How do people afford Christmas?

[Poppets14]

Just been out Christmas shopping and have had to use my credit card and store cards.

We are remortgaging the house in February and paying off our debts so we are back at square 1.
We are in about 4K worth of debt so not a massive amount.

My question is how do people afford Christmas? Everything is just so expensive.

Do you save all year?
Buy throughout the year?

We are getting are finances in order next year and I do not want to fall into the debt hole again!

As our kids have gotten older, its got more manageable. We don't spend a fortune on presents for each other (occasionally a big on like a new phone but they tend to be once every 4-5 years so we save up separately for that)

We start to put aside long life food earlier (we started last month already) which helps spread the cost and cover any issues with stock. Other than that, its mostly just the main Turkey but the rest is a fancy sunday roast

We pre-plan a lot of gifts, christmas food, drinks & treats and purchase early, a lot of shops sell things at a cheaper price when they first come into store and put the price up closer to Christmas, so we buy things like advent calendars, selection boxes, bath sets and decorations in early November when it's often on sale. We also buy a few bits in the January sales ready for the next Christmas and my partner gets money off in a lot of shops using a work discount card so we save a huge amount each year.

We had leaner Christmasses and fatter Christmasmasses when we were younger, depending on financial situations. It was still nice and no one ended up in therapy. One year as a stroppy thirteen year old I was pissed off that I didn’t get the Radiohead album I requested but it’s not a bad thing for kids to learn that those presents don’t appear under the tree by magic. I bought it with Christmas money from relatives instead.

I often wonder this , we live well within our means and dh is super risk adverse but has a great job . I work in retail and I see people buying hundreds of pounds of stuff all the time . It must run up into the thousands !
We are going out for lunch this year and I've paid for it so that's done , I will probably spend £500-£750 max on gifts . Anything else is a waste .

I get my SRP every 4 weeks and my private pension. I get 2 payments of SRP in November and 2 payments of private pension in December. I was happy when I realised how it worked as it pretty well pays for everything. I suppose it is the same as people paid calendar monthly saving a bit every month but I don't see it so don't worry about it.

DH got 2 months of his SRP in October which paid for a glut of family birthdays in November.

I think the Gods were looking after us when they planned this but I guess if we live long enough it will keep moving earlier in the year.

@Frederica852

You spend £300 on your DD?! 😲 I spend less than £50

The norm with people I know. Everyone spends several hundred on their kids

The norm with people I know. Everyone spends several hundred on their kids

You must have friends with a lot of spare cash. I can’t afford several hundred on each of my kids.

Eek, the only people I know IRL who spend that much on their children at Christmas are the ones who can’t actually afford it!

No idea. It’s not just a case of spending £10 on presents.
It’s advent calendars. Yes some only cost a couple of quid but it all adds up
It starts in December with nights out or invites to meet up. That’s a night out or a bottle of wine respectively. Possibly a new outfit/nails/ hair depending on event. Petrol, babysitters
Then it’s food for people you have over.
It’s decorating/replacements lights/ Christmas tree.
Food for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.
And of course presents.

Of course no needs to buy any of this stuff but it’s not the height of extravagance to buy any of this. It’s pretty much the norm.

You buy what yo can afford. I save 100e every month ion my xmas penny bank, this is what i can afford . We do secret santa on both sides of the family for adults and then buy for nieces and nephews. The older ones get 50e cash and we spend about 30e on the smaller baby ones. We have one niece birthday in Jan so i usually buy that the same time. For food i save every month on the supermarket Clubcard and get about 200e in vouchers at xmas. All this helps. I am lucky that i also get my work bonus at xmas . For ourselves we usually go away to a nice hotel between xmas and new year - that's our tradition so i budget for that plus the kennels for the dogs. Also factor in coal and oil as that is usually needed around this time. For presents i try to buy good quality stuff that will last and dont buy things like scarfs, pyjamas etc as presents as i personally hate getting these as presents. If its for friends or we going to someone's house i prefer a meet up for dinner or a nice wine or food hamper to bring with me instead . Xmas comes every year, its there to be enjoyed not getting into debt for.

