Want to save money at Christmas? Follow these strategies
Saving money at Christmas is not always easy. Therefore, with your budget in mind, we have put together 20 tips to help you spend less, without penalizing the Christmas festivities. Planning in advance is one of the main strategies for those who want to include the word savings in the Christmas dictionary.
1. Establish a Christmas budget
Follow planned expenses strictly. To save money at Christmas, draw up a list of the names of adults and children to whom you intend to give a gift and establish a base value for each one. Also estimate how much you intend to spend on food.
2. Write down all expenses
Whenever you make a purchase related to gifts or Christmas party meals, write it down in a notebook or diary, so that you have a better idea of the money you are paying.
3. Prepare Christmas dinner in advance
Christmas dinner ingredients that do not deteriorate, such as olive oil, nuts or drinks, must be purchased in advance. Why? Every year, prices tend to increase in December.
4. Avoid impulse and last-minute purchases
In the midst of the “confusion” that is created in stores in the last few days before Christmas, you will tend to make less considered and, possibly, more expensive decisions.
5. Compare prices
Choose the store or supermarket that is most accessible to you and have the best offer based on the quality/price ratio.
6. Focus your purchases
To save money at Christmas on petrol and car parks, try to do your Christmas shopping on one or two occasions.
7. Share expenses
Reduce spending on Christmas party food and ask each family member to participate in the menu with different delicacies.
8. Take advantage of sales
Buy Christmas gifts out of season, taking advantage of discounts throughout the year, particularly the January and summer sales. Remember that there are timeless articles.
9. Give gifts together
Get together with other family members or friends to offer gifts and you will see that it even becomes possible to give loved ones more expensive gifts. For example, offer gifts to your parents together with your siblings. In the case of couples, choose to offer a single gift.
10. Make your own gifts
Who doesn’t enjoy a jar of marmalade or homemade jam, for example? Whenever possible, give free rein to your imagination and create your own gifts.
11. Reuse wrapping paper
After opening the gifts, save the paper and bows that are in good condition and can be used later. Instead of buying wrapping paper, try using pages from old magazines with suggestive illustrations that you know will please the recipient, and decorate with a bow, for example.
12. Save on decoration
Recycle or try to innovate in your decoration with originality using the objects you used the previous year. In the same bowls you used for traditional sweets, place dried fruits or chocolates, for example. Be creative and place, for example, a pine cone on each plate to mark each guest’s place at the Christmas table.
13. Send digital cards
If you like sending Christmas cards, electronic postcards, sent by email , are effective, fast and economical.
14. Bet on online auctions
The offer is wide and the prices are affordable. On auction sites you can buy a wide range of products, offered for sale by individuals, from a bidding base that can be as little as one euro. Some brands or stores also use auctions to sell goods. eBay is one of the best-known platforms, offering thousands of products .
15. Take advantage of outlet prices
To save money at Christmas, schedule a day to go to commercial stores with lower prices or pay attention to products with this indication on the shelves. Many brands offer this option on their website. If you want to offer clothes, shoes or bags, this is a less expensive alternative.
16. Pamper family and friends
If your budget is particularly tight this year, choose to offer surprises instead of gifts to those you care about most. For example, promise your sister that you will stay for a weekend to look after her nephews, offer to take care of cleaning your partner’s car next or surprise him/her with a romantic Christmas card or a presentation with photographs of your best moments.
17. Play Secret Santa
This exchange of souvenirs is more affordable since you only have to buy one gift. Write the names of the participants on a piece of paper and put them all in a bag. Each person must take out a piece of paper and keep the name of the person they chose a secret. Then clues are given regarding the Secret Santa’s appearance or personality until everyone guesses who it is. At the end, each person gives a gift to their secret friend, which is revealed to all participants.
18. Save energy
Use LED technology for Christmas lighting, a low energy consumption solution. Also invest in decorative candles.
19. Buy in bulk
Dried and crystallized fruits are part of the Christmas table and while, on the one hand, the most practical way to buy them is in small packaged portions, on the other hand, if you buy in bulk you will get the same quantity for a lower price.
20. Make a Christmas piggy bank
Start saving for gifts as early as January. Estimate how much you intend to spend in December and then divide it by 12. Each month, set aside this amount to create your Christmas savings.
At Christmas time, more refined food, decoration and gifts for family and friends require additional expenses, above those incurred in the remaining months of the year, with the possible exception of summer. So, remember these tips for saving money at Christmas, so as not to exceed your budget. Make smart purchases.