Did she really just say the C word?

Yep, I'm afraid so ladies and gentlemen, I'm warning you in advance, so that those of a sensitive disposition can look away now, this post is going to be littered with the C word.....

Yep, CHRISTMAS!  CHRISTMAS!  CHRISTMAS!  CHRISTMAS!  It may be August, but this post is all about Christmas!  And I'm not even sorry....

I don't know about you, but I've already started spotting selection boxes in the supermarkets and Christmas cards in the card shops.... I know we're nowhere near the season to be jolly, but it seems that to big companies anywhere within six months of Christmas is fair game...

As a family, we don't have a lot of spare cash, so budgeting and forward planning help a lot round here, especially when we're thinking about Christmas.  We had a marvellous Christmas last year, our first with both our girls.  We feasted like kings and thoroughly spoilt our little ones and most importantly because we thought ahead we didn't break the bank.

So, because these things DO take a bit of careful planning and because by starting early you can make huge savings, these are my tips on saving a wee bit of cash, to make Christmas a little easier...

1.  Save up your supermarket rewards points...
It may seem obvious, but saving the rewards points you can earn from supermarkets throughout the year and using them specifically for Christmas shopping you can make a huge difference.  Mr Husband is OBSESSED with Sainsbury's Nectar Points.  He will only fill his car up at Sainsbury's garage, or at a BP garage even if it means travelling out of his way.  This can lead to motorway based arguments when the petrol light comes on but he INSISTS on continuing driving past all the other service stations until we reach a BP branch.  Worth it in the end though, and we haven't broken down *yet*......  We also actively seek out deals that offer rewards points as an incentive, you can usually companies offering things like 1000 points for getting a car insurance comparison quote and that sort of thing.  They may be fiddly and irritating at the time, but definitely worth it. We even have a toolbar on our PC that gives us extra points for searching for things on the internet, which we do anyway!  We are total point whores, we will fill out any old form for a few extra points.  Tesco's also run schemes where you can double up your vouchers to spend in a particular department, also very much worth it if you intend to buy presents from them, but you do have to be careful that the exchanged vouchers don't expire before you intend to do your shopping.

2.  Join a Survey Site
Did you know you can earn money just for giving your opinion on stuff?  Well neither did I until last year, but there are sites out there that will happily pay you so they can conduct market research.  Last year I joined two sites, Valued Opinions and My Surveys where you sign up, then receive invitations by email to voice your opinions on products and advertising. I'm sure there are other sites out there as well that do this, but these are the only two I have personal experience of. For each survey you complete you are given either points or money, usually somewhere around 75p for each survey you complete.  Sometimes you aren't eligible to complete a survey (often because they reach their target number of participants) but usually they you to give your opinions of a product, or watch a short commercial and give your opinions on that.  Yes, sometimes it can be a little boring, but you can do it in your own time, you don't  have to provide any information that you don't want to and hey - they pay you!  When you reach either £10 or 110 points (depending on which site you are using) you then exchange your points or pounds for vouchers.  You can choose where you would like to spend your vouchers from loads of different places, you can even opt to have your money deposited into your Paypal account.  Do this enough times before Christmas and trust me, you are onto a winner!

3.  Buy when the price is right...
Easter Eggs are a prime example of this theory.  Buy them early enough and shops will offer crazy deals like buy one, get two free.  Wait until two weeks before Easter and all the good deals have evaporated and you're stuck with the crazy prices because shops know that you have no choice.  Exactly the same principle applies to Christmas.  If there are things that you like to have for Christmas every year, like crackers, selection boxes, even Babycham (don't knock it, I love it!) shark the shops early!  Buy them when the prices are good and squirrel them away.  When the price shoots up you can legitimately feel smugger than a smug bloke from Smuggington.  If you can't be trusted around a selection box two months in advance, put the flippin thing somewhere you really can't be bothered to go to get it back from.  For me, it's the loft.  I put all the Christmas goodies I buy early into the loft alongside my decorations.  Even I can't be bothered to pull the ladder out and head up into the loft just because I have an overwhelming urge to fill my face with a Mars bar.

Last year we wrote a Fantasy List of Christmas Nibbly Snacks....every delicious thing you imagine yourself eating or drinking around Christmas to celebrate.  Then with our points and vouchers we went and bought every flippin thing on that list entirely guilt free! It was amazing!  Honestly, so much fun, even writing the list (which took us about two weeks) was brilliant.  So, my pretties, go forth and save!  Save like mad things!  Then in exactly 128 days have the most enormous blow out!!

Merry Christmas me hearties!

Love, love,




P.S  I haven't received any reward or financial incentive to write this post from any company, just sharing some tips I thought my lovely readers might find useful.  If any companies want to give me free shiz for carping on a bit, that would be fine by me, but I can't see it happening!! ;)