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Christmas

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Original poster

How do people afford Christmas?

655 replies

Poppets14 · 17/11/2021 14:40

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!

OP posts:
Myamoth · 08/12/2021 18:53

We love Christmas and spend what I think is quite a lot, probably about £250 on each child, another £100 each for stocking presents, around £150 on each other, maybe £50-80 for each parent, siblings, £25 nieces and nephews, and probably a few hundred at least on food, extra decorations, etc. So your spend seems quite reasonable to me Smile

We have always saved all year to cover it, and these days we are able to save more towards it, so we just spend what we have saved. When we couldn't save as much we spent less. We also have three January birthdays, so the Christmas savings have to cover those as well!

In the "olden days" we used to join a Christmas Thrift club at work, now, with lovely online banking, it's easy to open a little savings account and direct debit money into it each week.

MushaGodHelpHer · 08/12/2021 19:07

I put it on a credit card BUT I rarely use credit and don’t spend crazy amounts. I’ve got £600 on my card this year. I’ll pay it off in Jan & Feb. I suppose I could save instead but oh well. I do it every year and it works for me.

BiddyPop · 08/12/2021 19:35

A combination of saving all year, buying things when I see them on sale during the year (that I know will suit a particular recipient), making things (I can sew and knit well, and have done food based items or other crafts in the past as well) etc.

I also buy grocery store stamps during the year if I have a few €1 or €2 coins in my purse, and use those for the BIG shops around Christmas (both the bigger than normal weekly shop because we are all home and need treats, and because there are good deals on long-life items we use anyway like jars of curry sauce and mayonnaise, so I stock up on those deals). I usually manage to fill at least 2 cards, which are €100 each, (and if you do fill them, you only spend €98 to do that as the final stamp is given by the supermarket - but only on full cards). I also save my money back vouchers from loyalty schemes to use in the Christmas period.

But I also set a budget and work hard to not go over it - I sometimes see something that's perfect for 1 person above their budget, but offset that against something else for someone else that is under budget to keep the overall amount reasonable. And I keep track of what I have spent, and how many more I need to get, in an excel spread sheet. (I tend to just roll it over every January, so the hard part was setting it up initially, it's actually easy to just update as you go along now).

My general savings for Christmas and summer holidays are credit union savings that come out of my salary and straight into the CU at work before I get paid myself - I started at £10 a week when I was at the bottom of the ladder, and increased it as my pay increased over the years. But it is very handy to have that to fall back on.

VanillaIce1 · 08/12/2021 19:41

I buy all year round.

Sceptre86 · 08/12/2021 19:53

If you have a rough idea of what they would like keep an eye out during the year. At times they may be cheaper so I will buy them then. Make sure you are organised and have a list then when you buy tick off as you go. I also put away some money a month for this purpose. To avoid getting into debt, ultimately don't spend what you haven't got. Easier said than done I realise but you don't need to keep up with anybody. If social media makes you feel like you do, take a break from it.

Sunset999 · 08/12/2021 21:22

save up all year, per month, spend £350 on the kids each, then a few hundred on other family and food .

Sunset999 · 08/12/2021 21:27

@Welshiefluff

Christmas eve box? Oh good lordy
we always do christmas eve boxes?
Darbs76 · 08/12/2021 22:20

I save £250 per year, that’s for Christmas, birthdays (I have 3 kids and lots of friends kids to buy for) and Car repairs / MOT

Sunset999 · 09/12/2021 07:16

@Darbs76

I save £250 per year, that’s for Christmas, birthdays (I have 3 kids and lots of friends kids to buy for) and Car repairs / MOT
Surely you mean £250 a month??
Dailywalk · 09/12/2021 07:28

@Frederica852

You spend £300 on your DD?! 😲 I spend less than £50
Depends on the age if the child surely? When my kids were babies we hardly spent anything but teens are much more expensive to buy for.
gersteddybears · 09/12/2021 07:32

Save up all year but we don't have any money worries. Everyone's situation is obvs different and folk earn different amounts so some ppl can easily afford it even without saving.

