Can't think of a title but how do I afford Christmas etc? - support group?

[BlackCatinChristmasChaos]

Yes, I know I should have been saving all year but we have only just been managing each month without the added expense of Christmas.

Just got our energy bills through the post I am now panicking!

Advice please on how to spend less but still get through till January?
And any other helpful advice or links to threads?

Join here if you are also worried how to afford it all.

Be back later.

TIA

[Mum2Fergus]

Slightly random but just had the Tesco Everyday Value Christmas Fruit Cake, very cheap in comparison to others...and its delicious!

[BlackCatinChristmasChaos]

Hi all, didn't mean to just abandon the thread, we had a family bereavement last week so my mind was elsewhere.

Hoping to start thinking about Christmassy stuff soon though although it will be tinged with sadness to a certain extent.

I have paid my energy bills off so I just need to sort a budget for everything else.

[racingheart]

I'd make a list of all the Christmassy things you can do for free or next to nothing: play Christmassy songs; go to a carol concert, listen to the Sally Army's lovely brass bands in shopping centres, admire city centre decorations. Make decorations together. Light candles or a fire. These are the bits children remember, not the mass of expensive and unnecessary toys.

Buy christmassy versions of food you'd normally buy. Do christmassy crafts. Make a gingerbread house (£2.50 from IKEA or Tiger.)

Go to 99p stores for chocs, Wilkos or online for stocking fillers and decorations, and Lidl for deli treats.

Fix a budget for each present and for the food and wine - doesn't matter how small, and see how far you can make it go. But stick to it. The fun is in stretching it a long way, not in exceeding it. Get onto freecycle now to request things. You can be specific, or if you are general (e.g. any good quality toys for a three year old) you may get luckier. Then spend some time making them look good as new. Bikes, scooters, loads of large toys like ELC shops and kitchens crop up on there. So do artificial Christmas trees and fairy lights.

Buy stuff in advance if you see it on offer. DH brought back fantastic gourmet sausages for 50p a pack the other day because they were on their sell by date. they went into the freezer for Christmas day.

[jenduck]

I was on this thread further up & mentioned the Tesco Clubcard voucher exchange. Well, today I got my DSes main (joint) Xmas present using this & I am really pleased! Toys are included in the exchange this time, so I exchanged £15 of clubcard tokens for £30 of vouchers, which came off the toy I bought, meaning I got a £60 toy for £20 (was also on special offer, £60 down to £50). I also got over £2 cashback going through Topcashback!

DSes are getting this then a few little bits in their stockings, such as books, dvds & games, all of which so far have cost no more than £1 apiece from charity shops & car boot sales. I reckon we will probably spend no more than £50 total on Xmas for both boys & I know they will be more than happy with what they get.

One final thing - Daily Mirror are tomorrow doing a £5 of £35 spend voucher for Aldi

[jenduck]

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