Top 10 Money Saving Tips for Christmas - #1 Gifts

December 10th, 2007 | Money Saving, Top 10

Table of contents for Top Ten Money Saving Tips for Christmas

Christmas Present for my mum - originally posted by lemonad

It’s that time of year again, the mince pies, the Christmas carols, the turkey … and trawling the shops in a mad present buying frenzy.

Buying and giving Christmas presents can be one of the most rewarding parts of Christmas, but unfortunately it can also be one of the most stressful and expensive. I have put together a list of my top money saving tips for presents - and just a few for reducing stress as well.

Budget

Budget, budget and budget some more. Keep repeating it like a mantra unlike it sinks in.

One of the easiest ways to save money at Christmas time is to plan in advance. This comes in two parts. The first part involves working out what you can afford to spend on presents, and then dividing it up between all the people you want to buy for. Sounds easy I know; the hardest part is actually sticking to it. If you can master this part, then the money saving battle is almost one.

The second part is more long term - working out how much money you need to save each month in order to be able to afford these expenses and then managing to put this money aside every month. Ideally, this is something that should be started in January, but the ever true motto comes into play here - “better late than never”. The earlier you start the easier it will be, both in terms of your monthly budget and also when you are trying to find the willpower to stick with it. While it may seem hard putting money aside in January, trust me it will make life so much easier come December. The added benefit is that if you manage this, there is no risk of being tempted to put those presents on a credit card. The last thing you want to be doing come next Christmas is to still be paying for the last one.

Taking this one step further, the super-organized can also start buying their Christmas presents in January. Not only does this give you the opportunity to spread the spending over the entire year, you also have the chance to snap up some great bargains in the sales.

Set a Limit

A few years ago my family all agreed on a New Year’s Resolution that we were going to set a limit of £10 per person for all the adults in the family. No limits for the kids - as much as you can afford or as much as you want to spend. The two best bits of this are that it forces you to be creative - there’s not much in the malls for £10 - and it also stops the craziness that so often comes with last minute Christmas shopping panic. Before we decided on this limit it was turning into a vicious cycle of everyone spending more and more money with less and less thought, and with no guarantee they would actually like it. By making this resolution we have not only saved so much money, but also started to give much more meaningful gifts.

Lucky Dip or Secret Santa

A couple of great variations on setting a limit that work for family, and work equally well for friends or co-workers are organizing a Lucky Dip or a Secret Santa.

The idea with the both Lucky Dip and Secret Santa is that your family, group of friends or co-workers all put your names in a hat. Each person draws one name at random and buys a gift for that person. Everyone receives a gift each person only has the expense of buying for one other person. Keeping it anonymous also means that a lot of the pressure is taken off, especially when buying for co-workers, as no one feels like they are being judged.

Creative Money Saving Gifts

Promises instead of presents - e.g. DIY, babysitting, gardening, washing the car, doing the ironing

No-clutter gifts: movie, theatre and concert tickets, annual passes to local attractions such as the zoo, restaurant vouchers, pampering vouchers.

Personal Gifts; scrapbooks with memorable photos, write a heartfelt letter to someone you love, the gift of time.

Foodie gifts; recipe in a jar, food hampers, home-made goodies including homemade meals, fresh bread, cookies and cakes.

I hope these ideas have been helpful and I would love to hear any ideas that you have. More suggestions the merrier.

Best of the Rest;

One thing I am particularly keen on is highlighting posts from other bloggers that relate to my posts and that I believe are worthwhile additional reading. I plan on including these ‘Best of the Rest’ links is as many of my posts as a I can.