@TheChild

This is the first year we have saved every month for Christmas and we saved what I thought was a good amount. Made the mistake of discussing Christmas shopping with some of the school mums and realised it is NOT enough, one mum was spending £400 on 2 tracksuits for her DD 😳 I have a feeling most people put it on credit cards, because I can't understand how people can otherwise afford all the stuff they are buying otherwise.

Well that school mum needs her head testing! I do buy branded tracksuits but only because they love them and do wear them a lot. But I'm talking Nike or Addidas and I get them when their websites have a sale and spend about £35 max on one

We just take it out of our general savings, we don't save for Christmas specifically. Activities/Christmas event tickets are bought and paid for throughout the year as and when tickets go on sale. Food shop just comes out of our wage. We generally host but guests bring the wine which brings down the cost!

We don’t buy many presents or expensive presents—mostly just some interesting food items for a family member—everyone else isn’t interested in presents and we don’t entertain very much. So our spending doesn’t go up much at all.

Don’t spend a lot - thank you isn’t a word I hear to often so I was thinking manners books.

Spend about £250 and stagger it.

Every year I start charms shopping for the following year as soon as the sales start at 5pm Xmas Eve. Tend to get reduced board games, generic toys etc that will keep my dns happy. I might also buy other bits every month when I see sales or bargains. This year I've filled two wardrobes with bargain toys for my local toy/gift scheme by doing this and Bought presents like large festive candles for the kids teachers, scarves/gloves for my teens and dns and loads of bits for stockings and Xmas Eve boxes. Big nerf guns, loads of games, puzzles, etc Probably spent £10 a week through the year and that is 90% of the gifts that I buy sorted out. Total presents is £450-600 a year (2 teens, 2 adult kids, 4dns,1gs)

As for food and drinks I spend about £350 over the festive period but we entertain A LOT.

All in all £20 a week Towards Christmas means that we don't get into too much debt. At the most wet might put larger purchases on a credit card for financial protection and then pay it off over 3 months.

@TheChild

This is the first year we have saved every month for Christmas and we saved what I thought was a good amount. Made the mistake of discussing Christmas shopping with some of the school mums and realised it is NOT enough, one mum was spending £400 on 2 tracksuits for her DD 😳 I have a feeling most people put it on credit cards, because I can't understand how people can otherwise afford all the stuff they are buying otherwise.

Saving is quite an achievement. Whatever you want to - and can afford to - spend is enough. You shouldn't feel bad because others spend more than you do. They might have savings that cover it, or a greater income, or be happy to get into debt and repay it at their own pace. I'd never share what we spend on Christmas, and it fluctuates each year depending upon what we're buying and how much money we have. I know it's always too much though! I overspend, and it's usually pointless as nobody that I'm buying is really in actual need of anything.

You Need a Budget software

YNAB

Assign 200 a month for Christmas which includes all socialising, gifts, food,!outings etc (it's scary how it all adds up).

I think the thing people forget, is that Christmas is a big deal for people, and it’s often a big deal for people who perhaps don’t have quite so much…..so it becomes partly about having plenty, plenty, plenty.

It’s easy for people who are financially secure to say they don’t spend much on Christmas and there’s no need to. It’s very different if you say that from a position if being able to spend more if you wanted to. And it’s a failure to recognise that often when people don’t have lots of financial security behind them or a background of affluence, conspicuous displays of wealth are a way of affirming oneself to the world and family. For some people, 4 presents for the children would feel a humiliation and failure, because they don’t have the knowledge that the rest of the year, their kids get new bikes when they need them, do expensive hobbies and they could buy 20 presents if they wanted. Big spends on each family member and a lunch costing £250 is a way of showing largesse, which often feels important to people at Chjristmas. Pictures on Facebook of piles of gifts or people mentioning expensive pantomime visits or designer handbags can make some people feel like they are missing out or failing. And if they like ir live consumer items and designer gear snd their peers and kids do too, and if their kids ask for that expensive stuff and get their own self worth from particular trainers, or games consoles, then saying ‘no’ or not providing a pile they can boast about to their friends, can feel humiliating. This stuff really matters to lots of people.

