*sigh* this may take a while

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Moguline wrote: »

I have a wooden advent calendar for Spud from Aldi that you fill yourself. Last year, I got stickers from home bargains and a multipack of sweets, divided them up between the compartments and dropped in the odd lego person here or there for extra excitement. It was far cheaper than a Lego calendar, but now I just have to get the fillers every year - something worth considering?

Even for beauty, you could buy a £5 gift set from somewhere like Superdrug or boots and divide the contents up in the calendar?

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

I have a communal advent calendar that is a felt one with pockets that can be filled with small chocolates, so everyone gets something but it's much cheaper than lots of advent calendars. An advent candle is a welcome addition on the table, except I keep forgetting a day or two and end up having to let it burn down!

We have a wooden advent house that we've had for years, the kids love it. Each window and door has a number.... they're tiny, so once we got past 2 children we started writing a clue as to where they can find that days treats (usually chocolate). Gets a bit tedious finding places to hide them!! Never got into the annoying elf thing, thank goodness (bah humbug).
The fancy advent calendars was an extra we did for a few years, we didn't do them last year and the kids were definitely sad about it.
Discussed it with OH and we've agreed not to do it again this year, not justifiable when there's so many other financial drains!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Like the advent candle idea, might look into that one!

[Deleted User]

Yeah, we don't do the elf. I don't like this concept of the elf "watching you" and the whole "if you're not good you won't get presents" blackmail thing that goes along with it. Santa cams are even worse. I'd rather my child behaves nicely because he wants to be pleasant and is just a decent person in general!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Nothing much planned today and should be a NSD... I should really be getting on with painting, but really not fancying it. Think I'll just make sure chores are up to date today so we can do the painting at the weekend instead, OH can do some tomorrow while I'm at work or one of us can do some Sunday.

We're trying to avoid evenings out or day trips, probably for most of the rest of the year, which is a bit sad! We really want to get on track and to try and absorb Christmas costs in our monthly budget. We'd love to start 2020 with a clean slate; CC with just grocery/petrol spends and no overdraft.... we probably won't have anything in savings, but that would be a good mission for next year

[Deleted User]

Sounds like a good plan! At least it's a good time of the year to hibernate! I'm definitely in hibernation mode now - turning down any commitments I can because it all adds up!

savingholmes

Just caught back up after a few days away from mse.... Hormonal girls - just what they are - raging anxiety and panic attacks - sadly appears the norm. I have a 16 year old so feel your pain.

On the Christmas front - I think it is about managing expectations and I now keep a list of everything I buy on a spreadsheet - which helps me not get carried away. I used to buy throughout the year due to so called bargains - but find now it is cheaper to wait and besides which I then don't get caught out by the late must have. I do max out any loyalty point type offers available. I also do much of the shopping for the fam for my parents and sometimes one of my sisters and my MIL - so know that feeling too... It does mean though that I get the benefit of any cashback offers etc...

savingholmes

On the £3K in a month CC bill... I found that I had to go cold turkey and stop using as I had similar experiences previously... Otherwise it feels like I am bailing a boat out while it is still taking on water.... I now hear DR in my head... saying no more debt - ever again - and get that £1K emergency fund in place... Seriously I have found listening to DR and imagining it was me he was ranting at weirdly motivating to sort myself out - although I prefer the B@ref00t investor on things like pensions etc... and he s funnier to listen to...

HTH

crunch_time

I have always made a list of Christmas presents to get and never thought to put it on a spreadsheet before. Thanks for the reminder savingholmes.

On the Christmas front I’m also determined that I won’t end up with lots of crap this year. We are away so no big presents anyway but less is definitely more.

Crunchy

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Moguline wrote: »

Sounds like a good plan! At least it's a good time of the year to hibernate! I'm definitely in hibernation mode now - turning down any commitments I can because it all adds up!

Hibernation, perfect word for it!

crunch_time wrote: »

I have always made a list of Christmas presents to get and never thought to put it on a spreadsheet before. Thanks for the reminder savingholmes.

On the Christmas front I’m also determined that I won’t end up with lots of crap this year. We are away so no big presents anyway but less is definitely more.

Crunchy

It's so easy to overspend I like the idea of keeping a proper track, never tried spreadsheets... they scare me a bit :rotfl:

ohdearhowdidthathappen

savingholmes wrote: »

Just caught back up after a few days away from mse.... Hormonal girls - just what they are - raging anxiety and panic attacks - sadly appears the norm. I have a 16 year old so feel your pain.

On the Christmas front - I think it is about managing expectations and I now keep a list of everything I buy on a spreadsheet - which helps me not get carried away. I used to buy throughout the year due to so called bargains - but find now it is cheaper to wait and besides which I then don't get caught out by the late must have. I do max out any loyalty point type offers available. I also do much of the shopping for the fam for my parents and sometimes one of my sisters and my MIL - so know that feeling too... It does mean though that I get the benefit of any cashback offers etc...

I always do my xmas shopping mega early, trying not to this year as so many shops have last minute sales! Good way of thinking about it, I need to take advantage of cashback etc

savingholmes wrote: »

On the £3K in a month CC bill... I found that I had to go cold turkey and stop using as I had similar experiences previously... Otherwise it feels like I am bailing a boat out while it is still taking on water.... I now hear DR in my head... saying no more debt - ever again - and get that £1K emergency fund in place... Seriously I have found listening to DR and imagining it was me he was ranting at weirdly motivating to sort myself out - although I prefer the B@ref00t investor on things like pensions etc... and he s funnier to listen to...

HTH

I like the DR method... I find CC as bad as an OD, you're in debt before you start the month. I like your boat analogy.... I find it's either OD or CC though, not enough cash around to use neither. Definitely our weak point that needs addressing! I don't think DR translates well for the UK with mortgages and pensions personally though. Never heard pf the other guy you've mentioned, will google