Park Hampers - or similar - woudl you recommend?

[fatandiknowit]

thinking about this as a budget approach for Christmas 09?

Any feedback greatly appreciated - if they are rubbish I don't want to try!

Thanks

Are Park Hampers one of those savings schemes like Farepack? If so I would avoid (Farepack went bust a few years ago and their customers lost loads of money - some hundreds of pounds each. With the recession these schemes are even more risky as you have to pay money each month and might lose it all if the firm goes bust.

Don't know of any better ideas, sorry! HTH

doesn't it make more sense to open a high interest savings account and put a little bit aside into that each month??? then you can use your money where you want and on what you want.

Here's a link you might find useful: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6124406.stm

Thanks for all opions so far...

Have tried the savings account approach before and have always need it to fix cars, washing machines etc - well you know how it goes...

It woudlbe a good idea if I could be more disciplined.

ahh well in that case you need someone else to open an account and then give them some money each week to put in it!

or, I wonder if you can have some kind of account where you can only access it after a certain time??? you could ask the bank

Save with your favourite supermarket? Tescos let you buy savings stamps to redeem at Christmas and I'm sure other store have similar schemes.

Personally I'd opt for a savings account you can't access for at least 6mo. Maybe you need to draw up a budget first to see how much you need to put aside for car repairs etc before you can save for Christmas or holidays.

Liking the savings card type idea - mustinvestigate what Sainsbury's offer...

Seems like it woudl win on the quick and easy to set up level as well!

Thanks for all the advice - I'm honestly not that bad with money - its just we have two MOT's and two lots of car tax in November which is the root of many a Christmas budget problem in our house!!

fatandiknow it, you could always do one of your mot/tax a month early? i know you technically lose out a bit then, but it would mean it was spread out a bit more for the future

If a car is re-MOT'd early, I think they add on the unexpired time provided you have the previous pass certificate with you at the time . You could also re-tax your cars for 6mo next time so you push it into April/May for renewing. The snag is that the tax often goes up in April but it's probably a small price to pay.

I dodn't know that about early MOT - that's a great idea.

We only buy six months tax at a time anyway as is SO expensive - but I know what you mean - If I can stretch to a year for one of them in April it may be worthwhile!

Thanks for all the handy hints and tips

Could you sit down and go through your accounts to see what the real cost of what you need to spend in a year, then divide by 12 and put money aside monthly ?

I was rubbish with money but reformed a couple of years ago and now each month put money aside for the car's MOT, tax etc, clothes, prescriptions, haircuts, birthday, Christmas. Doing it this way I've always got enough to pay for the MOTs, tax & service when they are due and am able to buy things like Christmas presents through out the year when I see things on offer.

Sorting things out has taken a huge amount of stress off both DH & I that we didn't realise was there until we sorted things out properly.

My mum saves with them each year and has always been very pleased. This year I have advised her not to as it just seems too risky.

i use tesco savings cards, a couple of quid a week for the stamps. end up with about 100 quid for xmas, it's brill.

park advert still has WOOLWORTHS on

Getting very tempted by the savings stamps idea - does anyone know if there is a Sainsbury's version???

Nearest Tesco is miles away whoch is a shame as I like Tesco...