What are you cutting back on to save money this Christmas?

[brownwhisker]

We have just had notification that our gas and electricity direct debit is going up to £310 a month 🤯 and just starting to plan ahead to Christmas with our remaining wages....

There's definitely some stuff we will probably cut back on this year - thinking paid days out / pantomine ad maybe try and reduce families budget a bit per person.

Is anyone else cutting back in places?

Not much, really tbh.

I bought rolls of lovely eco Xmas wrapping paper in the sales in January.

Had cards left from last year (I send very few tbh)

We don't buy gifts for adults. It's insane. I get very depressed watching people sling 3for2 toiletries in their baskets saying "that'll do" :( such waste and most of it probably goes to charity shops or landfill.
We did do secret santa but it's always me that organises it and I really can't be bothered this year.

I start planning/buying gifts in August/September so am now pretty much done (until the dreaded twitch arrives!!)

We booked a day in London months ago so will do that.

I bought a balsam Hill tree 2 years ago in the January sales and that will go up again. We also have a smaller ikea tree that goes up every year.

Food delivery booked, turkey ordered.

So hopefully it won't feel very different to other years but I'll be upping my charity and foodbank donations:(

@Ihavedogs just an aside. If you go to Buy Subscriptions you can get 12 issues of the Radio Times for £1. You can set the start date so that your issues cover Christmas. Remember the Christmas issue counts as 2.

You set up the DD for £1 and can cancel at any time. I do it every year and it’s very simple to stop.

Not buying any new wrapping paper or cards this year, maybe not even need to next year either. Going to use up every last bit before buying any more.

Have agreed to reduce budget for nieces and nephews and the same from their parents to my DC.

Going to be very strict on what I buy DC. Reduced spend last year and reducing further this year. There are always a few things they aren’t that bothered about so I’m trying really hard this year not to buy any filler and only buy what they will get plenty of use from.

Presents. Not buying for friends any longer.

@Hyvsvaar how good that your DCs have asked for a family experience, that’s lovely

Bit of a random suggestion, but for those who are giving up days out/experiences, had you thought about visiting a local church? There will likely be Advent carols, Christmas carol services, Christingle services etc which if they’re anything like my church will be absolutely magical and really atmospheric without spending any money (a donation if you’re able and want to). Most churches really want to invite the community in at that time of year (and not only to proselytise!) so it’s worth thinking about.

Obviously it won’t be for everyone but might be an addition to a frugal family Christmas for some of you.

I mention it because I was wondering what we'd give up for Christmas that I’d really miss, but being a vicarage family a lot of our Advent/Christmas revolves around church which doesn’t cost us anything (except time!). We don’t do days out, lots of booze or fancy presents, so I think we will just do what we usually do this year.

I meant not to proselytise 😂 now I’ve said almost the opposite of what I meant!

We have decided not to go on our works nights out. It got out of hand last year with people booking £80 dinner dance and staying over.
Fake tree instead of real one.
Cutting back on food and drink. We have 12 coming for Christmas Dinner so a turkey and a ham will be expected but I'm going to shop at Asda rather than M and S.
Completely avoiding Christmas markets.
Will be going to Church and for lots of winter walks with picnics (soup/stew), or to the beach for fish and chips.

Using up odds and ends of previous years gift wrap and tags, still managed to make gifts for each group look cohesive which surprised me.

Sent bulk of overseas stuff by surface mail instead of air this year, meant I had to organise self in August though.

Family gift for very distant relatives rather than individual ones and budget reduced.

Stopped gift exchange with 1 set of friends.

Will be cutting down the number of days I go festive browsing. I love the bustling atmosphere and decorations but there is transport costs, festive coffee stop costs and often lunch out as well.

20-30% reduction in gifts in stockings/sacks and under the tree per person this year in the household.

No fancy wrapping paper, gift tags, bags etc. Brown parcel paper and a sharpie will do!

I've found this works out more expensive than cheap wrapping paper!

We started making things like jam and chutney from foraged fruit (we're lucky and live quite rurally). So we bought lots of little jars and made up 2x different jams, apple chutney, slow gin and plum gin. We've put them in the little jars, people will be getting mini hampers.

