What would you do differently Xmas 2008?

Skippycat

1. make my xmas cards earlier so they are finished in plenty of time before xmas.

2. do more of my shopping on-line as it is so much easier and there are so many great shopping sites.

frosty

Keep husband away from the turkey,I normally cook the turkey but my husband said he would take care of it,we all sat down at 2pm and then discovered the turkey wasnt cooked properly,so we had to microwave it.I wouldnt mind but hes a chef.

lunar

this year i will not be working, it seems in my job you cant have the day off if you dont have children, well ive worked the last 6 years so i think its my turn to have the day off!!!

aberdeen

every time i use a coupon in asda i now put the equivalent onto the asda gift card and i will use it at christmas time

Half_pint_4

Have started buying presents and wrapping as I go along. Keep a note of what it is, who it is for and what it is. By the time Christmas arrives I forget what the item looks like from the description so end up buying more stuff. This year have taken photos of presents and saved them in a file with a spreadsheet of everyone's name so I know who is left to buy/make for

buxtonrabbitgreen

I will and have started doing the same as I did last year. Got all the wrap and tags and cards in the sales. Have bought 3 presents in sales. The only thing I will do differently is this year, I won't say I am going to save all my Nectar points I will actually do it.
I had to put my christmas food shop on the credit card as I didn't get paid till the 5th Jan. So this year I hsould have enough Nectar points for the food. All the presents were paid for out of wages, so that was a great improvment on previous years.

Steel_2

Ask MIL to make a small half pound christmas pudding instead of a 2.5 pound one. There was only four of us and two of us don't like christmas pudding.

And she knew this when she made it!!!

mumoftwins

Next Christmas I would like to be settled in our permanent home with no worries about being evicted and having nowhere to live. I would also like to be strong enough to get my act together and actually send Christmas cards instead of not being able to cope with it all. Also, I would like to have enough money to be able to do a big Christmas buffet and invite all the friends I have made on the DFW forum to say 'thank you' for all their help :A

jess444_2

Save throughout the year - have started now need to resist the temptation to spend it on other things. Save £20 month on Tesco card for food. Continue what I did this year and make some of my presents. Write cards earlier - I hate it and always leave it until the last minute. Rethink amount spent on 2 children - remind myself they are adults now and don't need stocking fillers. Do what I did this year and buy nephews and neices pantomime tickets rather than toys - much easier for me and they all seemed to enjoy the day. in fact was such a success may rethink buying 'presents' - and replace with 'experiences' for everyone.

jamanda

Will spend much less. Didn't go into debt but when added up it was horrendous. Also was appalled when I went out with grown up kids on Boxing Day and realised loads of stuff I had struggled to buy was half price. We also will be eating chocs etc. until Easter. I bought far too much stuff, although did it a bit at a time.

All in all, was very MSE but need to halve the amounts, both in food bought in and presents. Generosity is nice, stupidity is .. well.... stupid.