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!

@nettie434

Kanaloa - you've remembered that thread better than me. Yes, I can see how that might have influenced the replies.

Yes I remembered it because it was so bonkers! The girl wanted a pair of boots and the mother said she could put her gift together and get them. I mean when would she get them, her birthday? Then open nothing on Christmas? It was madness.

I can see where you got £300 because at first it appeared she was having £150 for each day which is very reasonable but no, it was split across both days.

I pick things up throughout the year in sales, and I say no to any ridiculous requests. Absolutely not worth getting in to debt over Christmas - Jesus would be horrified.

@Poppets14

Surely you haven’t told her that Father Christmas brings everything on the list?!?! I go to GREAT lengths to explain to my 5yo that the Christmas letter to FC is about giving the big man ideas- not a list of demands!!!

I also ask DS to ask FC for 3 things that are either gifts for other people or “wishes” for the world. Helps instil the idea that Christmas isn’t just about getting a massive haul for yourself ...

@Poppets14

We had a problem with our roof this year. It was easier to pay for it via credit card than remortgage earlier any pay a penalty fee.

Our 4K debt is mainly from a roof repair.
We are remortgaging in February and clearing it and we will be debt free!

By people commenting on my debt is making it sound like I’ve just been spending money I don’t have I stuff I don’t need - that is not the case!

I'm surprised no-one seems to have picked up on it up to now, but you're not clearing your debt at all, you're shifting it to your mortgage and turning a modest amount of unsecured debt into long term secured debt.

The interest rate might seem lower, but what do you pay less interest on, 2% for 25 years or 20% for 2/3 years - I haven't worked it out btw,

You might get away with it once, but if you make a habit of it, you'll find that some day, you have a massive mortgage and a load of high interest credit card debt too.

Did you not have an emergency fund to pay for the roof repair? If not, you need to work on building one up so you can pay this sort of thing (and new cars, washing machines etc) without borrowing, rather than spending a lot at Christmas. How old is DD?

If she's a preschooler she'd be happy with about £30 worth of stuff not £300, if she's at secondary school, she's old enough to understand that you can't afford big presents this year and if she's somewhere in between, surely you can think of a few things that cost considerably less than £300 that she'll love just as much?

Everyone has a variety of tricks to afford it as shown by this thread, ranging from credit cards to being very frugal!

Ours is a combination of several things:

1. Save through the year, generally, rather than specifically for Christmas, so if we need to use a bit of our savings, we can.
2. Buy through the year in sales. Our local Smith's had a great sale in the summer so my nieces and my eldest DC who are huge booklovers have a stack of books for very little. I paid between £1-£3 per book.
3. I don't get my kids a lot, they've got a few toy presents each and some books. I've spent a max of £100 between them on things they'll love. They're only young, there's nothing they 'want', they're not really advertised to.
4. The few toys I did buy, I brought quality brands which I know have resale value when they're outgrown.
5. Minimize gifting in general. We don't buy pointless stuff for each other, we have plans for the future - pay off mortgage etc so we're happy enough that our saved cash can go towards that. We don't buy for siblings. We spend roughly £250 across the rest of the family - this is 4 nieces/nephews, 6 parents, 1 godmother.
6. We don't bother with the extras - elf on the shelf, Christmas Eve boxes, matching pjs etc. We do the Icelandic book swap with nieces - brought in the summer sale. Our family traditions tend to be free - christingle etc.
7. My mum insists on cooking for the whole family so no huge food costs. We contribute some dishes but the ingredients in general and treats for ourselves in the run up get absorbed into our monthly food shop.

Well done on clearing your debt in February. As you're remortgaging to achieve it, it'll really help you focus your mind on budgeting going forward. Money saving expert has a great annual budget planner to help.

We save every month and that money goes towards everything Christmas related (days out, Christmas Lights/ Shows, Wrapping, cards, presents, decorations etc etc).

DH was out of work for about 3 months this year, so we didn't save for those months and have reduced our budget accordingly. That is what we need to do.

Also, we don't give our children anywhere near that many presents - they get one main present and maybe a couple of others (plus stocking) from us. We also don't do Christmas Eve boxes. Or luxury Advent calendars.

I've been buying Christmas presents since June.

But, I did go through everything today and I've spent far too much because I wasn't keeping track.

Today I exchanged my Yougov survey points for £50. I do Top Cashback for home insurance, Car insurance, Virgin internet deal and switch it back to Sky alternate years. You get a better deal and money through Top Cashback. I will have earned about £300 over the year. I only ever buy what we can afford on gifts. Adult children get cash and small stocking £150 + £50. Youngest child gets gifts he mostly chooses in stocking £200. 2dgc £50 each, Mil £50, bil £30. I no longer buy for nephews and nieces but hand out selection boxes. I spend about £400 on food and drinks but there is often some left for following week so spend less then. DH about £200. So about £1600 for everything. I use same decorations each year and same tree ornaments. I save about £200 per month.

You need to follow the bargain thread and remember it's quality over quantity. Santa seems to deliver a lot of presents at your house! You've made a rod for your back by having separate lists. Here it's one list and they know they won't get everything on the list as it's for guidance only.

[quote VaguelyInteresting]@Poppets14

Surely you haven’t told her that Father Christmas brings everything on the list?!?! I go to GREAT lengths to explain to my 5yo that the Christmas letter to FC is about giving the big man ideas- not a list of demands!!!

I also ask DS to ask FC for 3 things that are either gifts for other people or “wishes” for the world. Helps instil the idea that Christmas isn’t just about getting a massive haul for yourself ...[/quote]
She does not get everything on the list!
If she did I’d be spending about £1000!

