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
Lisa Backsnbumps
November 3, 2016 at 5:19 pm (1 year ago)Some great tips. I try and wait for Amazon to do their big black Friday deals, I’ve got some great bargains off them before.
Jess Helicopter
November 3, 2016 at 8:24 pm (1 year ago)OOooh I love this time of year. I get so excited about the impending festivities. I’ll keep those online shopping dates in mind. Still have no idea what my kids’ main presents will be so perhaps inspiration will hit on Cyber monday!
Alina
November 4, 2016 at 9:05 am (1 year ago)YES. Very good ideas. Don’t forget HotUKDeals too and I’d say Black Friday is definitely the best bet as companies go crazy for it as well as the people haha.
clairejustine
November 4, 2016 at 11:15 am (1 year ago)Some great tips and ideas here. We are always on a budget. I think that is why I am worn out at Christmas as we are always looking for the best deals 🙂
karen
November 5, 2016 at 12:25 am (1 year ago)What a great post, I buy some of my presents in the January sales and put money up every now and then so when toys my girl like are on offer I can get them and put up for Christmas
Rachel
November 5, 2016 at 9:29 am (1 year ago)Some really good tips. I am hoping for some bargains via the cashback sites this year.
Jan
November 5, 2016 at 12:01 pm (1 year ago)Great tips! I always use Top Cashback when shopping online.
Kara Guppy
November 5, 2016 at 9:27 pm (1 year ago)I keep saying I will use top cashback but always forget. Bookmarking it now
Newcastle Family Life
November 5, 2016 at 10:14 pm (1 year ago)We are moving next week so we have not really done much Christmas shopping yet. I am so going to start looking for discount codes online as I never think to check them x
MELANIE EDJOURIAN
November 6, 2016 at 1:15 am (1 year ago)You have some great tips there, I like to use sites where I can make savings and find great deals.
Grant R
November 6, 2016 at 6:37 am (1 year ago)All good ideas. It’s so expensive. Any tips to help reduce the cost are appreciated!
Lisa Lambert (mumdadplus4)
November 6, 2016 at 9:09 am (1 year ago)We sort of do this I tends to buy bits throughout the year that I see I don’t make enough use of cash back site though and I really should
Little Pickle's Mom
November 6, 2016 at 11:16 am (1 year ago)We’ll definitely be on a budget this year (maternity pay is starting to dwindle!) so this post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I need to get my head around all these cashback websites and things – better financial planning goes a long way doesn’t it!?
Jenni
November 6, 2016 at 6:03 pm (1 year ago)It does go a long way and I really started thinking more about it when I prepared for my maternity leave x
Hannah Spannah
November 21, 2016 at 2:23 pm (1 year ago)These are great tips but i just find I can’t buy things in advance as I end up buying twice as much as I see ‘better’ things throughout the year. Cash back on to the love to shop card is a great tip – I didn’t know you could do that. Thanks for joining the #weekendblogshare