OK so the months of August, September and even October are
too early to start thinking about Christmas, right? We should leave any
thoughts of presents, mince pies and carols well out of our head until at least
after Bonfire Night, shouldn’t we?
The cost of Christmas certainly isn’t getting any cheaper,
especially if you’ve got children whose Christmas lists seem to grow in length
and value with each passing year. For many families who have quite a tight
disposable income all year round the additional expenses at Christmas can leave
them paying off steep debts and horrific levels of interest well into the New
Year. To help prevent the dread of the credit card bill arriving in January, it
makes sense to start Christmas shopping early and spread out the costs well in
advance.
Spread the costs by
Christmas shopping early
In this sense starting to think and preferably shop for all those presents,
decorations, drinks, games, clothes and general excesses Christmas demands,
early and getting little bits ‘ticked off’ each month will dissipate the costs
and mean that mums won’t be forced to hover close to the ‘Red’ come December.
Bag yourself a
bargain
Unless you are brave enough to leave the Christmas shopping
right until the death, namely on Christmas Eve, shopping for the festive season
during November and December is unlikely to involve any sales. By contrast,
sales are usually present during the late-summer and early autumn so why not
take advantage by getting a few presents bought when the sales are in full
swing.
Start saving now
It’s never too late to start saving. In order to secure your
brood’s Christmas wishes and make sure that no one in the family goes without
this Christmas without having to borrow any money, start saving for Christmas
today.
Simple things like refraining from buying that cup of coffee
on your lunch break or cutting out the pub on a Friday night and putting the
money in a Christmas fund jar will mean that by the time December arrives,
you’ll have saved enough money to at least buy the turkey.
Shop online
Instead of trawling from shop to shop searching for a
specific toy, a Christmas tree or an artificial snowmen, why not shop online
from the luxury of your own home? Not
only is ecommerce retail therapy more convenient but every thrifty mum will
know that it can work out cheaper.
Think about it, shopping from your PC, laptop, tablet or
smartphone eradicates the need for petrol money or a bus or train fare to reach
the shops. So depending on how far you live away from the shops, you’ll
immediately have a few extra pounds in your pocket.
Not only this but shopping online means that you can take
advantage of the price comparison sites and really scrutinise prices in order
to secure the best price.
Being more convenient and infinitely less time consuming
than spending hours trawling the high street shops, by doing your Christmas
shopping online you’ll free up time to spend working and making money – it’s a
win-win situation.
Christmas
Trees and Lights is an online store that sells a myriad of
Christmas-related products, including decorations, crackers and lights. Real
savvy thrifty mum shoppers will take advantage of Christmas Trees and Lights
summer sale, which ends at the end of August.
Hi :)
ReplyDeleteWe are only 30+ and 35+ yrs,and we feel that we almost have everything,so the last 3yrs we haven't trade cristmas gifts.
But I love giftcards in a wide chain like your WalMart.(Named åhlens here in Sweden)
blöta in English ;)
Damn cellphone!
ReplyDeleteBlöta should be blog.
Great tips there. I say every year that I will spread the cost of Christmas over a few months but it never happens. Must get better!! Maybe this year it will if I start now :-)
ReplyDelete