Ask any MSEer and they'll recommend cancelling Xmas...

Barneysmom

We'll be doing Christmas only it'll be a little bit smaller.
No way will I spend £54 on a Donald Russell (French) turkey. Is it gold-plated or something?
We'll probably buy a frozen one from Morrisons and when it's covered in lovely gravy nobody will know the difference.;)

Booze will be in short supply but we'll have enough to get us a bit mery.
Pressys will be on a fixed budget - we're getting the parents some supermarket stamps this year so they can treat themselves to nice food. Better than another set of boring bath cremes and socks.

We'll still fall asleep in front of the telly after lunch - that's what Christmas is all about isn't it, with a big tin of Quality Street on the coffee table.

:beer::beer:MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!! :beer::beer:

olly300

amcluesent wrote: »

Lets look at the facts -

1) Petrol, gas and lecky going up and up, loads of peeps coming off fixed rate deals getting clobbered

It's a good incentive for people to invest in insulation and other energy saving measures plus SVRs are still low.

amcluesent wrote: »

2) Clothing will be going up next year after the cotton harvest failure

So the price of stuff will go up to where it was about 5 years ago. Clothing is really cheap in the UK and help stop people buying loads of cheap tat produced in sweat shops.

amcluesent wrote: »

3) Food shooting up in price

People will waste less food which is good for the environment and food is really cheap in the UK anyway.

amcluesent wrote: »

4) Train prices up by 6% on 1st Jan for commuters, more for off-peak

Only the well-off in urban areas tend to use trains to work. The poor use buses.

amcluesent wrote: »

5) Mortgages bound to go up in 2011 as base rate comes off 0.5%

Interest rates are still historically very low and still will be.

amcluesent wrote: »

6) Wage freezes, overtime bans still in place

Time to get a second job then or invest in skills for a new job so you can move easily when the economy improves. Some companies still haven't learnt if you treat your staff badly during hard times they will leave when the good times come.

amcluesent wrote: »

7) Tax changes already announced hit on 6th April

Then you should have budgeted for them.

amcluesent wrote: »

8) Pensions only going up by CPI not RPI

Least people have pensions in the country. The cost of pensions in their current format is becoming unaffordable.

amcluesent wrote: »

9) £ has collapsed, so European breaks cost a bundle even before the hike in Ryanair tickets

A weaker pound is great for trading with European countries who are the UK's main trading partners. It's far better to have people in jobs producing useful stuff then just providing services.

amcluesent wrote: »

10) PLUS, of course, VAT up 2.5% on 1st Jan

Minimal impact. Our VAT rate will now be the same as most of Europe rather than lower than it.


In short good news for the environment and good news for manufacturing and trade aboard.

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

yeah, my mother used to persist in cooking roasts in the heat and we always failed to eat them. The times we had bbq on the beach and chrsitmas pudding icecream instead were more sensible...I still make the icecream routinely. Its one of our traditions.:D

We'll have back garden barbie early on Christmas day and then take an esky full of beers and leftovers to the beach.

Hauptmann

Alternate between spending Christmas at home or spending it away. Last year split it between Singapore and Ubud (Bali). This year staying at home. The five of us are having lunch at our favourite restaurant, owned by a friend of mine. Not especially cheap (£120/head for the full spread) but it is VERY good and gets booked up about 6 months in advance.
All my employees will get a Christmas lunch at the local Indian restaurant (Traditional or Indian) at £19.95 (out of my own pocket).
Christmas will certainly be celebrated at our house.

tomitma

Hauptmann wrote: »

Alternate between spending Christmas at home or spending it away. Last year split it between Singapore and Ubud (Bali). This year staying at home. The five of us are having lunch at our favourite restaurant, owned by a friend of mine. Not especially cheap (£120/head for the full spread) but it is VERY good and gets booked up about 6 months in advance.
All my employees will get a Christmas lunch at the local Indian restaurant (Traditional or Indian) at £19.95 (out of my own pocket).
Christmas will certainly be celebrated at our house.

We usually go to Goa for 3 months over the Christmas and New Year period, this year hubby is too ill to attempt it, but being away from the over rated Christmas in the UK is brilliant, we always take over small presents for the kids we know over there, and the look of happiness on there faces when you give them colouring books and crayons, paintsets, new clothes, is well worth spending a Christmas away from the UK.

My children now have there own things to do, with out having to attend Christmas dinner at Mums. And we have a party in March when we come back. Roll on next year.

Loughton_Monkey

Generali wrote: »

Kempton Park is absolutely the place to be on Boxing Day afternoon.

Don't tell anyone though.

But at £275, ridiculous. Probably buy a £30 entrance ticket, and take my own bubbly and smoked slamon sarnies.

amcluesent

I've redone the ££ numbers based on utilising a JSA 'slave' at £1/hr for digging the veg, shopping, peeling spuds, baking, crafting all the presses etc. and Xmas now looks do-able! _party_ Thanks you IDS :beer:

#Things can only get better...#

Davesnave

amcluesent wrote: »

I've redone the ££ numbers based on utilising a JSA 'slave' at £1/hr for digging the veg, shopping, peeling spuds, baking, crafting all the presses etc. and Xmas now looks do-able! _party_ Thanks you IDS :beer:QUOTE]

Personally, I think you are overblowing this.

If you look at Jesus' parents, they didn't lash out, did they? A few days hiking & stopping off at camp sites was their Christmas. And if I recall correctly, all the little chap got were some swaddling clothes and a woolly lamb.

It wasn't till the Three Spendthrifts showed up later on, flashing their wads, that He was spoiled rotten with all the bling, Hugo Boss and Frankenstein.... Huh! Typical of distant relatives you don't see from one end of the year to the other, on a guilt trip and over-compensating. It was no surprise that God warned them in a dream, not to go back to Harrods! :A

setmefree2

I'm an MSEer and

It won't be canxed in our house.:D

Loughton_Monkey

amcluesent wrote: »

I've redone the ££ numbers based on utilising a JSA 'slave' at £1/hr for digging the veg, shopping, peeling spuds, baking, crafting all the presses etc. and Xmas now looks do-able!

#Things can only get better...#

Well done!

Only thing to watch now, of course, is when you put in the order, you must specify a man. After all, you want it done properly, don't you?