Skint at Christmas

[Soyouare2faced]

As the subject states, had a good year over all but due to a few weeks of REALLY crap luck we are totally skint, and it's making me miserable and hate Christmas, I feel like throwing my remote at the tele at allllll the advert, hate going out and seeing everyone jolly AF and spending away, My mood is totally low and I just want Christmas to F off, AIBU to be a misery guts??

You earn £60k between you but are skint

Stars, I know we are lucky to have well paid jobs, just even now we have nothing due to circumstances. I did get a free Christmas tree! Bargain. I'm going to hunt through the cuboards for anything else I can flog and save a few quid. I'd like to bake with my DD and make Christmas buns but no joke I can't afford the ingredients

Exit, normally we are, I've not been paid for 8 months! Didn't get mat pay, and DH inbetween jobs

Well, I had to be rescued by Green Flag today as my clutch went on the motorway this morning. I was reliably informed it will be £500 at least to repair it.

I'm picking up my car today

Flywheel and clutch replaced

£1200

I died a bit inside

O whippet! Have a ring round and see if you can get I cheaper parts you might save a few quid

how about giving your 7 year old a voucher for 'a newly decorated bedroom' that she can redeem in the new year when you are better off financially, you could make her a little scrap book of bedroom ideas that she can choose from, at 7 she should understand that it cut be done immediately. wrap the scrap book in a large box with a helium ballon inside so its a 'big' present.

If you're on social media then come off it. Other people showing off will make you feel totally crap.

Yanbu.

We're spending £3000 to go back to the UK for Christmas which means no presents or posh food for anyone.

the only way I afford christmas is yo buy a gift a month throughout the year. doesn't help with

ds birthday October
dd birthday November
nephew birthday boxing day
step daughter birthday January..

we didn't really think it through!

Yeah if your flywheel was worn that's expensive I feel for you.
It's good to know I'm not the only one finding things hard

Dang Beth I will know that pain soon, my ds birthday is 27th December and this baby is due 23rd...

YY to not thinking it through 😂

I feel your pain. I am on maternity leave as well. i do get SMP, but my partner only earns £20k so money has been tight. He doesn't like Christmas anyway, so i don't need to get him a present :D There are a few people I always get gifts for, but I'm internally struggling to justify the cost, especially since I know that even once I do go back to work, childcare is going to eat up a chunk of our £s. It's very frustrating. Well, at least DS is only 5 months old, he won't remember any of this!

Elfish that would have been a great idea! But just decorated it (my mum kindly bought all the stuff)

So aye it's eye watering

But hey ho, such is life and all that eh.

Book people has some great book bargains - i think it's fine for children to learn that some years people in their family won't be able to afford to get extended family presents. It's hard with the little ones that believe in Santa because Santa gets presents for everyone - DD is having a hard time understanding how any children won't get anything for Christmas because old Saint Nick buys you the thing you really want...YANBU. I think the bedroom decorating voucher is a great idea btw.

So in January you will have 60grand a yr coming in???if I've understood that correctly,I would open a credit card spend a £100 on each child and promise yourself you will clear it when the money comes in....sometimes credit cards can work in our favour ,especially if you have the means to clear them,as you seem to have ,relatively quickly x

Next year I'm going to do those stamp things at morrisons , I saw someone with them the other day and seems a great idea

That scrapbook new bedroom idea is lovely!

Agh, I find it really bad form when people know you're strapped for cash yet lavish you with expensive gifts. Might not be related to OP (I do apologise), but it had to be said. You're. Making. Someone. Feel. Like. They've. Put. You. Out.

However, OP, last year my friends MIL didn't buy her children presents because she said she really couldn't afford to buy her nieces/nephew anything big. She left them out, other than a tin of biscuits each Apparently she said she'd buy the children 'properly' next year when everyone could spend the same...

Some bastard hit our car and drove off so we've got to find £100 excess to get it fixed. I hope the guilty person gets a huge boil on their arse.

can you wrap up another experience/project based gift? For example trunkaroo deliver craft kits monthly, something like that?

It's hard when you have DCs who believe in Santa and don't understand that presents are bought with money! If you're worried about DD's gifts, can you just wrap up some of the things you would be buying anyway - bubble bath, a new toothbrush, tissues, pencils, stuff like that which is really inexpensive but is still fun to unwrap? Poundland is great for stuff like that, and some things you might even be able to stretch out into more than one parcel (eg. a stationery set, one set but you can wrap all the bits individually).

Equally, with things like Christmas treats, get a box of Celebrations or something and wrap it up under the tree 'To Soyouare2faced family, Love Santa' and then bingo, chocolate and something else to unwrap in one whack!

Snake , my credit is the worst, before we both got good jobs DH was self employed and I didn't earn much , my ex Took me to court so I had to fund that, he wanted full custody, never got it and just left a huge bill for the fight. So we had a tough run. Things are only just looking up

My DD is 6 and she loves the huge bags of chocolate coins you can get in Lidl for 85p. Christmas day treasure hunt?

she's not spoilt by any means but 5 gifts will not cut it

Er what? your 7 year old would not be happy with 5 gifts and would expect more?