Christmas

[Charliebear322]

I’m not sure what I’m asking.
If you’re on a low income do you abstain from treats throughout the year so you can have treats at Christmas. what do you consider a treat? Books, things for hobbies etc? If you don’t buy anything, are you not bored?
or do you still have treats throughout the year and also things at Christmas?
how much do you spend on yourself or per person and what kind of things do you get out of that amount?

We prefer to spread spending money throughout the year and spend less/have fewer/smaller gifts at Christmas. But I don’t think there is a right or wrong way of doing it.

Well you have to make the most of what money you have, try to maximise your disposable income to spend in these sorts of non essentials and find free or low cost ways of entertaining yourself. It's not necessary to be always spending to not be bored and it's also not necessary for a nice Christmas to cost a lot of money.

If you have a library you can access, you can read for free for example.

This.

We try and save £50 a month for Christmas and buy stuff through the year out of season (Christmas jumpers/wrapping paper etc in the sale in January and so on).

We don't:

• Buy takeaway coffees (very often). We get a free coffee a week from Cafe Nero with our energy supplier, and a membership at Dobbies garden centre that gets us two free coffees a month for £15 a year - that's where we'll go if we fancy a coffee out (I've persuaded a couple of my mates who I regularly meet for coffee to do the same so we meet there, or in IKEA, for a free coffee!). That feels like a nice treat.
• Buy books. We will quite often take DC to browse in a bookshop, they might sometimes buy one book with their pocket money (or family members may get them book tokens for birthday which they love) and we will reserve some of the rest of the ones they picked up in the shop and fancied reading from the library so they can read them for free
• Buy the kids loads of stuff throughout the year. They get a small amount of pocket money and if they want something, they use that or ask for it for Xmas/birthday. We're lucky that all our DC are born around this time of year so about halfway from Christmas - so it's never too long to wait if we realise they really need or want something.
• Kids and we don't have loads of expensive hobbies or days out - I have a council leisure centre membership for the gym at £20something a month, and kids get to swim free with their lessons, so we go swimming a lot as an activity. We get discounted English Heritage membership through a scheme associated with my work which also gives other benefits and is about a fiver a month, so go to EH places with the dog a lot too (we take a picnic, occasionally will buy an ice cream or similar but don't make a habit and that comes out of our childrens' activities budget - so we would only do that if we hadn't already spent that budget on something else for the kids that month e.g. a more expensive day out, had to buy lots of clothes etc).
• Go on expensive holidays. We holiday in the UK, once a year self catering with the dog (sometimes Haven type place, sometimes a Airbnb/cottage) and don't do weekends away at other times.
• Buy new clothes. Except underwear, we mostly get off Vinted or sometimes handmedowns from their cousins. Most of the time for tops I'll buy a size up from what they're currently in so they last a bit longer. We buy clothes they actually need - if they want something extra or very spendy they would save their pocket money (oldest is currently only 9 though so suspect we may start losing this battle when they're teenagers!)

Actually we are comfortable but we still abstain from things that people would say are essential or normal weekly treats and this is partly why we are comfortable

not only does it save cash but it also makes the treats more exciting - a takeaway or coffee out is a real special occasion - so we have some treats through the year but I guess think monthly or quarterly not weekly

we use the library , just have freeview telly,

Christmas and birthday presents are essentials like clothes and hobby related stuff

Pretty much like the PP, managing because we dont "treat" ourselves constantly

This week treat was paying for English raspberries instead of the cheaper imported ones ,

Christmas pressies for all but mum, are essentials. She's doesn't "need" anything so she gets the choccies and nice biscuits and posh marmalade sort of pressies . Pressie list is tiny - mum, three grandkids, friend who looks after our dog , two girlfriends. Grandkids get new shoes and coats, their parents get an oil fill to heat the house - friends its always something small - daft pair of socks, a mug with an apt for them slogan - just little acknowledgments

Christmas food shop seriously must be the cheapest of the year with all the veg reduced down to 9p. A turkey, a ham ( we are very traditional ) - we eat the left overs for the week and tbh when we have the dinner in us, we arent wanting piles of other bits like cakes, chocolates and sweets . Last year I got mince pies in - and the birds got to eat them they were left so long. Mums Christmas pressie to us is the bottle of baileys and a bottle of scotch

