With just over a month until Christmas, this is the time if you haven’t already started to get prepared to have a stress free Christmas this year. If you want to do Christmas on a budget the best time to start buying presents is in the Boxing Day sales. I do this every year and space my present buying throughout the year, that way I can purchase in various sales and spread the cost rather than having a bulk of my money disappearing in the same month.
If you are starting to buy now, use cashback sites to earn cashback on what you buy, my favourite is Top Cashback. I get my cashback paid onto my Love2shop card as it earns me an extra 6% on my pay out compared to getting it paid into my bank account. Having it on my Love2shop card also prevents me from spending the money on bits and bobs and I use that for buying presents. 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 children’s savings account so although you aren’t saving anything, you are getting some pennies back for either yourself or into your child’s saving account.
Take advantage of Black Friday, this year it falls on Friday 25th November. Black Friday truly terrifies me, I would not step foot in a shop on this day but I do make purchases online as they do have deals there as well. This is usually the day that I purchase the more expensive items or clothing that I may need to return after Christmas which means I haven’t been able to buy earlier in the year.
Another pre-Christmas sale is Cyber Monday, this year it falls on Monday 28th November. Like Black Friday, it originated from America and prices are slashed for 24 hours on online stores, The retailers usually keep their deals secret until the day and start them at midnight so to get some of the deals you may have to stay up for it but at least you can shop from the comfort of your own home.
Get creative with Christmas activities for children, helping them make their own gifts for Grandparents whether it be arts and crafts or baking some Christmas cookies.
When the day arrives, treasure it. Forget about any stresses and enjoy the day with your family x