, and a different bottle of fizzy juice for each person in the house. Again it will work out about £10, but will cover a whole household. I use this one and have done so for years for my kid’s second cousins who are now in their 20’s and I have no idea what to get them. They really appreciate it and look for it each year.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to bunk up with the families with younger children and get a bigger board game between them rather than buy one thing separately. For example Woolies do 3 for 3 on their Chad Valley Board Games round Christmas with many of them being copies of things like Guess Who, Ludo etc just under a different name but excellent quality and value. Always popular with kids.

Now you have idea’s of what to get from us lot, you need to wrap it, universal paper is what I tend to go for in the January sales so it doubles as Christmas / birthday wrap and it's currently on offer for 50p a roll at Poundstretcher with some on 3 for 2.

Finally before I go as I’ve gone on for a while, never ever pay full price for anything unless you absolutely have to. I made this my motto along with buying all year round and have saved a small fortune to the point that even my kids have said they will do the same when they are older.

Good Luck and keep smiling.

MadDogWoman_2

I struggle around Christmas as I have the following birthdays

September x 1 (my mum - her 60th this year but she's already had my birthday present, I took her on a cross-stitching weekend)
October x 2 - 2 nieces
November x 1 - 1 nephew
December x 4 (19th, 20th, 22nd and 25th) - 1 niece (18th), nephew (7th) and two SIL's but we don't buy for them

The 18 year old won't be getting a Xmas or birthday pressie, instead for her birthday party I'm making the cakes.

It's going to be interesting explaining it to my OH's family as they think we're loaded as we both have good jobs, a nice house, a car and a motorbike. But I think they'll understand.

It's been hard getting used to the new routine but we're getting there. Our shopping routine has changed from 1 shop to 4, Aldi for the main, local greengrocers for fruit and veg (mainly all locally grown and twice the size of what you can buy in the supermarket), Iceland for frozen food, and Morrisons for anything that we couldn't get anywhere else. It's not too much of a tour as Aldi, the greengrocers and Iceland are all in my local town centre and Morrison's 2 miles away. Last week instead of £100+ we only spent £73.

cheekyweegit

MadDogWoman wrote:

The 18 year old won't be getting a Xmas or birthday pressie, instead for her birthday party I'm making the cakes.

Just a thought for a cheap and cheerful prezzie for the 18 year old so she would have something to open or anyone else with a memorable birthday coming up . Why don't you give her / them either a box with or / piece of card with 18 coins stuck to it. If possible one from each year from the year they were born to present day. Very memorable and possible outlay at the least is 18p but a lovely gift anyway which will increase in value over the years.

If you struggle to find the coins for different years then just go for the same coin for the current year of the birthday but as many different variations to make up the age. i.e. 18 years old = 10p, 5p, 2p +1p. You get the picture.

If you do go for this and the coins are grubby just stick them in a glass of coke to clean them. Works a treat!

EagerLearner

,,, or a 2nd hand MSE book...

leo1408

:undecided finish up paying too much for a " that will have to do gift". I have changed this by between Christmas & new year I write a list in the back of my diary of all the birthday, christmas presents I will need for the next year. I put in my diary as I always have that with me. Over the year buy things as I see them that are genuine bargains or the freebies trading reward points & as I buy them write them in my diary & gradually tick off people one by one. I have found that I have been able to give far more thoughtful gifts by not being under pressure to find something for tomorrow and at a fraction of the cost. I used to spend £ 1000 on Christmas, last year it was £ 150 with much nicer gifts.
Hope this helps

sexymouse

It was my sister's 21st in June, and I don't have a huge amount of money either. I looked on ebay for new items containing moonstone (the birthstone for June). I managed to buy her two really nice anklets that look great with her tan, for only £12 including the postage. I also went to our local market where they have a card and wrapping paper stall, and bought 3 nice cards for £1 - that's 3 birthdays covered. She loved the anklets, and put them on straight away.

Have also used the birthstone idea previously for a friend who had a birthday in February (birthstone amathyst). I managed to get a brand new amethyst and silver cross (she is religious) in a nice velvet box, for £8!

If you want to find out birthstones, there are normally a few different ones for each month (so you don't have to buy diamonds etc). Just do a google for them - that's what I did, and it's a slightly more thoughtful present then.

Hope that has given you a couple of ideas.

Also if you want to buy CD, DVDs etc, you can get CDWow vouchers on pigsback too - an album CD typically comes to £8.75.

Rachie_B

i bought a few xmas gifts yday in the M&S sale

they had footy and wizard ( like harry potter type!) kits with a CD / book and other bits in a giftbox down from £9.50 to £3

also in tesco ,a power ranger dress up outfit down from £12 to £3 !!! the exact same outfit is in mothercare for £15.99 !!!

by keeping an eye out and buying throughout the year you are never stuck what to buy and I always keep a supply of cheap cards / wrapping paper too