Freeview tv and library. I do sometimes buy a subscription ( Disney is £1.99 a month for 4 months at the moment ) watch what series or films Ive wanted to watch, then cancel again Free days out - we live in a beautiful part of the country so just walking out the door is a treat. Grandkids love a picnic - nowt posh, just a couple of butties and bottles of made up squash - away we go. We dont need to have coffee every time we go into town, we rarely eat out or take away. The grandkids have second hand bikes and scooters here, and a big garden to play in so we have lots of outdoor time with them. Buckets and spades - we are 20 mins from beautiful beaches, and all it costs is an ice cream

We do "treat" ourselves to a cheap city break somewhere. And I mean cheap - budget hotel or Airbnb, eat in Wetherspoons and meal deals, it's a treat to us because we dont have these things every day. We dont do big holidays the city break is our holiday

And no we arent bored. We might lead a pretty boring ( to some) lifestyle but we are content with what we have and there's always so much to fill the days, we dont have time for boredom to slip in

Mind one of our favourite games is " how to spend the lottery win " lol

I buy my dc “big presents” early in the year on sale and then i just slowly buy other small presents when i see them on deal. (Thank you amazon!) we also dont go crazy on chocolate & sweets, theres just no need. we also have a type one diabetic in the house so feels a bit mean to buy mountains of boxed chocolates when they have to be careful
so that helps! 😂

I dont buy for anyone else, i cant afford it. We prefer having spending money throughout the year. I buy books for myself have a budget of £10 a month which i use chairty shops for so get plenty of reading material and the kids do their hobbies. only thing we dont do is a proper hoilday, we go to visit my family for two weeks in the summer instead otherwise we dont get to see them.
I also have a “dodgy” firestick 🤫 for £35 a year and have access to pretty much everything you can think of to watch!

It all sounds really nice. what are your weekly hobbies

Between PT work, this lump of a house and garden, there's not a lot of time free tbh

Im very much into walking - I go out for about two hours a day , some of that is dog walking, other times I just like to get out, stretch legs, enjoy the day and go walk. I also have a cycle which Im out on whenever I can get an hour

Indoor hobbies, books and magazines - free from the library - they have an app for the mags , I also learned how to do my own nails during lockdown so that would be an expense , more when I first started, but I wouldn't spend more then £50 a year now , Garden - we take cuttings, share with neighbours etc. I also crochet when I can find the time, and Ive enough yarn here to last out my life ( bought during close down sales ) free online patterns . Im also very much into gaming , not games you have to pay for - free ones

We do socialise a lot believe it or not. During the lockdowns, we had a wee bubble - 3 couples - and we all made bars in our garages. A crate of beers is pennies compared to buying a round in a pub. We take it in turns to go around to each other - the circle has gotten bigger now - none of us can afford a night in the pub, but we can afford to put on a plate of nibbles and everyone brings a bottle. We also play stupid games, like having corn hole tournaments or darts or Uno, kalukie , poker ( for pennies )

I also look at local events, see what's coming up for little or nothing , last year the arts centre were laying on free, tea and cake/sandwiches and boogie woogie - in the afternoon . Great time

I think it helps that we are in the country and in a small hamlet ( just 12 houses now) so we are used to the quite life and making fun with nothing. Im originally a Londoner, with London wages, it was a bit of a shock coming here and finding hand bags and shoes were not on everyone's agenda. Now its outdoors, barn dances, country music, tractor drives and charity events , but true friendships and so much laughter

Me and him will sit in on a Saturday night, hm supper, a couple of drinks, then stick on the old TOTP's or concerts on TV and dance away the night

We won't be winning the lottery, but we are going to go to Australia and we are saving every pound coin that we come across in a gallon bottle we got from the pub. 18 months so far, and we have about a 1/3rd left to go - will be enough for flights and spending - think about £3k when its filled. It gives us a way of still having the dream, the money is earmarked, it doesn't go for bills or every day spends, it gets fed into when we have it in our pocket. If it takes another year, so be it, we arent scrimping to pay for it

We don't miss having good wages and jobs, because, and I do know this sounds so trite, we do have a better quality of life now. We care for mother ( 86 ) and can see the grandkids whenever , and can drop everything when we are needed.

I have bought a lottery ticket for tonight mind :)

F