It’s the time of the year you either love or hate. Whilst much of Christmas is thoroughly enjoyable; festive food, spending time with friends and family and overpriced Christmas market hot chocolate, the idea of Christmas shopping can send even the most organised person into chaos. It’s easy to get carried away when buying presents by dipping into your savings account or using credit cards, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This article will help you learn how to do Christmas cheap.
The importance of a list
The best way to ensure that you don’t get swept away by the Christmas tide is to start out with a clear list. Before you take to the high street, it’s a good idea to sit down and plan out exactly who you want to buy Christmas presents for. You should also estimate how much you would like to spend on each person. This will determine whether or not you are staying within your budget. The sooner you start, the better.
One way to maximise the efficiency of a list is to decide early on which Christmas gifts to buy for each person. This is very beneficial, as it should stop you from overspending if you make sure that you are only buying presents from that list.
It doesn’t really matter how you lay out your list, the most important thing is that it works for you. If you’re someone who works visually, you should use the list to track your progress as you’re buying presents.
It might also be a good idea to have the list on your phone so that it’s always on you. You can do this simply on a notes app. However, if you prefer the traditional pen-and-paper method, you can just keep the list in your purse or wallet. If you do just one thing this Christmas to save money, I would recommend using a list.
Be brutal
Another way to save money this Christmas is to be brutal when deciding who to buy gifts for. It might be useful to do this just before you sit down and write your list. We all want to be generous, especially this time of year, but it isn’t always within our means. Do you really need to be buying your besties’ dog a present?
A good rule of thumb is to only buy Christmas presents for close friends and family. If you still feel that you’re stretching your Christmas gift budget too thin, you may only want to buy for family. True friends will understand that you can’t buy for everyone and they may be in the same position themselves.
Being brutal also involves being realistic with a budget. First, you should work out an overall budget that you’re able to spend on all Christmas gifts. From this, you can calculate how much you’re able to spend on each person.
One way to be tight on your budget is to consider who you are buying for. You could reduce your spending on siblings if your parents are likely to be buying a lot for them. This also applies to budgeting for children, especially if they’ll be too young to remember the big day in years to come.
Save money online
One way to save when shopping online is by using cashback sites. These sites work by giving you back a percentage of what you paid for your item if you purchased it through their website. You may have to sign up for the website, but you’ll only save money if this is a free sign up. If they ask for money upfront to join, then avoid that site.
Instead of going directly to a retailer, you access the store through the cashback website. Your purchase will still come from the retailer, but the cashback site will give you some of your money back.
They’re able to do this as they use affiliated links, which lets the retailer know where the traffic is coming from. The cashback site will get a cut of the purchase and then they give you a percentage. Money is deposited into your cashback site account for you to then withdraw. It’s worth noting that this may take a few weeks or even months.
There are five major cashback safety rules, as reported by moneysavingexpert.com.
1. Think of cashback as a bonus, not a guarantee
2. The cashback isn’t yours until it’s in your bank account, so don’t spend the money prematurely
3. Withdraw the cashback as soon as you can
4. Focus on the cheapest deal, rather than the biggest cashback
5. Consider clearing your cookies – you want to make sure you are clicking through from the cashback site and not from anywhere else. To be doubly sure, clear your computer’s cookies first to ensure the cashback is tracked.
Manage big groups
Secret Santa is a great way of saving money. Instead of having to buy Christmas presents for a whole group of friends, you can just buy for one. Secret Santa is usually capped between £5 to £10, or if you really want to save money, only allow homemade gifts.
You can also use Secret Santa within the family. This is a great idea, especially if you have lots of aunties, uncles and cousins. Furthermore, Secret Santa works well in the workplace, but if you are on a tight budget consider skipping for the year.
Similarly, you could get all your friends or colleagues together for a group meal as an alternative to buying gifts. By getting everyone together for a meal you only have to worry about covering your own costs.
Christmas is all about spending time with friends and family. So it doesn’t hurt to be saving money whilst doing so. You can get in the spirit for the big day by playing games and eating festive food, and you can relax knowing you’re saving money.
Quick tips
If you want to give someone something, but don’t know what exactly to get them then get them a gift card. It’s hard to go wrong with them and you can load as little as £5 to £10 onto them. But much more, you can actually buy unwanted gift cards on eBay, that sell for as much as 20% of their retail value.
Furthermore, You can save a lot of money by Christmas shopping in charity shops. Throughout the year you can be looking out for Christmas decorations. It might be that you find them after the big day, most likely in January. But if you buy them cheap at the start of the year, you can box up the Christmas decorations until you need them.
Charity shops are also great to buy second-hand books. Instead of paying close to £10 for a new book, charity shops have a great selection which can make for a good gift. You never know what gems you might find and at the same time your money is going to a great cause.
Find more lifestyle articles here >
Written by Olivia Hinde
Illustrated by Francesca Mariama
