£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

ellen_vannin

Another idea for filling Xmas stockings is Charity shops - the ones I frequent often have new or unused toys and books - much cheaper than other shops and the charity benefits as well!

Takes time to browse but it is an activity than can be done with children in tow.

mumtoomany

Also have a look at pound shops for books. Last year we got the whole set of "Harry" books, (Harry and the dinosaurs etc) for £1 each for the grandchildren. Even if you don't want to buy tat for the children to play with, consider buying wrapping paper etc from poundland, poundworld, pound stretchers; much cheaper and only gets thrown away. Or here used to light the fire. Also worth looking for Christmas paper that's not Christmasy. Just stars or stripes etc. Put it away to wrap birthady gifts for the next year. M2m.

mumtoomany

Another thought. In the advent calender you could make some days things to do rather than gifts. Picnic tea under the kitchen table, board game evening, make biscuits with mum, etc. Whatever works for you.

Chrystal

I've got to say that I admire your grit TOPM. You and DH are working together as a team (well mostly ) and have come up with the best solutions for you as a family.

Not everyone will agree with the way you're doing things, but they aren't living your life, you are. As you say this is a long term project for you and it has to be sustainable. It's just not worth making your life miserable in order to be DF in 8 years instead of 10 years (IMO)

If things go wonky you can re assess, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that 2018 will be the start of something good.

Treadingonplaymobil

Bleurgh, have randomly come down with a cold this afternoon. Which ought to have made solo parenting this evening a total nightmare, but DH bought some reduced supermarket chinese food yesterday (which IMO was utterly revolting, but the DCs enjoyed the treat, and it was <£5 for the lot) and the DCs were all so exhausted by their week that I had the younger two in bed at 6:30 and the older one asked to go up to bed at 7:30. Win!

ellen vannin good idea on the charity shop browsing - I might find stuff that meets my excessive standards without spending too much! Might actually schedule some time to browse the ones in town once a week or something, otherwise it will fall by the wayside.

mumtomany the advent calendar always includes activities, it's just that I end up spending a small fortune on all the crafty stuff and also the 'little' gifts usually end up costing a fair bit added up. I've been planning it today though and actually we have a lot of stuff leftover from previous years (festive cookie cutters etc) which can be re-used, so I'm hoping it will come in a little cheaper than last year.

Chrystal thanks for the support. I'm aware that we are going counter to received wisdom on the subject of debt busting, and it may well come back to bite us on the behind, but I'm content with the decisions we've made so far.

I impressed myself today (warning: this is enormously unimpressive): Checked all the DCs coats and established that definitely none are required this month. Went on usual Next/John Lewis sites to order new clothes for DC3 (badly needed) and when the basket totals came to <cough> £180, I ditched the lot and ordered from Sainsbury's Tu and H&M instead. It was still £50 because she has absolutely no winter clothes and needed wellies too, but it's an improvement. Also ordered her Christmas stocking party dress (revolting twirly sparkly affair, she will love it) from H&M, so much cheaper than the much more restrained (and much less appealing, to her) John Lewis version I was eyeing up.

Have been planning the advent calendar and have avoided planning in a single gift so far, apart from traditional Christmas Eve family lego set. I may sub some of the more wholesome (and expensive) crafty activities for gifts/craft sets if I find something cheaper in the pound shop, and I will order things like a nice Christmas colouring in poster, but it's already shaping up to be cheaper than last year's. Going to start planning the stockings next.

To do today
1. catch up with the ironing. Not done in any way.
2. email the other relative re visiting when we're in London. Not done.
3. create chores list as discussed with DH last night. Not done. This isn't shaping up well, is it?!
4. cook sourdough. Done! I did something! Four loaves in the freezer.
5. book hygienist appointment. Not done.
6. plan advent calendar. Half done.
7. plan homemade gifts. Not done. Well that was a bit of wash out!

To do this week
1. social media for website launch. Done.
2. redo SOA based on DH's current salary (he is still being promised pay rise next month). Done.
3. October YNAB prep. Done.
4. start to plan advent calendars and Christmas presents so I can get a handle on spending. Ongoing
5. plan working time for October. Done.
6. check total spend for last month. This is all weird on YNAB because I moved the partnership card from a budget to a tracked account and it's sent my spending sums all screwy, so I'm not certain. Under £3,750, probably not under £3,500 is my best guess.

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts.

Hiddenidenity

The works online is fab for crafty things and smaller books. I got 10 Xmas books for under £9 today perfect for the smaller ones (sorry I can't remember how old your littles are) but even my 8 year old will read them no doubt.

I'm so glad you said about Sainsbury and H&M I didn't even realise sainsburys did clothing online! My DD has absolutely nothing left that fits her and is desperate I keep watching on Ebay but haven't found anything cheap enough yet so will check H&M and Sainsburys next month. We are managing with uniform and PJS :rotfl:

I think you're doing amazing x

Honeysucklelou2

I appreciate that you are balancing debt busting with living a lifestyle you are happy with but would still urge caution re putting the Christmas spending on a cc. I write as one who has done that in the past and still been paying for it to Easter of the next year and beyond.


