how do you pay for christmas?

JKJ

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Oh bless. You are so right. It's so terribly mean to suggest that you don't have to spend 4 months money on one day's celebrations.

:T:T:T:T

Bless you too for showing such concern on my spending habits. You are correct - we don't "have to spend 4 months money on one day", in fact we don't "have" to do anything other than make our own lifestyle choices, based on what we can afford without debt. As it happens our choice is that we spend some on gifts, some on food and the rest on having a 2 week holiday at home, enjoying our family. But to each his own. Do have a good Christmas won't you. :cool::D:D

peking_duck

Last year I went overboard buying too much food for xmas day and days after, so this year we have complety cut back!!

Me and my OH deicded to cut down and stick to a budget of £50 of presents instead of £80- £90. But luckly I think we are going to OH's sisters for xmas, so we don't need to pay out for xmas dinner. I normally start present shopping in September.

Lucky2013

just thought i add my little saving tip I always put feb and march council tax into christmas savings as we pay over 10 months and we dont miss it as the other months we wouldnt have it
a few years ago when i didnt put it away it just seemed to disappear was never really sure how it went because didnt change anything, i think as it was there it just got spent and nothing to show for it so always pop it into savings on the 1st of the month now.

hth

Sambucus_Nigra

JKJ wrote: »

Bless you too for showing such concern on my spending habits. You are correct - we don't "have to spend 4 months money on one day", in fact we don't "have" to do anything other than make our own lifestyle choices, based on what we can afford without debt. As it happens our choice is that we spend some on gifts, some on food and the rest on having a 2 week holiday at home, enjoying our family. But to each his own. Do have a good Christmas won't you. :cool::D:D

This isn't about you [sorry]. I have no idea about your spending habits. You might have missed the point but it was about the OP and them jumping for joy at being in debt for 4 months. And this is the Money Saving Expert forum. Not the 'Get into Debt' forum.

I have a good day every day. I don't save it up for just the one day a year. :beer:

PixieDust

OP.....this is a bit vague but somewhere there is a thread about something to do with purses. (bear with me!!). I don't do this myself, but some people have the money available to them in a week in one purse.....and then (I think) if they save any money through special offers and things, the money goes into the other purse to be saved (on the principle that it's money you would normally have spent and therefore won't miss if you save).

I think I may have missed out an important stage of the process....because I think I'd put the money into a terramundi myself.....but hopefully someone less clueless will be along in a minute to fill in the gaps

amycool

This Christmas has been paid for pretty easily as my family set a £10 limit on gifts. They have all gone well over but I'm not the type to feel pressurised to spend more on them, regardless of what they buy me (they all think I'm tight but I put more thought in!). I've made a few gifts, so they cost nothing as I already had the materials, bought a few books from The Book People in summer (to avoid postage I bought lots together to cover birthday and christmas presents), and asked a friend to use his woodwork skills to commission a gift this year!

Food-wise, we're vegetarians so we normally just buy a few treats like a nice dessert and some fancy cheese. Maybe £20-£30 more than usual for the month.

I'm happy to spend as little as possible, especially as I love making decorations and gifts, but I expect that when we have children we'll increase our spending. Having said that, our income was really low when I was a child and my Mum had 4 kids to buy for, but I don't remember ever being disappointed. I know she put a huge amount of effort in to buy in the sales and once sold some jewellery (that was a bad year) so we never went without gifts. They might not have been the latest fad but I loved every gift because I knew how much love had gone into buying them.

I would be very wary of taking on debt for anything. I adore every aspect of Christmas and it's lovely to treat your family once a year when it's cold and dark outside, but if I were ever in a situation where I couldn't afford things, I would have to go without or take on extra work. Last year I paid for everything by doing surveys and earning cashback.

sharnad

Buy little bits during the year get stuff in sales befoe Christmas have a really tight December

mcjordi

i always have bought throughout the year.. never got into debt just for christmas..
To be honest im starting to loose interest in christmas altogether

Sharon87

I've made a spreadsheet this year, so I know what to expect. So far my budget for everything is £272 - this includes presents, tree, decorations, half the cost of the hotel over Christmas (3 nights, my mum's kind enough to pay the rest) and train tickets to 3 different places in the country to visit family! I've spent £128 of it so far. Although I'm allowing myself to go over to a max of £300 if need be - like buying booze.

I wont be making Christmas dinner, so no expense there!

mummyroysof3

we have never gone into debt for christmas, we use savings ive put away during the year and spread it out from augsust onward. im lucky that my kids picked a main gift and the rest its bits ive chosen i know they will like. i think we will have spent about £500 on christmas including everything.