Sunset999 · 09/12/2021 07:53

one present for a teen alone could be £300!

Icebreaker99 · 09/12/2021 08:51

I would definitely cut down on presents next year, as she has cousins I assumer aunts/uncles and grandparents also get her gift so no way does she need ten medium presents from FC. You could even put some of those away for next birthday now and save some money later!

It's so strange how we have this idea that there must be "a main present" says who?

KeyboardWorriers · 09/12/2021 08:57

@Sunset999 there isn't a rule book saying it is compulsory to buy teens £300 gifts. I am proud of our teen and pre teens because none of them are making big expensive demands. I certainly can't imagine wanting to get in debt just to buy the latest "must have" for a teen

Sunset999 · 09/12/2021 09:49

mine arent asking for big gifts i just want to spend 350!

Onilove · 09/12/2021 11:02

I save £110 per month into a credit union Christmas Savings account. That way I can't access it until November. This covers presents for 2 kids, brother, sister, 2 sets of parents, 4 neice/nephews and this also covers spends for my children's birthdays in December.

saleorbouy · 09/12/2021 13:38

It's a known fact that Christmas is coming so we put away something each month to spread the cost. Also pick up things in the sales throughout the year.
When it comes to food we're not extravagant so a few extras and nice things but not mountains of food and pure gluttony like some seem to have.

repottingthescabious · 09/12/2021 13:50

Cut your cloth OP.

As a teenager i used to ask for things and sulk when i didn't get hundreds spent on me like my friends but my mum brought us up alone after dad died when we were young and we were told ''No i can't afford it'' and ''its not what Christmas is about anyway''.

So tough, thats life. We still got stockings and presents saved over the course of a year. stuff was bought in the sales and our teenage expectations were firmly managed. i think £30max for main gift each for us and our stockings.

Now we are adults we just do £5 gift each max.

BasiliskStare · 09/12/2021 16:12

@Poppets14b - DS is a bit older here and quite happy to have a couple of presents better ones more than more.

DMIL & DFIL - when we went to see them on boxing day had bought DS a sackful of presents - we took a couple away and asked Grandparents to keep the other stuff in their house - they did it - so toys at Grandma's
So we ask him what he would like and that is his Main Present. Others are just things he can unwrap. Now he is older - the fewer but better things he actually wants works out quite well

Does anyone else have the concept of a main present - I got a bicycle once - Got me to school and back for 6 years - I suspect it was 2nd hand but it did the job

BasiliskStare · 09/12/2021 16:15

But to the point - I buy things earlier and take advantage of sales etc . So save money but where I go wrong is hiding presents & then I cannot find them Grin I have a very small house - presents are put in a safe place
& then I am running to and fro to find them

repottingthescabious · 09/12/2021 16:20

the other thing that was useful was saving the Tesco stamps so at the end of the year you can use the full card towards your big food shop.

Dolphin5005 · 09/12/2021 16:22

Hi to all,

I buy xmas Presants throughout the Year as we have lots of g children so i start in the January Sales first and buy a Presant 1 am month so i dont have to buy everything at Christmas.

Dolphin500

Thesechipsdontlie · 09/12/2021 16:27

We couldn't afford much this year, the pandemic was quite tough going. I got a few bits using loyalty points but the meal will just be a roast with tablewear from the poundshop, and decorations we have already. It's a bit sad because there's so many lovely things, but my DC are just babies so had to focus on the budget rather than the pressure for perfect. We had saved £10 a month into the Christmas fund to cover everything

repottingthescabious · 09/12/2021 16:34

We had 3 big garage bills this year. and a burst tank in the loft. fab...

Christmas will still be Christmas but without turkey and overspending.

Aldi have a gift card this year. I will be loading money onto that to save for January as i find that harder than Christmas.

lillylemons · 09/12/2021 17:19

Most years I buy throughout the year but this year we decided to do things differently. we saved the child benefit from January til November we won't be using all the money saved has I never realised we would have saved 1600ish. Think we will do the same next year I found it better than buying all year round cause I don't have to hide stuff all year round.