Christmas and Budgeting Blog
20/11/2013
Christmas can be an incredibly stressful time for some people, with the never ending pressure of buying gifts, deciding on what to feed everyone on Christmas Day and resisting the urge to spend in the Christmas sales. And the pressure seems to start earlier each year.
A recent article published on the Mirror website suggested that the average gift spend this Christmas will be £28.70, which is an increase on last year.
We’ve searched around and compiled a handy list of saving and budgeting tips for Christmas:
1. Take part in a Secret Santa
A quirky western Christmas tradition whereby you purchase a gift anonymously for another person within a group; usually seen within office communities but it is now become a popular choice for extended and large families.
A reasonable budget is set, which is usually in the region of £5 to £20 and often a theme is placed on the gift, to make the unveiling of the present more entertaining.
As you are only buying for one person out of a group it reduces the overall cost substantially!
2. Agree on one ‘family’ present
A suitable option for the growing family, whereby you all mutually agree on one gift for the family and you contribute to it in a variety of ways, for example, purchasing a new computer or interactive TV.
By agreeing in advance what the gift is will allow you to plan ahead and start saving, so you don’t feel the expense in the run up to Christmas.
3. Use cashback sites
If you haven’t registered already on one of the main UK cashback sites such as Topcashback or Quidco then we suggest that visit them today. They’re quite straight forward to use and you gain a cash reward when you click through their site to buy goods from another. If you use these sites regularly then your rewards could add up to hundreds of pounds per year.
4. Start saving early
How often have you heard at the start of each year… “Christmas has left me with no cash for January”? Christmas falls on the same date every year but we bet hardly any of you will start saving for Christmas 2014 in January.
By simply putting away an amount of cash each month into an account where you cannot get hold of it until the following Christmas will ease the annual pressure on your Christmas spend.
5. Sell used items
By looking around your home and weighing up what items you could sell to generate cash for Christmas not only helps on budget but creates additional space around the home. There are many online companies such as Ebay, Preloved and GumTree that will help you sell unwanted goods.
Do you have any Christmas saving and budgeting tips that you wish to share with us? If so please get in touch via email or through Facebook or Twitter.
If you are feeling the strain of Christmas and need someone to talk to about saving for next year or how to budget in general please feel free to ask a question or give us a call.
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