Hi!
So I know there’s six weeks left until Christmas but everyone should know about saving money in advance! Last year I wrote a money saving post predominantly aimed at students about how to Christmas shop on a budget which if you are a student you can check out here.
Seen as I am no longer a student I thought I would come with some money saving tips for everyone else. A lot of these will seem quite obvious but it’s surprising how many people don’t do these things and lets be fair who doesn’t want to save money?!
- Save, save, save. As I do most of my Christmas shopping online my card gets a lot of use at this time of year so at the end of each week if I’ve have any spare money I’ve been putting it in a little envelope ready to pay back into my account once Christmas is over. So far I have saved up half of what I’ve spent on presents and there are 6 weeks left until Christmas. I’d like to reach the amount I’ve actually spent so fingers crossed!
- Shop online. Ok so I know high street shops are disappearing and all that but why pay £20 for something on the high street when you could get it at half the price online. For the past few years around 80% of my presents are bought online. I’d say that percentage is a lot higher this year. Less than 10 presents out of the 30ish I’ve bought have come from the high street.
- Know where to look online. My top places for looking for presents are Amazon and Ebay but if you are ordering from somewhere else see if you can find a discount code online for that shop first a few seconds searching Google could mean you’ll find a percentage discount code or a free shipping code. Also check out new and used on Amazon, now I’m not suggesting you buy someone something that isn’t in good condition but new and used is great for books, I’ve ordered plenty from there in near perfect condition for a lot less money than they are brand new. If you know someone who wouldn’t be picky about that kind of thing then you may as well order from the new and used section.
- Join a survey site. A lot of survey sites pay out in vouchers meaning you could use the vouchers to buy some of your presents. My favourite is Valued Opinions which offers vouchers for Boots, John Lewis, Amazon and lots more. Simply fill out surveys and earn rewards then when you have enough money cash out a voucher. Valued Opinions are £10 and £15 vouchers. It may take a little time to build up but even one voucher is a saving.
- Plan in advance. It’s best to know what you want to buy people before you start shopping, looking around for inspiration is fine but if you actually plan to buy presents, whether it be online or from a store don’t go in without a very good idea what you are looking for as if you left yourself no time you’ll panic and buy the first thing you see. This could end up costing you a lot more money than it would if you planned ahead.
- Set budgets. Be realistic on how much you can afford to spend on each person you are buying presents for. There’s more to Christmas than spending a lot of money on people. Josh and I have set a budget this year and implementing the above tips I’ve actually been able to get more for my money and not go stupid and spend loads. Enjoy Christmas, enjoy all the yummy food and enjoy the look on peoples face when they unwrap your gifts it doesn’t matter how much you’ve spent!
If you have any Christmas money saving tips, please share them below!
You can keep track of all this years Christmas posts with the red Christmas 2013 button to the right!
These are great tips, especially about the survey sites!
Jennie xo | sailorjennie.com