Saving for Christmas

[Theothername]

Christmas just popped up in my Facebook feeds and turned my thoughts nicely towards December.

I’ve started putting the plastic bottle refunds (Ireland) into my Christmas savings and planning on trying to offload some of our old toys at some car boot sales this summer.

Before Covid when we used cash , we had a £2 tin. One of the tin-opener ones so no cheating .
At the end of November it was opened , counted and taken to the CoinCounter at the Bank ( no fees) and we split between the four of us .
When the cats came along it split between five so we could send a donation from them to CPL.

Not done this for a few years though and my DC are adults now

Going through old toys makes sense though as it saves you duplicating , and if you can get some £ then great .

We save the Sainsbury Nectar points for the Christmas food shop though they aren't as generous as they used to be . Get some bonus points with the App.

Getting rid of old toys at a Car Boot is a great idea.

I feel like our house if groaning at the moment.

I've got £45 on my nectar card so that will help at Sainsbury's and I've got £130 on topcashback so I will get a voucher with that. Not a lot but it will help.

If you haven't got Save the Change set up on your bank account it's really worth doing. It rounds up debit card transactions to the nearest pound. In a year I usually save around £150+ with it and you don't miss it when you pay for things.

Also saving the money from recycling returns in a savings box. I do the weekly shop online and buy a 50 euro voucher each month. All on the app and adding up nicely.

@lingmerth I only discovered that feature earlier this year but it does add up. And as you say, you don’t notice it.

@LawlorsNaa that’s a great idea too. I’m thinking I might add a bit onto the groceries from September onwards. The dc will have me eaten out of house and home for the summer holidays.

Jumping in to say hi, and thanks for all of the recommendations! I got so many great deals last year thanks to these threads and just getting started with this year's planning, so keeping an eye out for new ideas and hopefully will have some to share here too!

I've been putting €50 aside into a revolut vault each month since Jan. That sound cover everything for us. DS's are 2yrs and will be 3 months so we don't need to go crazy. Baby DS will get a hand me down jumperoo as his main gift

I think I will start the round up thing as well, I used to always put change into a tin but I don't use it anymore.

@Theothername I'm in Ireland as well. Which shop card are you putting the bottle money onto? I get my main shopping delivered and then return the bottles in the local garage when I am heading in for little bits. We only have a supervalu in town and it is very expensive.

@pontipinemum I take it as cash and put it into a tin - very old school. It’s almost the only time I’m handling loose change these days.

I kept forgetting to fish the receipt for the bottles out when paying for my shopping, and the machine is always full or has a long queue so I’ve started bringing them to the SuperValu on the way to the dc’s school because they have a newsagent at the front and there’s hardly ever a queue there. Calling it Christmas savings has taken the irritation and resentment out of the whole palaver!

I’m not going to be able to save anything before September as I have my little ones birthday in august so I need to pay for his party and presents but I also have both of my parents birthdays to shop for before Christmas too!! I’m looking in charity shops when we go in them and have got my dad a board game but I’ll probably give him that as one of his birthday presents and my partner picked a book as well that I will put with his Christmas presents so it’s a start 🤔

@Theothername that's a good idea I might get a tin for the car. I haven't really had any issues with ours. Once it was full and I only had to walk away once because the queue was too long.

Ah stop tho! The amount of times I have walked out of the shop got back in the car and said f* the receipt!! I try to keep it in my hand because if it goes into my pocket I will forget it.

Very jealous op- told my son at the start of he collected the bottles he could have the cash and he’s now slowly getting rich😅😅😅 Love the way you said your thoughts turned nicely to Christmas, I’ve started thinking of that too- my son mentioned a Lego set that’s coming out in august and I think if we get his and a few bits out of the way and maybe do another son (I know already what he wants, he stares at it in the toy shop every time we walk by)money wise Christmas would be easier

I put little bit of money away each pay check then if I see small bits and pieces on sale during the year I use that money. I also save my supermarket reward vouchers for our Christmas shop (ours last up to a year) and that helps quite a bit.

If you ever shop in Dunnes Stores, they still have the machines for the €2 stamps, I tended to get a few with my change whenever I was in there and try to have a couple of cards filled for the big Christmas food shop. Especially as they gave you the 50th stamp free (not a lot but still 2% which is better than most bank accounts at the moment!) and Dunnes tends to have very good specials on BOGOFS and bigger packs for small pack prices offers, so I do a massive food shop to refill the stores cupboard at Christmas as much as the Christmas festivities shop.

They sometimes have the stamps in the tills as well if you don't have the coins for the machines.

I buy a Tesco gift card every month (between £15/£25) - that’s my Christmas/new year shopping covered. You can use them online for home deliveries too. Also save my clubcard points.
I get an M&S gift card and stick something on it whenever I go in.
When I get to £100 I start a new one.
That buys extended family gifts and I usually can give my daughter a card to get clothes ( she loves their pajamas).
I also have a cash pot I put into every day. Minimum is 10p. If I come home from town and I haven’t had a coffee I’ll put £4 in. I use this tin for a meal out/towards holiday spending etc. i genuinely don’t miss the bits of change I put in and twice a year I have between £70-£150 in it.
I also do a weekly round up with Plum.
Im a bit obsessed with saving bits of money l think……..🤔

I save £65 a month for birthday and Christmas presents through the year. I also save Nectar points and spend them on various things through the year (ingredients for mincemeat, wine on offer etc).

I already have plenty of wine / fizz. I bought some non-alcoholic drinks and Pringles the other week and will keep an eye out for bits and bobs on offer from now on.