The DFW "Celebrate Christmas for free in 2008" Challenge

sweetpeas_2

hi choca, were going to turkey in may. looking forward to it, and can honestly say its the first holiday weve been on where weve not used a penny credit so were really pleased with that, weve worked loads of extra shifts for it!!! got a bit of spendo to save up after paid for holiday next week, dont need alot cos its all inclusive.
i know we should be using the money for our debts, but weve not been away for a while and after all the extra shifts we are defo ready for it! at least weve not created more debt by going though, which is obv the main thing.

not doing as well for christmas as id like to be doing at this stage, but thats obv cos were payin for the holiday aswell. forgot to add, ive got £60 of park hampers coming end of year which im paying £2/wk for. when ive finished paying for these (around mind july)i might add another £40 on there to pay for between july- oct. ill see how my cmas stash is doing by then1

xx nog xx

JayneC

Hi,

Have finally managed to make a note of my points, etc

IPSOS 770
Media Transfer 20 MTs
My Valued Opinions £2.75
Pigsback 515
Nectar 1613
(tns are converted to nectar too)
Toluna 43390
Home of Research 900
Zoom Rewards 445
ipoints 324
Boots 1715

I also had a spend in Boots using money off and extra points coupons and got the No7 free gift (which will prob go to mum for mothers day) and a couple of items for my Christmas box (Presents/Stocking Fillers that I acquire through the year)-
Ted Baker body wash (Which had 2 seperate coupons for 100 points each)
Soap & Glory hand cream (with 250 points)

I'm quite pleased with that, think I'm doing ok for one month into the year!

I've got more money off and points coupons for No7 so will probably buy more and get another of the free gifts which I'll put in my Christmas box!

pheeni22

New totals:

£10 Schuh Giftcard
£25 HMV Giftcard
£10 Next Giftcard
£21.85 Pigsback
£15.74 Boots Advantage Card
13510 points Toluna (30000 converted into £5 Sainsbury's voucher - pending)
£7.53 Nectar points

£90.12 Approx total

sweetpeas_2

hi guys :hello:

Im not doing very well really with my saves. We paid the holiday off yesterday, so now im on with saving for holiday spending money and then im going to really crack on with christmas!
when i look at my little spreadsheet (arent i organised!) ive got 4 people sorted out of a huge 33 that we buy for :eek: but, a few of the other people ive got parts of their gifts, so probably not as bad as it sounds...

Im up to £8 on my tesco card, and have £15 saver stamps, so im quite happy with that, cos thats towards my c/mas week food budget (want £150)

me and dh have decided not to buy for each other, which has taken my budget needed down by £100 altogether.

im so grateful to choca for this thread cos i would never be this organised without it!

totals to date:

pressie budget:
toluna =48'750
park vouchers (£60 altogether) =paid £12
s/o to my mum each month (£15) =£45
£1/wk savers card =£9

food budget:
tesco card £8.00
Saver stamps tesco £15



not bad for feb, but as i say, ill be really going for it in a few months when hol spends sorted!


xx nog xx

tattycath

Hi all. Right, I'd like to pose a question if I may, How much does everyone allow for each of their children when buying their christmas presents? we always end up spending way more than we should-or indeed, can afford. Help. |Doesn't help that 2 of them will be teenagers and I've promised one of them a laptop for her coursework for her final 2 years at school. Any help/advise will be greatly appreciated.Thanks in anticipation.

hypno06

We have agreed a budget of £20 each for our children (age 13 and 14 this Xmas). They have agreed on it too, so we will see how it goes. My two are happy with a small amount spent on them because they get so much for their skiing, but others may think it just measly!

I had another £10 boots voucher arrive today from pigsback :j

sweetpeas_2

I give a budget of £150 for each child, which sounds alot, but when you look at what you can actually get for the money, its really not that much. for eg, my son had a ds lite for cmas last year, and will therefore be wanting a game or 2 for that this year, and they are like £20-30 each arent they, so it soon mounts up.
i try to buy bits as and when i see them on sale though throughout the year, so it doesnt end up costing me that much out of my pressie budget come oct/nov.
I have 2 kids, and they are 2 and 4

Sounds like alot I know, but me and dh tend not to bother with each other to compensate. so its like £300 goes between all 4 of us, so not as bad when you look at it like that i suppose!

whatever you can reasonably afford is fair i think. you cant spend what you havent got! (sound like my mum now...! :rolleyes:)

hth tattycath xxx

chocaholic110

Received a £10 Amazon voucher from Ipsos Media Surveys so will add that to total. Ordered a £10 Argos voucher from Ipsos but will wait until it arrives to add it (I think I'm still waiting for the last one actually - must check on that!)


In answer to your question tattycath, last year I set my two a budget of £200. They wrote lists of what they would like, then I tried my hardest to get what they asked for but at a cheaper price. Worked really well for DD as much of what she wanted could be bought at Argos and they did a series of half price offers on various toy brands in the run up to Christmas meaning i got most of her stuff half price. It was more difficult for DS as he mostly wanted Wii / Nintendo DS games and new ones don't tend to be reduced much but used lots of price comparison sites / discount codes etc and got his stuff more cheaply too. Will probably do similar this year though will have a much smaller budget for Tom who will only be 11 months and won't know what's happenening anyway.

Annie021063

Well these are my totals so far. I'm glad for this challenge otherwise no effort would have been made and the vouchers I would have had anyway would have been squandered.
Piggy points£20.64vouchers£70.00Boots card£17.00waterstones 0.88Green met£7Play.com£13.89quidco0r ponts1812 pointsnectar710 pointscoop99 pointsmutual points590 pointsvalued opinions£11.50toluna37845 points

tattycath

Well done Annie, that's really good. I know what you mean, I would have previously squandered any vouchers I had-but not any more!!! This thread-and indeed website is an absolute Godsend!!!!