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Christmas is the most expensive time of the year for most people and today I’m sharing some tips on how you can stick to your budget…
I know from being young and having little money to my name, just how hard it can be at Christmas time. You want to buy all your friends & family really lovely gifts but you can’t afford the things you’d really like to buy. It’s worth remembering that, even though gift giving is such a lovely thing to do, it’s the thought that counts. How many times have you heard that before? It’s so true though. There’s so many things you can do that mean you can give all of your loved ones fab gifts without going over your budget. I remember being at uni during Christmas time and being so far into my overdraft that I could barely afford anything. It’s not always as easy to save for Christmas, especially as a student! Fortunately, my debt never got too severe, but if you are struggling this year, there is help available so click here for more info. Hopefully though, you can use some of these tips and make sure that this Christmas is as friendly as it can be to your bank account!
Spread it out. It seems silly buying gifts ridiculously early, but so what?! If you have the storage space, start as soon as the January sales kick in. Grab a Christmas bargain as soon as they start selling off all the baubles and whatnot. Obviously some things, like chocolate can’t be bought that far in advance, but there’s plenty of things that can be. There are thousands of gift sets and all sorts being flogged in the Jan sales, and it’s the perfect time to pick up a few gifts you can store away for the following Christmas. If you feel like that is a little bit too early, you can still spread it out throughout the year by picking up bits and bobs whenever there are sales on or websites are doing a good discount. Sites such as feelunique are constantly doing 20% off, sometimes higher, throughout the year, so all you need to do is remember to pick up a few things!
Black Friday. The great thing about November, is that every year we have Black Friday. It’s the absolute perfect time to pick up a Christmas gift bargain, as it’s so close to Christmas anyway! Some of the biggest retailers will have amazing deals on so that you can grab some really great gifts for an absolute bargain. A few of the ones not to miss out on include Amazon, John Lewis, Asos with 30% off, Superdrug & Matalan with 50% off. Lots of retailers have started the deals already, but a few don’t start until midnight on the 24th so keep a look out!
Save. This one seems like the most obvious step, but I know just how hard it can be to save rather than spend. I think a great way to save is to tell yourself that you will get a reward at the end of it. I spent all year saving up so that I could afford a holiday and it went so well. Of course that’s quite a large reward, but even if you just save really carefully for a month or two, you can treat yourself to something on your lust list afterwards!
Handmade gifts. Sometimes the best gifts are the ones with the most thought put into them. If you’re really tight on cash, then why not buy a few supplies where you can make a cute little DIY gift? There’s plenty of ideas over on Pinterest – get creative! Other ways in which you could make something for someone include baking them a nice treat. A box full of cookies or brownies would go down really well I’m sure, or even a fancy cake?! Go all out.
So those are a few ways in which you can try and reduce your spendings on the lead up to Christmas. Let me know if you have any other ideas, it’s even more expensive for me now I have a little one!
