It may not be Christmas yet but now is the time to start thinking about next year and utilising the Boxing Day/ January sales to their full potential. I know it is very tempting to go and treat yourself but spending wisely in the sales can leave you with extra pennies throughout the year for when you see the offers on the new season clothing you really want.
Plan properly and you can get a lot of your birthday presents and next years Christmas presents sorted for rock bottom prices. I purchased 2 of Lucas’ Christmas presents in the January sale before he was born, both should have been £40 each and I got them for £10 each. The star gifts from Boots are fab for getting to save for other occasions, you can’t go wrong with the Soap & Glory and No 7 gift sets when they are better than half price. I love the Sanctuary gift set that is reduced as a star gift, I treated myself to that last year, using my advantage card points. I bought several birthday presents and my Mums present for Mothers Day (No7 better than half price star gift). I stocked up on wrapping paper for 5p per roll and chose plain gold so I could use it for presents throughout the year rather than just at Christmas. Once I wrapped the presents I had bought, I stored them in a wardrobe out if the way and wrote a list of what I had got for everyone as I knew I wouldn’t remember when it came closer.
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are also good to remember for the gifts you haven’t already bought.
Joining loyalty clubs is an easy way of gaining points to spend. The Boots Parenting Club is my favourite as you get 10 points for every £1 you spend on baby products which soon add up. I saved throughout the year and then used them to buy some stocking fillers and treats for myself and Lucas in November. The regular Boots Advantage Card gives you 4 points for every £1. There is also an Over 60s Club that gives 10 points per £1 spent on Boots branded products.
I am also in the Christmas Saver Club for Tesco Clubcard, all my points are saved and in November my vouchers get sent to me. These are great for doubling up when Tesco have a Clubcard Boost promotion on.
Other loyalty cards I like are Nectar, Superdrug, Toys R Us, The Co-op, Morrisons, Waitrose and John Lewis.
I also use cashback sites for my shopping to earn cashback on what I buy, my favourite is Top Cashback*. I get my cashback paid onto my Love2shop card as it earns me an extra 6% on my payout. There is also Quidco* for cashback. When there isn’t any cashback available on those for a certain store I check KidStart*, KidStart pays cashback into a nominated childrens savings account.