It’s why lots of people who don’t have loads save all year in a Christmas Club or stamps system or squirrel away money so they can buy loads. And also why lots run u credit card debts that they will be paying off next November still.

One one level, it makes sense to say ‘only spend what you can afford’ and ‘piles of stuff don’t matter’….but some people long desperately to splurge and doing it once a year a big deal for them. I suppose in the end, advice about managing the money and saving up is what is useful, although not so much at the end of November when this Christmas looms, and also when we are a nation of people who lease cars and pay for loads of things monthly, so we don’t have to save up and wait.

We don't have many to buy for, we don't entertain and I don't buy trolleys full of ready made/"Christmas" food. It's paid for with our overtime earned working over Christmas - DH is working 4 bank holidays this year and will more than cover the cost.
We spend around £500 on presents in total and maybe an extra £50 on top of my normal food budget in normal years. This year is not a normal year and I am taking my parents & DD to a restaurant for lunch at the cost of £280.

@Lightisnotwhite

No idea. It’s not just a case of spending £10 on presents. It’s advent calendars. Yes some only cost a couple of quid but it all adds up It starts in December with nights out or invites to meet up. That’s a night out or a bottle of wine respectively. Possibly a new outfit/nails/ hair depending on event. Petrol, babysitters Then it’s food for people you have over. It’s decorating/replacements lights/ Christmas tree. Food for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day. And of course presents.

Of course no needs to buy any of this stuff but it’s not the height of extravagance to buy any of this. It’s pretty much the norm.

I am despairing at the idea that anyone would feel the need to get their nails done for Christmas. I must be living on another planet.

I only buy for my own dc and a few nieces.

I don't get sucked into the media portrayal of Christmas.

My kids were brought up knowing they can't have the moon on the stick. They've never had designer brands so aren't fussed. They know the joy of a bargain...... Which is how DD got the doc martens I know she's been quietly eying up. She got them because they cost £50 in the outlet shop. She could have still had them if they hadn't been, but she knows she'd have had to use her Christmas money.

Keep expectations low and anything else is a bonus. And don't get trapped into buying branded stuff if you can. Or allow it but emphasise mixing and matching.

We've also had the kids stuff and adults stuff rule. There's no way In hell I'd spend hundreds on a phone for myself or a pricey contract. The dc are welcome to...... When they can afford it. As it was they were more than happy with a hand me down Samsung which did the job along with a £6 a month sim card.......one of the first things dd bought herself with her own money was an iPhone 8plus. It cost about £600 and she's had it at least 4 years. She's never had the constant push to improve what exists and as it works doesn't need to. She won't replace it until it breaks or slows down so much its unusable.

^ our household income is around £100k. We just don't do excessive spending at Xmas

I scrimp and save for the months leading up to Xmas. I’m a single parent so I don’t need to worry about buying for a partner. Luckily I don’t have many birthdays leading up to Xmas and none in January or February so as long as my debts paid and my DC fed then I’m happy.

Most people start buying presents early so the cost is spread out.

This year we’re doing a secret Santa with family members and we have to spend a max of £10. So it will make a massive difference.

The Nike joggers that dss17 wears are £75 so I can see how a complete tracksuit with the matching too is £150. Never seen them for £35!

If it's North Face the probably £180.

@Jmaho ha if only! I've bought my 15 year old DS a Nike Tech tracksuit. He's 6 foot so I was expecting it to be pricier as it's a man's small.

I wasn't quite expecting £180! Apparently the tech range is more expensive. No kidding!

It's not an issue as I set a rough budget for my kids gifts and it falls within it so if that's what he wants... but still. Crazy