Christmas…yes, really.

Howdy Peeps!

You may think I’m insane (you should know that if you’ve been here a while!) especially as it’s our last day of school here for summer, but let’s talk Christmas.

It is 5 months today (or 22 weeks yesterday) until the big day! That’s not long when organising as much as we do.

That’s 5 months’ savings (so £20 per month would give you £100 to spend, 40 per month= 200, etc) or you can buy gifts as you go… I do a bit of both.

It’s 21 weeks of diet and exercise. A healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week, so that’s 21-42 lbs by Christmas (1.5-3 stone!) Totally gonna aim for that.

It’s 5 months to sort out travel plans, guest rooms, freezer space and any decor you need to buy. The earlier you book travel and hotels the better deal you get and you have longer to pay (if you do a deposit and weekly/monthly pay-in). If you have to buy bedding etc for guests, they will put it all out on special soon ready for those going off to uni!

Biggest tip I can give you; shop the sales. There will be toys and DVDs on sale in the holidays, then around August/September they put out last year’s Christmas stock in stores. If you haven’t got them already, that is a great time to get cards, wrap and tags.

For bigger items like lighting and trees, either online early or around November in big chain stores like Argos, Homebase and Supermarkets. If you are shopping for groceries in Tesco, Morrison’s or Sainsbury’s start saving points on loyalty cards as they’ll all add extras or offer trade-ups in November.

When we bought our trees, (one Tesco with Clubcard points and one Homebase with Nectar points) we shopped sale time (15-20% off) and had double voucher points in Tesco so that tree ended up only costing £15! Ten our big tree, we got an additional £10 off using Nectar points and then gained double points back on our purchase. (I use my points against Sainsbury’s food shops mostly so points off food at Christmas time…bonus!)

Just keep an eye out. Even if you miss a sale or giveaway this year, make a note of it because they’ll probably do the same next year.

The best thing about all this planning and budgeting is that when you get to Christmas, you won’t be stressed by last minute rushes and things being out of stock. After Christmas, you won’t be stressed about credit repayments and such.

If you’ve never done a debt-free Christmas, please try…it’s such a great feeling! I believe this is our 9th year, so I am living proof it can be done!

Have a great, summery day! 😉

Anna x

Advertisement