Start Saving for Christmas now
September is a time for new beginnings, reset the mind, the goals and the plan for the future. It’s also a great time to start preparations for Christmas. Lets face it, it can be a really expensive time. Pressies for the children and the extended family. Many nights out with different groups of friends and work colleagues and all of those Christmas and New Year dinners. Well lets start saving for christmas now… together!
Christmas is going to be much more manageable if you start preparing for it early. Here are a few things I have done and also some top tips from my fellow community of bloggers. I hope it gives you ideas to better prepare for an expensive time of the year.
Set up a Separate Christmas Savings Account
I have an account with Chip. This account is an app on my phone and very cleverly takes money from my main bank account when it recognises I have excessive money, have been spending less and can afford to move some money aside. The money is safely stashed in a saving account with Barclays and earns a very nice 3% of interest.
This account takes no effort from me and money magically is moved across almost without me noticing, once its gone it can’t be spent and I forget its gone. I saved up £800 for our holiday using this method and I am using the same method for Christmas, I currently have £400 set aside.
Have that discussion with friends and family about the affordability of Christmas
I had the chat with my family and explained that we really couldn’t afford to exchange Christmas pressies anymore between the adults. Hubby and I also agreed the same thing. It does make Christmas morning slightly difficult when there are only pressies for the children and nothing for me to open, but it saves us money in the long run
Buy pressies early
I have done super well with this this year and bough the big Christmas pressie for the children in the Amazon Prime day sales. I got an Xbox One Minecraft edition with three extra games included for £200. A great bargain, made even better as I had some vouchers saved up to pay for it. Get a list from the children as early as possible so you can monitor prices of what they are after. And start buying early. Prices will more than likely rise closer to the big day.
I asked the blogging community in my Blogging Your Way To Riches Facebook Group what they do to save up money for Christmas.
Ideas from Other Bloggers
Sarah at Champagne and Petals
I put money aside each month around £75 by Christmas we have more than either to pay for Christmas gifts and food. Sometimes we have to add a bit more if needed. I also sale shop throughout the year!
Victoria at Lyliarose
I love to plan early! I’ve actually done most of my Christmas shopping this week as September is a quiet month financially for us after the busyness of the summer holidays. I’ll spread the cost from now until November so as by December everything is paid for and there’s no financial stress during the festive month.
Catherine at themoneypanel
I’ve been moving money each week into a pot with Starling Bank using their goal pots. We set up a separate pot for presents for the kids as we will be doing a secret Santa this year for other family members and homemade gifts this year to save some pennies.
Jane at Lady Janey
I always save all my Sainsburys Nectar points up through the year so can use them towards the big Christmas shop! Usually have around £100 which at least covers my Christmas Day wine!
Colette at Cashbackcollette
I love this idea from Colette!
I’ve been entering competitions and giveaways throughout the year and putting away my wins to use as gifts. So far I’ve got 3 bottles of wine, a nice mug set and loads of little beauty and novelty gift sets for the family so far. I’ve also been putting away food goodies from supermarket cashback apps to make up hampers and save for Christmas dinner 
it saves us a fortune each year!
Laura at thriftylondoner
I like to start buying things from September as and when I see things that I know people will like, maybe picking up some smaller ‘stocking filler’ type gifts in sales or on offer, usually by December I only have a few things left to buy and won’t have a big Christmas shaped hole in my bank account!
Faith at muchmorewithless
I don’t do much shopping, but when I buy stuff online or switch bills I always check if I can earn cashback by clicking through from websites like TopCashback or Quidco first. It all adds up, then I claim cashback at the end of the year to help cover the cost of Christmas. I can even earn a bit extra by taking vouchers rather than cash
Michelle at timeandpence
I buy lots of Christmas presents in the January and Summer sales which not only saves money but also helps the run up to Christmas to be less stressful. I also love the Asda savings card for adding on a few pounds here and there through the year. You then get a lump sum in November to help towards your Christmas food shop
