15 Money Saving Tips For Frugal Festivities
Christmas is a fantastic time of year – and can be fantastically expensive. You can avoid spending too much or getting into unnecessary debt this festive season by following our top tips for a cheaper, but by no means less special, celebration.
Food
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Christmas Dinner is one of the highlights of the day; these tips make sure nobody goes home hungry.
- Don’t do the festive food shopping when you’re hungry, or your growling belly will choose for you – this is a fantastic way to avoid impulse buying needless snacks
- Stay mindful of use-by dates so you don’t waste food, and don’t overlook the own brand and budget offerings in your local supermarket for extra savings.
- Serve enough to feed all your Christmas guests comfortably, and plan how you can store and use the leftovers on Boxing Day as a buffet.
- Spread the cost by getting a head start on the shopping in the months leading up to Christmas: a tin of chocolates bought in September will keep in the tin until you need it. No sneaking any before then!
- Share the load and ask each of your guests to make a dish for the Christmas Day feast. Just make sure everyone knows exactly what they are cooking, as you don’t want to run the risk of everyone turning up with a bowl full of sprouts!
Gifts
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With a little bit of forward planning, this major Christmas headache can be avoided.
- Set a budget for gifts and stick to it.
- Make a list of people and what you are getting them (check the list twice if you are so inclined). Follow it, to the letter.
- Start your Christmas shopping now and once you’ve ticked everything off, that’s it. No more gift buying. Don’t be swayed by the temptation to go a little bit overboard ‘because it’s Christmas’ or because you’re ahead of the game.
- Getting the Christmas shopping done early is a great way to steer clear of a lot of stress. Avoid the mad rush and try and get the shopping done and gifts wrapped by the end of November.
- Buy fewer high quality gifts instead of piles and piles of cheaper things. Don’t be tempted by cheap impulse buys or the strategically displayed gifts near the checkout.
Decorations
![shutterstock_115747786](https://www.autoadvance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/shutterstock_115747786.jpg)
Decorating your home is the point where you know Christmas is coming. Using these tips you can create a winter wonderland without breaking the bank.
- Instead of buying brand new boxes of lights and an entire tree’s worth of baubles every year, why not go out as a family and buy a single new decoration each? Head to a garden centre, meet Father Christmas and get something special to hang on the tree without spending a fortune. It’s also a great activity for the kids!
- If you followed the tip about getting a good head start on the shopping, you can afford to spend time making decorations. Younger kids will enjoy it and can be a great way to really personalise your Christmas tree. Homemade decorations also make brilliant gifts.
- If you’ve already amassed a few different styles of decorations, organise them into colour schemes or themes and cycle through them on a yearly basis to keep that ‘new’ feel; your decorations are only ever on show for a few days at a time, so having alternative looks can help revamp how your tree looks each Christmas.
- Invest in an artificial tree. In the long run this saves time, effort, mess and money compared to buying a real tree every December.
- Reusing whatever you can is a great way to be environmentally friendly: cardboard, wrapping paper, old decorations – all of it can be repurposed and recycled to make new Christmas decorations and gift tags.
Saving the pennies can go a long way at Christmas, but what about money-saving the whole year? For some tips, read our blog post 12 ways to have more money in 2015.