This is how to do Christmas cheap and on a budget
Do you want to find the best online shopping deals? Take the guesswork out of finding the best online shopping sites with these simple money saving tips.
Start thinking about Christmas presents now. It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas. What are you going to have for Christmas dinner? Secret Santa presents and gift ideas for the one’s you love.
We start by writing everything down in a huge list and tick it off as we go. We do this for Christmas food and our Christmas shopping.
For more ideas on how to have a budget Christmas have a look at:
147 Cheap Christmas Gifts For the Whole Family – Looking for Christmas gifts for the whole family? This will help you to find the perfect gifts.
Your Essential Christmas Shopping List – This is our essential Christmas shopping list that you can use for your whole family. It will save you money over the Christmas period.
Money Saving Printables
If you are looking for ways to save money as a family or simple tips to curb your food shopping bill then come join our free Resource Vault. It’s packed full of printables that you can use to start your money saving journey.
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Christmas on a budget ideas
Here are 31 Christmas savings top tips just for you, including how to compare prices at speed, spot hidden sales and receive price drop emails. These tips will help you have some money toward Christmas.
Saving money for Christmas weekly
It’s no lie that loads of us are still paying off Christmas in the summer months. Start by saving as early as you can. If you struggle to save then try our penny saving challenge. You can do it for a whole year, three months or even one month to help you have some money toward Christmas.
It’s super easy and these posts below explain how you can do it:
1p Saving Challenge: How to Save Over £100 in 30 Days – We use this penny challenge every year as it’s a great way to save money quickly and easily.
Penny Saving Challenge: Save Over £600 in a Year – Start the new year how you mean to go on and use our money challenge here to start saving for Christmas next year.
Plan Christmas dinner early
It’s never to early to start thinking about your Christmas food. Plan now what you and the family are going to eat Christmas week. Buy the crackers now. Any sweet treats and anything that can be frozen. That helps you to spread the cost over the whole year and not have a huge bill come December.
Have a look at our easy ways you can make Christmas dinner on a budget:
21 Christmas Dinner Starters That Won’t Break the Bank
How to Make The Best Christmas Day Dinner
13 Leftover Turkey Recipes That Can Be Made From Your Christmas Dinner
How to Make a Christmas Day Dinner
Make your own wrapping paper
This is great fun if you have smaller kids too. Grab some cheap brown paper and get the paints out. We rolled it out so the kids could do some handprints, footprints and just go a little crazy.
It’s a cheap way to make personalised wrapping paper for the whole family.
We use this Heavy Duty Brown Kraft Wrapping Paper Roll 90gsm*
You can use any paints but we love these Pack of 10 Crayola Washable Kids Paint*.
Cashback sites
Sign up for free and when you purchase something through them, you get an amount back. Many people make hundreds a year by doing this, and it’s a simple way to save money on your online purchases.
OhMyDosh
OhMyDosh* is an easy to use cashback site that’s free to use. It’s not like a normal cashback site though. OhMyDosh gives you loads of ways you can make money including:
The refer a friend scheme. Refer your friends to OhMyDosh and earn yourself £5 for every sign up and your friend £1.
Competitions: Enter them for free and receive money.
Shop through them to earn the bigger rewards.
The best thing about OhMyDosh is that you only need to make £10 to “dosh out” and they pay out through your bank or through PayPal.
If you are new to OhMyDosh* then use our link here to get your first free £1.
You can read more about how OhMyDosh works here.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks* is free to join and like Quidco you can save money while shopping online. The good thing about Swagbucks is that you can also earn money by watching videos, playing games and taking part in surveys.
There’s an option to download their SwagButton* for free which pops-up and reminds you about the cashback you could earn.
You can collect points which then can be used as cash and transferred via PayPal or gift cards.
Read more about what we think about Swagbucks here.
Find the cheapest online prices quickly
Using cool tools like shopbots help you get the best online deals quickly. They trawl through the chosen sites and bring up the cheapest products for your selected product.
Of course, they only search selected stores, so it may pay to click around, to make sure these really are the lowest prices you can get.
Free Delivery at Amazon
An ongoing offer I tell everyone about is the Amazon Prime Free Trial. You get unlimited next day delivery on your items for a while month. If you then don’t want to continue, you just cancel before the month ends.
Previous customers, like myself, have been offered this deal twice, so it’s worth looking out for their emails.
Check eBay for local bargains
Whatever you’re looking for, Xbox, bikes or books, looking locally via eBay really can help reduce the price.
You can search by postcode, and collecting the item can cut down on delivery costs too.
Buy from China
Dollhouses, iPhone cases, and even handbags can be shipped over, all at rock-bottom prices.
There’s nothing wrong with importing them, but just check who you’re buying from, reviews and how long it will take to ship.
Online Discount Outlets
No need to drive miles out your way with the kids, snap up the best deals using these online sites, which include some very big names, like Argos and Mothercare.
Get More for Less
It’s fun online shopping, but getting stung for the delivery hurts.
Compare how much delivery is, and if you’re just under it, add an item to get free delivery.
So, if your kid’s bike is £49 but free delivery doesn’t come in till £50, by a pack of pencils or pens for a £1, to push you over. They’d make a great stocking filler, but also save you the delivery charge.
Join the Club
If you like designer brands, then sign up to their email lists. Many offer their customers exclusive deals that never hit the shelves.
Discount codes
There are loads of FB pages knocking around that will help keep you up to date with the latest codes and deals. Our Facebook page Money Saving Mums group are one, but search around and they will pop up.
Get someone to negotiate with you
Check out Flubit, a site that aims to negotiate discounts for you.
You can use the site to see if any of its partner stores can beat Amazon.