Re my dd, I've been buying things I know she will like for months now, and I've agreed with dh that we will just get a few token gifts

Amazon often fills empty space in boxes with brown paper ;)

@solania - I agree with you - you don't have to be a churchgoer to enjoy these things - My local church does a nativity service which is so funny with tiny tots reading their lines / I think they combine it with Christingle which with the candles is just lovely - I took my niece who lives abroad but was here with us and she loved it - She is far from Christian. Also they do Carols round the tree outside - all welcome and they give out mulled wine ) No-one has to say whether they go to the church or not - all welcome. Unless you want to give a donation ( and they will take anything even a few coins they are grateful for - but no-one made to feel embarrassed if not ) - it is a lovely idea for a "special" Christmas thing at potentially no cost

@solania we aren’t church goers, more agnostic but we have been going to the village church for their carols by candlelight. It’s lovely, kids love it (they are young though) we walk in the dark by torchlight and they serve mince pies & cakes with tea. It’s a very calm event in the run up to Christmas. Our neighbour asked us to go and we haven’t stopped apart from covid restrictions in 2020.

We are saving on presents - have agreed with all the adults in my family that we'll do a 'cost of living' Christmas when it comes to presents, we usually go mad but will probably do a secret Santa or just get one token thing.
We love the food/booze/decorations so will still spend on these with the money we save on presents

Nothing. We are already pretty frugal, our only real indulgences are DCs presents and they are naturally cheaper this year from their lists (no switches or expensive toys). I buy in sales as much as possible anyway, this year has been no different. Last year was the first year we really bought anything for DH & myself, in the past we’ve not bothered as we preferred to spend the money on DCs

We never order fancy or Christmas specific food, what’s available in Aldi week of is fine with us. No tubs of chocolates, DCs happy with little bags of chocolate coins Christmas themed crocs from Aldi. No one eats mince pies, Christmas pud and only I eat Christmas cake so I don’t bother buying any of it. Don’t do expensive advent calendars. We get the dcs toy ones but certainly do go throwing money at gin/cosmetics or other ones.

We recycle & reuse as much as possible each year only replacing when it’s outgrown or outworn.

Don’t do Christmas Eve or 1st December boxs, just more expense and storage. Not against them, but not for us.

Its just the 5 of us home Christmas Day and we don’t drink too much in front of our DCs. Most years we don’t drink at all so no expense on alcohol. Same with NY eve. We are more inclined to have a few drink between Xmas & NY one night when DCs are in bed and then it’s just our usual bottle of wine and few beers.

If anything we can indulge a bit more this year, I’ve decided I may buy a bottle of the gold flake Prosecco from M&S and the chocolate Jenga looks like it could be a hit for desert Xmas day.

I save all year and buy the kids gifts on sale through the year so it doesn’t hit us to hard. I have got 80 percent of the kids gifts. Dh and I are not fussed so won’t spend loads.

I bought the pantomime tickets in February as they are much cheaper if you do the early bird offer.

I don’t do fancy Christmas dinners neither me or the kids like them so we tend to do a picnic type table instead.

No new Christmas decorations we have loads.

No Christmas trains, expensive Christmas parties and will do one Santa experience i think. No big nights out I hate going to the city centre for nights out in December anyway as it’s so busy and expensive.

NO gel nails will do them myself.

@Eeksteek just to add to others comments, Home bargains were doing real trees last year for about £20…my neighbours bought one and it was beautiful! I know if you’re usually looking forward to a day out and choosing/cutting one, it’s not quite the same, and I imagine for £120 it was beautiful, but there are WAY cheaper options out there for the trees themselves.

I know. We’ll figure it out. Thanks!

No massive ham, no tonnes of fancy cheese, cut right back on booze (hosting ILs so will ask them to bring lots of wine), no posh chocolates, making smaller Christmas cakes.

It’s too late to not have an expensive joint, as DH had ordered a goose before I thought to suggest chicken, but will cut back on sides etc.

Far fewer presents, and buying more for DS second hand- saved a fortune that way. Will just buy a token gift for DH and vice versa.

Also to save on postage will just cut right back on Christmas cards.

If you keep an eye out now for deals as they are often getting rid of usual stock so the Christmas themed items can take over.
also Aldi and Lidl start their Thursday themes with more fifty bits.this week they’ve had Harry Potter stuff.artsy stuff and Xmas jumpers and pjs.
also if you very dare wait for Christmas Eve to get your joint.we get an extra special turkey for 1/3 the price!

Nothing. Lights only cost pennies or less a day. I've ordered the Christmas and Boxing Day dinners. It's my favourite meal of the year. Our added expenses will be the food, and presents. I only buy for my family and send flowers to my mil (96)!
I love Christmas. It has so many happy memories for me, and now that my parents and husband are dead, and my siblings live in another country, I'm not going to scrimp on it for me and my children. We haven't flown anywhere in three years - our only holiday was a four day break to the continent. I'd cut back on other things before I scale back Christmas.

@TwoBigNoisyBoys
That's really good to know thanks.

Do you know if you get any choice at all when there?