How do you prepare for Christmas on a budget??

With so many friends and family members to buy for, how can you prepare for Christmas on a budget??  And as if that wasn’t a big enough worry, most of these people also have a birthday between late November and mid-January too so all the more reason to try and find a more cost effective way of doing it!!

So…Money saving tip #1 Cull your recipients list!! 

It sounds harsh, I know but believe me – most of them will thank you for it!!  While the B and I still only have the ‘lil monster, my big bro and closest cousin each have 3 kids.  Most of my friends have 2 kids that I usually buy for and I usually only see them at Christmas and birthdays!!  So after Christmas last year, I pretty much told everyone but big bro and best friend that I was no longer buying their kids Christmas presents.  My cuz, was over the moon!!  Like me, she struggles to buy her own kids’ presents never mind any one else’s!

For those that made the cut…divide the remaining recipients into 2 lists – kids and adults.

Now consider what you usually buy these people then consider what they usually buy you.  I find that some of the people in our buying circle will give anything in order to have something to give but little to no thought goes into it, some gifts are even the givers' own possessions-  2 others and  I were once each given a big bar of dark chocolate (the kind no one ever eats), an impulse body spray (the design of the can was the same as the one I used to buy when I was 12 and no longer in production!!) and a pair of tights that had clearly been a 3 pack that she had in a cupboard somewhere that she had opened and divided between us - they were American Tan and she's about 4'9" while the rest of us are between 5'5" & 5'9" !!!!!  

Don't get me wrong, I have been known to re-cycle gifts from time to time...one relative insists on buying clothes for the B from a particular shop that they know he hates :-(  The're always the most unflattering of items too.  We were starting to build a bit of a collection, then one year, we were particularly broke and it was this person's birthday.  We grabbed a shirt that we'd had for a few years, wrapped it and handed it over with an extremely heavy conscience!  The guy actually loved it and has worn it quite a bit!!   So, money saving tip #2 :recycle but just remember this is only acceptable if what you are recycling is going to the right person!

Consider where you usually purchase the gifts.  I’m pretty sneaky with this and usually shop online at www.boots.com for those of you outside of the UK, Boots is like a huge, fancy drugstore.  They have a special shopping day every year where for every £50 you spend that day in a single transaction, you get £12 worth of loyalty points and almost all of the gifts are on a 3-4-2 offer too so when you buy 3 gifts, the cheapest one is free , loyalty card holders also get vouchers for extra points if you spend £xx.xx etc.  At first, you could use all of the vouchers together and in the first year, I made £60 in loyalty points, which I used at the Dior counter to buy my Christmas presents from the B…major score!!  They’ve wised up to this now though and in order to get £12 points per £50 spent, you have to shop in-store (otherwise you've got to spend £75 online)  where only a limited portion of items are available and the only offer you can take in conjunction with the bonus points vouchers is the 3-4-2 deal.  Last Christmas, I made £12 points.  I got a false eyelash set and a cheap lip pencil :-(

The point is - many, many people flock to boots to do as much of their shopping as they can on the 3-4-2 and get their points but the thing is....all of the gifts are sold at full RRP, while many other shops have the same thing at a cheaper price.  Everyone is so concerend that they have to buy in multiples of 3 and have to spend enough to get the points that they don't realise they are often spending more money and often on things they don't even want!!!!!!!!!  Therefore money saving tip #Don’t be drawn in by offers – shop around!

Buying for the B’s family is damned near impossible!!  I usually go to loads of different shops and look at loads of different things, getting all hot, bothered and stressed before going home and  resorting to buying toiletries on Boots' 3-4-2 offers!!  My family are super easy to buy for, my dad always wants golf balls or golf socks and my mum usually picks something when we’re out shopping together while the B and I usually give each other money towards tattoos and such like.  The kids all get some kind of toy.

Well, this year I plan to cut out all of the unnecessary stress and countless wasted hours by making my own toiletries!  My dad is still getting golf balls (he's already bought them and asked for the money back, bless him!!)  but everyone else is getting my 'Blue Peter' specials as the B would call them (meany!!)  I've looked spent lots of time finding various recipes (with not a single hour wasted!!) and have decided everyone will get body wash and the ladies will get a body lotion or butter to go with it while the men will get a shave lotion of some sort!

I've found 2 different recipes for body wash that sound really good and I'd like to try and make the men's smell more manly so I'm going to be experimenting soon!  Money wise - most of the websites and blogs I've been looking at have calculated the cost per batch or item but I am new to this so don't have many - if any - of  the ingredients already.  I'm pretty much buying everything from scratch so instead of pricing per item, I'm working out how much it costs me to buy everything I need - including packaging - then dividing it between the number of people I'm giving them to.  As I don't yet know which body wash I'm going to make, I've just roughly calculated that I'll spend around £5 in total, per person!!  I usually spend a minimum of £10 per person (say £15, £13 & £10 on 3-4-2 = £30 ÷ people = £10) so I'm saving about 50%!!!  Major score!!  That makes money saving tip#4  Make your own!

I'd love to hear your Christmas preparation tips, whether its for presents, decorating, wrapping or food!  Share your Hanukkah or Eid plans, hints and tips or even Thanks Giving, birthdays or anything else you like to celebrate! ideas....anything goes so please leave a comment on here  post on my Facebook by clicking here don't forget to 'like' the page!!  You can also use the link on the side of the page to visit my FB page or to follow me on Twitter!