The only thing to watch is if you buy through it, you have no come back with Amazon, as you didn’t buy through them technically, so sorting out issues isn’t always easy.
Check the department stores
Think John Lewis and Debenhams. If your designer shop doesn’t have any sales or discount codes running, then check if the department store does, it still counts.
Most department stores have regular blue cross sales or discount codes that can be used with their partners.
House of Fraiser, Next, and Asos all fit into this too.
Wait for bargains
By doing a simple Google search on sale dates from last year, you can normally predict what they will be this year. Most stores run a calendar, so their sales are around the same times.
If you are buying bigger ticket items like a piece of diamond jewelry or accessory, most retailers run the biggest sale of the sale of the year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In fact, retailers like BlueNile or Helzberg run promotions with massive 25% sale on their jewellery during this period of time. So, if you had been eyeing that £200 diamond ear studs, shopping during this period of time can save you a substantial sum of money.
Get your shopping list ready and pounce when the sale is on.
Your Email address is gold
Sign up for all the big online shopping retailers and save. Think Dorothy Perkins (that gives you 10% off your first order) or Gap, all for just giving them your email. Simples!
Club Card points
While it’s true you can spend them instore on food and toys, if you look around, then these same points could be worth triple their value online.
They can be used on a bunch of things, like meals at Pizza Express or on Goldsmith Jewellery.
Credit Cards aren’t the devil
If you have one that offers you cash back, then use it. Not only are you getting money back on what you wanted anyway, but for purchases over £100, they offer you protection.
So if the shop suddenly goes bust and you haven’t picked the new bike up yet or the hoover you’ve been wanting for Christmas, then your provider will cover it.
Email Alerts
Using price alert sites like Love Sales are handy, as you get to add items you want, set a price you’re willing to pay and it will ping you an email when the price drops.
You do need to register first and pick a retailer, but it’s a simple way to know if your desired online purchase has dropped in price.
It’s not what you know….
It’s who you know. Do you have any students in the family that would lend you their NUS Card? Many online retailers accept them and offer anything from 10% to 50% off!
Anyone working for the NHS? Stores like Dorothy Perkins offer people who work in the healthcare service a good discount, as does EE, and other mobile phone networks too.
Armed forces? A Defence Privilege Card is available for anyone serving, it does cost a fiver, but offers a range of discounts across many retailers.
Is it cheaper aboard?
If you want a higher value item, then it may pay to ship from a foreign online shopping site.
Watch out for custom prices though and any added tax you may have to pay when it arrives in the UK.
Look at the Discounters
Aldi and Lidi deliver too. They offer great wine deals and will ship it right to your door.
Come join our Aldi Mums UK Facebook group to keep up to date with all there latest offers.
Duplicates Rule
When it comes to perfumes or candles, anything smelly really, you can normally find a cheaper online shopping site that sells a dup.
Think the Aldi candles vs Jo Malone.
Watch out for price glitches. It’s a common mistake that people think that if they pay for something and it’s a mistake, that the shop has to honor it. They don’t. You can try your luck and they might let it go through, but most will just cancel the order and refund your money, slowly, of course.
Bonus Point Weekends
Boots are good for this. If you have an Advantage card, then it’s best to wait for their bonus card weekends to buy. For example, normally over Christmas, they offer 1000 points for an online £50 spend.
Fight those failed deliveries
There’s nothing more annoying than staying in all day with a pent-up toddler to find that your item wasn’t delivered as planned.
You can fight back and even ask for compensation for loss of time.
Arm yourself with the knowledge and go get them!
Check a site is the real deal
It’s all of our worst fears.
Do your research first. If you’ve never heard of the site then Google for feedback, read the site and get a feeling for them, so most of all trust that not all small sites are crooks.
Haggle
Just because you’re behind a screen doesn’t mean the price is really the price.
Find the live chat and ask away. Put the item you want in your basket and sign out, and watch the emails come in asking what they can do to help you buy. That’s your chance to swoop in and ask.
Play the Stores at their own game
Many retailers offer gift vouchers or major discounts if you sign up for a card through them. Do it, but remember to ALWAYS pay it off in full as many have very high-interest rates.
It’s not always cheaper online
Ok, so most of the time it is, but there are some stores that do split online and in-store sales. Shop around, get a benchmark price online and visit your local town, you never know, you may just get it cheaper.
Get someone to negotiate with you
Check out Flubit, a site that aims to negotiate discounts for you.
You can use the site to see if any of its partner stores can beat Amazon.
The only thing to watch is if you buy through it, you have no come back with Amazon, as you didn’t buy through them technically, so sorting out issues isn’t always easy.
Related Posts:
- 25 of the Best Ways To Save Money In The UK Right Now
- 19 Cheap Food Shopping Hacks That Could Save You Hundreds
- 101 Frugal Living Tips That Will Save You Thousands in 2020
Wait for bargains
By doing a simple Google search on sale dates from last year, you can normally predict what they will be this year. Most stores run a calendar, so their sales are around the same times.
If you are buying bigger ticket items like a piece of diamond jewelry or accessory, most retailers run the biggest sale of the sale of the year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In fact, retailers like BlueNile or Helzberg run promotions with massive 25% sale on their jewellery during this period of time. So, if you had been eyeing that £200 diamond ear studs, shopping during this period of time can save you a substantial sum of money.
Get your shopping list ready and pounce when the sale is on.
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more money saving ideas, then head over to the saving my family money section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 50 money saving tips to help you save your family more. There’s enough tips to help you save over £300 a month! You could also pop over and follow my family saving Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on how to stop spending and save more; Money Saving Tips for Families and Managing Money for Families.
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