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Have a savvy Christmas
Posted Tuesday 20 December 2011
It feels better knowing that you’re making the most of your money throughout the festive season. So if you want to avoid money problems in the New Year, these tips from Tiana at the Money Advice Service may help.
Tips from Christmas past
Decide on the amount you can afford to spend - and stick to it. Include everything - gifts, travel, food, new outfits, decorations and entertaining. Our online Managing your money guide can help.
Plan your food list carefully. According to Love Food, Hate Waste, we throw away over eight million tonnes of food each year. This costs the average family with children £680!
Get creative and make what you can. Homemade jam or cookies, or a framed photo, make great gifts. Wrap them in brown paper tied with a festive red ribbon.
Advice for Christmas present
Write a list. Estimate the cost of each item and check that the total is within your budget. And if you’re buying online don’t forget to include delivery charges.
Compare prices of different retailers. Our online Shopping around guide can help. Look closely at special offers to make sure they really are value for money. And keep an eye out for discount vouchers.
Do you need insurance? Check your gifts are covered by your contents insurance policy. And think twice before buying extended warranties - you may already be covered.
Make every penny count. Our Cut-back calculator can help you see where you could save elsewhere to free up money for Christmas.
If you’re receiving benefits, you could be entitled to a Christmas bonus. And if you don’t currently get benefits, find out if you should. Check for both on the Directgov website.
Hints for Christmas future
If you’re borrowing for Christmas, only borrow what you can afford to pay back, and check the terms and charges to get the best product for you. See our site to compare types of borrowing.
Once the festivities are over, see where you could be making more of your money all year round.
Start as you mean to go on by taking the health check - our online money planner. It takes just a few minutes to get your own personal action plan showing how to make the most of your money now, and reach your future goals.
Get the whole family involved, so they can start a money-savvy new year too. And check our website for more money tips.
Tiana
Contact the Money Advice Service and take the online health check to prepare for 2012.
Read our information on money and mental health for tips on managing your finances, and details of where to find help if you're struggling.
2 Comments
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I have already overspent this Christmas. I really tried my best to lower cost everywhere but now I'm told that It wasn't enough as we have gone over budget. I don't see what else I could have done and my husband reluctantly admits that he can't see where we could have cut costs either. Unfortunately It has led to a very big argument between myself and my husband and as a result I have decided that next year, apart from buying my husband something, I am not being solely responsible for buying presents or food etc. I don't want to say this to be nasty to my husband at all but I can't be blamed for Christmas overspend again. Unless we are going to get together and both come up with ideas for cutting cost and make decisions jointly, as it should be, then I can't be the one to do all the organising. It seems as if it has all fallen to me, and as a result we have overspent and although neither see where we could have cut costs this seems to be my fault.
One thing we have decided together is that next year we are putting away an amount of money each month into a savings account and we will use this to help with Christmas cost. This will really help but regardless I still will not be doing Christmas shopping for people on my own again. The stress of money at Christmas is too much and places a dark cloud over what should be happy time of year. I'll get this sorted and my husband and I will talk about this when things have calmed down. I already have a list of items to sell to raise money to pay off the overspend on the credit card. I know we can thankfully meet the extra cost of Christmas this year and that makes us lucky compared to some, but it's not been without heartache. I certainly do not want a repeat of this next year!
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Thank you for sharing your story Leanne, and for highlighting some ideas to help prepare for Christmas 2012. You may wish to have a look at the Money Advice Service website to help you. moneyadviceservice.org.uk
You can use the comparison tables to find the most suitable savings account for your needs and can also use the credit card calculator to work out how long it will take to pay off your balance.
Have an enjoyable Christmas.
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