Well done on that Sainsbury Tu /H and M shop.:)

Cherryfudge

I'd like to second all recommendations for pound shops and The Works for stocking fillers! Other options might be:
print out colouring sheets from the Internet (rolled up nicely and secured with an elastic band or wool),
Make jam jar 'cooking kits' with the dry ingredients for biscuits nicely layered inside. Bigger versions of these are also nice gifts for adults.
Start them knitting with those little balls of 'craft wool' that are very garish but make snazzy dolls' scarves.
Make kits for DIY peg dolls or wooden spoon dolls. (Use actual pegs /spoons, of course - and real fabric scraps, odds & ends of wool etc. 'like they did in the old days').
Home made play dough or edible slime.
Washing line skipping ropes - another item from a pound shop that used to keep kids busy and healthy too!

These are all on the cheap side and encourage creativity as well as being a bit of heritage.

Looking through your list, I noticed you buy board games, which is what I liked to do for my children but as they got older, it got harder to buy good ones that weren't exorbitant and which someone in the family didn't already have. They can be really costly so perhaps for this year they could have card games (shop around because some are a lot cheaper than others), marbles, jack straws, solitaire etc.

Another thing that went down very well was a little book of vouchers to 'cash in' - get out of a chore, have Mum you read a story, go on a scavenger hunt, chose what we're having for tea, etc.

You are working incredibly hard on everything - I hope it's a wonderful Christmas!

crunch_time

Topm - the ‘useful for £1’ list includes a lot of the things already mentioned above! I also include glue sticks and felt pens, pants and socks, colouring books rolled up, flannels, art supplies, secondhand books from charity shops. The bigger the object for £1 the better as it bulls put the stocking. Last year I tried £10 per child but it wasn’t enough so I did £20 of £1 items and it worked. Did the same thing for husband and I so only spent £80 on stockings in total. I found if you set a rule like this it makes it easier to stick to a budget. I have also bought some nice card and written vouchers on them like ‘stay up late’ etc. Last yeari included a voucher for Lego land which was awesome and also meant I could save for it after Christmas!!

I also only spend £10 each on my nieces and nephews - there are four of them.

This year we are planning on getting new bikes for our two but are buying second hand ones and then a few others. We are also going to make Christmas Day about things we don’t normally do but are fun so it becomes more about the day than the presents.

I hate the consumeristness Of Christmas and always have done. My mum and dad stressed loads over Christmas presents and the perfect roast rather than it’s meaning and I’m determined I’m not going to do the same.

Xx

Suffolk_lass

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I'd like to second all recommendations for pound shops and The Works for stocking fillers! Other options might be:
print out colouring sheets from the Internet (rolled up nicely and secured with an elastic band or wool),
Make jam jar 'cooking kits' with the dry ingredients for biscuits nicely layered inside. Bigger versions of these are also nice gifts for adults.
Start them knitting with those little balls of 'craft wool' that are very garish but make snazzy dolls' scarves.
Make kits for DIY peg dolls or wooden spoon dolls. (Use actual pegs /spoons, of course - and real fabric scraps, odds & ends of wool etc. 'like they did in the old days').
Home made play dough or edible slime.
Washing line skipping ropes - another item from a pound shop that used to keep kids busy and healthy too!

These are all on the cheap side and encourage creativity as well as being a bit of heritage.

Looking through your list, I noticed you buy board games, which is what I liked to do for my children but as they got older, it got harder to buy good ones that weren't exorbitant and which someone in the family didn't already have. They can be really costly so perhaps for this year they could have card games (shop around because some are a lot cheaper than others), marbles, jack straws, solitaire etc.

Another thing that went down very well was a little book of vouchers to 'cash in' - get out of a chore, have Mum you read a story, go on a scavenger hunt, chose what we're having for tea, etc.

You are working incredibly hard on everything - I hope it's a wonderful Christmas!

I love these ideas! I shall definitely be doing jam jar cooking kits and little book of home-vouchers.

An alternative to the expensive board games is the (free) game we play that we call the teapot game (we use an old Denby teapot with the spout snapped off - since sanded). Everyone writes ten (could be more) names on strips of paper that are then folded and put in the teapot. They can be people you know, famous, alive or dead, or fictional characters - or a complete mixture of these.

Divide into two teams then each team takes it in turns to describe the name they pull out until their team guesses it - a minute per team, with the other team timing and counting - until the pot is empty. The winners are the team with the most right answers. It is always personal to the group playing, and there are invariably several duplicate Santa Clauses at Christmas! - It's great fun when away camping and sitting around a fire in the semi-darkness too.