Every week I share five frugal things that I’ve done during that week just to show you that the small things you do all add up to a great frugal lifestyle where you can learn to live a fabulously frugal life but being so close to Christmas, I thought I’d switch it up a bit and share some of the things I’ve done to save money this Christmas.
Hey! 👐
Happy Christmas Eve! 🎄
I do a similar post to this every year and even though I haven’t read back over the last few years, I can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be very similar every year – either I have tried and tested ways that I can’t beat or I’m just old and set in my ways. I’ll leave you to decide the answer to that one! 😂
1) I start preparing for Christmas in January – not in a huge way but in small ways that I know will add up over the year so that by the time Christmas rolls around the next year, I’ll have at least a few presents paid for…
- I bank with Starling and have my app set up to round up every purchase to the nearest pound, double it and add that amount to a Christmas savings pot so I have a little stash of cash to put towards my Christmas shopping.
- I save points on my Boots Advantage Card, taking advantage of any offers for extra points on the app. I usually end up with enough at the end of the year to be able to afford a bottle of Gucci Rush which is Miss Frugal’s favourite perfume. It’s not cheap though so the fact that I haven’t had to actually pay for it for the last three years is an absolute win.
- And finally, the big one for me is Swagbucks which is something I know I mention on here often but genuinely, it’s only because redeeming my Swagbucks for Amazon vouchers every year has made a huge contribution towards my Christmas shopping. I definitely need to give this a post of its own to really explain how to use Swagbucks properly but that’s definitely a 2022 problem. In the meantime, my refer a friend link is here if you want to have a look around and get started now for next Christmas.
2) Do you have a Christmas Cupboard? My kitchen storage space is pretty limited so my Christmas cupboard is actually just a big box in the garage that I try and add something to every week from about the end of October – whether it’s a four-pack of snowballs, a box of After Eight Mints or some crackers or table decorations for Christmas.
3) Christmas Dinner tomorrow isn’t going to be a ridiculously extravagant meal as I genuinely believe that it’s just a meal and to spend half a day prepping it and the other half feeling too full to move from eating so much is just a waste. We usually have chicken because we’re not turkey fans, a smallish gammon joint, and a small joint of beef with your usual veg, Yorkshires, and roasties. We have stuffing and pigs in blankets too so I can’t say we don’t make more effort for Christmas Dinner than we do for a usual Sunday Dinner but we don’t go all out with starters and expensive sides. I might actually take photos of what we do tomorrow to share at some point before next Christmas. 🙂
4) I know I’ve got the best deal possible for everything that I’ve bought this Christmas by making sure that I followed all of my own tips from this post – what you should be doing before EVERY online purchase. Basically, I’ve used cashback sites, Googled for the best prices, and then used Honey to make sure I can’t bring the price down any lower. I’d say that in around 50% of my purchases, I’ve been able to save some money or earn cashback which is the same thing, right?
5) I’m usually a fan of giving experiences at Christmas as I think they’re so much better than actual presents (the kids may not agree with me but hey ho) so I’ve printed out some of my usual printable gift certificates and made some promises on what we’ll do when we’re allowed to.
I can’t tell you what I’ve gifted in case the kids see this today but in the past, we’ve had spa treats, lifts to college on a cold morning instead of the bus, a stay in a Premier in of their choice, McDonald’s breakfast and other daft things as well as bigger things like being a mascot at the Boro match and a trip to New York.
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As always, we’d love you to join in with us by sharing anything you’ve done that’s been thrifty or frugal from your week – whether it’s an Instagram picture (#5frugalthings), a blog post or even a video. Just add your link to the Frugal Friday linky at the bottom of this post.
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I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
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