She’s having a sylvanian family house from Father Christmas £100

My little pony toys £60

The rest adds up so quickly! I try to buy her useful things like PJs and I’ve got her a lunch box.

Her stocking probably comes to about £20

She isn’t spoilt. She gets toys on her birthday and Christmas but that’s about it.

We aren’t rich but also not on the breadline. We definitely didn’t have 4K in the bank to fix the roof!

Cross posted on the DDs age. Ten presents plus a big present and a stocking? That's insane.

Absolutely crazy and unnecessary getting in debt due to Christmas. We haven't done this for years and it doesn't take much imagination to understand why a 'within your means' Christmas is so much better than a stressy OTT one.

Realistically we are going to struggle this year.

£150 on each young child.
£50-70 each on adult children
£10-15 each on mums, dad and sister.
£10 plus token sweeties on 2 x nephews.

Don’t buy for one sister and her many children. Suits us both!

Few other gifts but we will be using credit card.
Huge effort to clear (0%) and save for next year. We do have some savings but trying not to dip into that at mo

Next year I’m getting organised with our finances

1. Christmas savings
2. Buying throughout the year
3. Cutting down the budget
4. Putting money aside for emergencies (hopefully not roof repair)

We don’t earn a huge amount- between me working p/t and my husband full time we earn about £50k - not as much as a lot of people on here but certainly enough for us

Father Christmas delivers 1 large present, 10 ish medium presents and her stocking

WTF. Ten presents AND stocking? I'm sorry OP but that is insane for a seven-year-old. We are fortunate to have a very good household income but we spend nothing like that on the DC, age 8 and 3.

I stopped giving presents to adults - but gave about 6 months notice of my intention to avoid any embarrassment.
No-one batted an eyelid, & I saved a lot of cash.

We save every month, usually have about £800 and still manage to overspend. I have the twitch and spend more though, even though I don't need to. I have the fear of a rubbish looking heap under the tree. I don't get into debt though. DD usually gets about £500-600 which is horrific now I've written it down! Wish I could control the twitch!

Christmas is expensive. I try to cut costs but still have to buy gifts for some family (mostly we've agreed not to exchange gifts), some friends, neighbours, teachers, cleaner and dog walker, as well as my children. Then we host Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day so nice food and alcohol costs esculate as well as games and entertainment for our guests. We visit others during the festive season so need to take gifts. I have several Christmas nights out with work and friends, everyone wants to catch up at Christmas time. A new outfit for nights out. Decorations like tree, wreaths, flowers, table decorations all add up. I send a lots of cards and my stamp bill is quite steep.

It's surprising how quickly small things add up. I save monthly into an account set up specially for Christmas. I also spread the cost over my October, November and December pay packet. It comes to over £2500 a year and that's with being conscientious about not overspending on unnecessary things.

I save a bit during the year in cheaper months (No birthdays, holidays etc) to have a cushion for the more expensive months. I also put a bit on my credit card knowing I'll be able to pay it off in Jan/Feb as nothing much happens then.
My SIL puts away £10 a week all year, which I think is a brilliant idea but always forget. I appreciate not everyone would be able to do that but for a lot of people that would be manageable and builds up to a nice amount.

We have a budget and spend within our means. I'm not going to spend more just because my friend does. We spend £150 per child. The Christmas food gets bought bit by bit each week (starting in October), in the grocery shop.

I haven’t read the full thread as it’s very long!
I wish I had good ways to save but I don’t.
The best I can do is start buying in September and early October.
I really dislike Christmas (lost my first DD on 22/23 December) but have another DD but she is disabled and doesn’t understand Christmas. But obviously I get her things - usually does not have any interest in anything new but last year a daft twerking unicorn and a book with unicorns went down ok while the rest of the carefully thought out presents went unnoticed.
Thankfully this year I have school guidance on what she responds to.
But I spend way too much: I come from a big family (!)..
I’m like - £180 on DH
£60 on DD so far
£100 on one DS
£100 on another DS
Not bought yet for third DS, her husband and two children.
Not bought yet for DF
DM -£200
Not bought for either of DBs yet.
Nor friends (that’ll be wine I guess)
And that’s not even considering DH’s family.
Oh and over £1000 to travel to Ireland
I wonder why I’m broke…

DHs employer has a Christmas club so money is deducted each month from his salary and paid back in November, interest and a company contribution goes to charity.

We’ve done it for years now even though we don’t need to, it’s just one less thing to think about.

Many years ago when we didn’t have much I used to do those Farepak vouchers and ended up losing £500 when they went bust which was a huge amount at the time. The save through salary was so much safer.

I put £150-£200 aside on payday rather than wait to see what's left, Jan to May that goes on paying for summer holiday and sons birthday, May to Aug it saves for holiday spends, a couple of days out, holiday club in the six weeks and back to school uniform, Sept to Dec it pays for Christmas pressies, extra food and panto.
For presents I try to buy useful things as well as toys, art things, onesie, nice hoody, books etc.

For family kids I always buy an extra present when it's their birthday, this then gets put away for Christmas helps to spread the cost. We don't buy for family adults except my mum who gets about £75 and then we have two kids off our own. They get about £75 each. We don't buy for each other prefer to get little treats for each other through the year. So Christmas covers in at less than £300 for us. Some people seem to spend bonkers amounts though, of they can afford it good for them, I'm not about to compete. I wouldn't be prepared to get into debt just got Christmas but appreciate even £300 is a lot for some.

I meant Dsis