So, how do YOU budget for Christmas?

THREEBOBBLES

I usually do all my christmas shopping in the January and summer sales. Especially in NEXT and BOOTS good deals for christmas cards and wrapping paper in NEXT.I don' believe in giving big extravagant gifts but things that I believe people will find useful. I don't buy a big gift for my husband at christmas as I buy loads of stuff for him in the sales. I collect nectar points through sainsbury shopping plus I also collect via expedia and BP. This year I managed to collect £60 on my nectar card towards christmas shopping. Finally I collect all my £2 pound coins and this year I manged to collect £50 which is not much but something which I put towards my food shopping. So as you can imagine I dont buy heavily through the year but the winter and summer sales are busy times.

AllyS

I have saved monthly for years, but this year I have been caught short a bit, so I am saving £75 a month next year, this does include Xmas and kids b days tho.

I love the idea of amazon wish list. I norm buy things throughout the year too but last year was chaotic and I didn't really start till October which is very late for me!

Another idea I have had is that I went way over budget with kids this year, so I am going to keep a running tally to keep me in check

*Louise*

I save the CB in a seperate account - usually too much in there to spend just on christmas so it does us for family days out during the year as well
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I also usually save my Tesco vouchers and double them up during the exchange - I had over £200 worth this year, gave half away to my mum, can't see me collecting so much next time though now that they have stopped the double points.

I usually start buying gifts and putting them away in August, I hate the thought of trying to get everything at the last minute.

wanchai_2

madvixen wrote: »

Camelcamel is a price checker who email you when the price of an Amazon product reaches a certain price. For example, if you were after a certain lego product and it was currently at £60 you'd log onto camelcamel and enter the web page along with the amount you are willing to pay eg £40. They will then email/tweet you when the price drops to your price. They will also show you a graph with the items prices on for the last 6 months so you can see what the lowest price has been. It's a great wee site.
As for the wish list, yes it does. I added a book to my wish list last night and when I checked the site this morning I got the message
River Cottage Veg Every Day! (River Cottage Every Day)
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Hardcover)
4.8 out of 5 stars (244)
Price dropped 10% (was £14.00 when added)
Hope that helps

I got that book for £5 on Amazon recently

OP - I save regularly so never go into debt for anything. For presents, I have a gift cupboard and buy any amazing bargains that I find - the grabbit board is a godsend! I always buy wrapping paper, tags, cards etc in Jan and stock up (on gifts too) in the Boots 75% and 90% sale! Baby/child gifts are especially good value in the sales.

I manage to get fab gifts for next to nothing all through the year and avoid the December rush

wanchai_2

Btw, I don't know much about those Park savings schemes but a bank account/piggy bank is probably better.

sethsgran

A friend bought me a lovely notebook which I always have in my bag. This is my Christmas shopping book with names of all we buy for. I have a separate list In the book of presents to make as I love craft. As things are bought/made I write them next to the names. Each pay check I purchase some gifts. For food I buy morrisons saver stamps plus we both buy fuel at morrisons so we save the £5 vouchers, this year we got £40 vouchers and the £25 worth of vouchers from the store for having 6 receipts during the promotion time prior to Christmas £165 in total was more than enough for food.

fijit77

I use a number of tactics to cope with christmas, my christmas shopping starts in January for the next year, I buy something if I see something that someone would like and put it away so the cost of gifts is always spread, but what trips me up every year is the entertaining and parties, I may go out with good intentions but after a few glasses of wine they tend to go out of the window! So to help with that I put a small amount away with a credit union Christmas saving account - no interest but you do get a dividend and I'm lucky enough to be able to do it through payroll at work so like others have said I don't miss it as I never really felt like i had it.
Family circumstances have meant that I usually do christmas day at my house, paid for courtesy of nectar points and tesco clubcard.

determined_new_ms

wow some very organised & luxurious Christmases on this thread!

I save £20pm for xmas gifts (& £30pm for birthdays, this year because it was my dds 18th on 20th Dec from Sept I put in £40pm in both xmas & birthday funds), I also do the Virtual sealed pot on the DFW board (where each Friday I round down my bank balance to the nearest £10) and this year I had £350. I decided to attempt being a minimalist this year - largely successful! - so I had warned people I get gifts for 1 was only getting them one gift & it was all I wanted as well, well I actually didn't want anything but that's a bit maverick for some of my fam! Having an 18yr old & 19 yr old they're not quite ready for the minimalist xmas just get.

I was really impressed with how I did it this year - first full year of being debt free - and I did not spend a penny of my Dec salary on xmas & came in under budget by £100! (have managed to pay for a new pair of glasses out of the remainder & today I am going for a massage :T) Having a savings account to pay for stuff is a god send (my car needed £650 worth of work 2 weeks before xmas & all but £100 was paid for out of car & emergency savings)

I intend to do the same for next year and continue parring down, kids will get a total of £150 each next year (this year it was around £220). In addition I will also save £1 a week on an Asda card, and put aside £10pm as we are planning to have xmas dinner out next year. I am also going to keep an eye out for super bargains to make the money stretch even further

chanie

This year, I bought bits and pieces throughout the year, especially when I saw bargains. We have mostly females in both our families so it does make it easier.

I did stockings for everyone so I spent only a couple of ££ on each present, so I barely noticed it. I write a list of each person and as I buy things for them, I write it down, so I know what I've got for each person. I also write a list of things that I think people may like and if I see something at price I want to pay, I will grabbit.

It is still trial and error, but I am getting better.

I haven't been paid yet, so I can't spend much, but I have picked up a few bits and pieces:
2 fold up shopping bags from Next (£1 from £3.50)
1 Impulse gift set from Wilkinsons (£2 from £4)
2 finger skateboard serts from Wilkinsons (£2 from £4)
1 diary with padlock from Next (£2 from £5)

In addition, I got OH's niece a toy lap top for her 2nd birthday in February, it was £10 reduced from £2 from Wilkinsons.

midnightraven3

this year i did something i never have before

i was up before everyone else christmas morning
so i lay in bed at 6.00 am browsing the net drinking coffee
i looked on the lakeland sale, and saw sets of 4 cupcake mugs, in a cupcake, cake tin for £4.99, i bought 8 for the 8 "aunties" (not all real aunts) i buy for
and a lovely MSE 'er told me poundland did cupcake t towels, so i got 8 of these to go with them yesterday

so i bought next years christmas pressies on christmas day this year:o

i usually pick things up throughout the year though