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Life with Holly

Blog about Period Interiors and Gardens

Lifestyle

The Best Christmas Money Saving Tips

19 November 2019 Comments : 20

Are you ready for my best Christmas money saving tips? Read on! 

 

Christmas is great. It’s just such an expensive time of year for many people, but I wanted to share a few ways in which we try and make Christmas a little more affordable.

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips by Life with Holly - Christmas Tree in Whites and Neutrals

 

Firstly, we limit the amount of gifts we buy. I’m not buying things for friends I barely see or family who I haven’t spoken to all year. Mr R and I also don’t buy each other anything. In reality, we don’t need anything so we end up buying things just for the sake of it and these things can often be sh*t. I’d rather have nothing than some shoe polish, which is what he got me one year.

 

I spread the cost of Christmas by buying presents from the beginning of November. Hols is more than happy to start thinking about Christmas before Halloween, so she does a preliminary Christmas list and I work from that. I’ve also drummed it into her that Santa won’t be bringing everything on her list. Well, he has to buy for everyone else, doesn’t he, so he can’t bring everything for one person. On a side note, we’re currently phasing out Santa. He still brings gifts, but only one or two. The rest are from me and Mr R. There’s no way Santa is getting all the credit for the best gifts!

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips by Life with Holly

 

I’ve bought second hand items before. EBay or Facebook Marketplace are great for this. Holly is really into Sylvanian Families, but to buy them new is so expensive! A few years back we picked up the Grand Hotel for £10 as opposed to the hundreds it would have cost new. We did have to collect it from Manchester (well, Mr R did as I wasn’t sure I could make it fit in the car!) but it saved us a fortune and Holly was over the moon on Christmas morning. Things like wooden train tracks and even Maileg items can be found online for much cheaper than the brand new prices, and kids genuinely don’t care whether something is new or not. They just want the item!

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips from Life with Holly - Christmas Matel Garland

 

It’s best to try and support small businesses at this time of year, and a lot of them offer discounts for new customers. I’ve ordered some gifts from Scandi Mini and Bijou Lifesyle this year, both of whom offer 10% off to new customers. If you start buying early as well, you can take advantage of any sales they may have ongoing.

 

Can you make or bake? If so, good quality handmade gifts are a great way to save money. Hols has asked for a sloth teddy this year, so I’m going to make her a crochet one. I bought a really cute pattern from Etsy seller Irene Strange (here) and can’t wait to get started!

 

Speaking of gifts, for wrapping I use brown paper. Not only does it look good, it can be recycled which is obviously better for the planet than the crappy glossy papers. I’ll create a post with my favourite ways to “style” brown paper for gifts as I’ve got a load of ideas – it’s really versatile. It’s also cheap – I buy a big roll from Amazon (see here) and use it for all my presents, even the ones Santa brings. He’s pretty good – we leave him the roll out, and when he brings the presents he wraps them in our wrapping!

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips by Life with Holly - Brown Kraft Christmas Wrapping Paper Ideas

 

Spot Oscar’s paw! Each of last years presents featured a pre-chewed ribbon and had a faint cat food aroma. Thanks Oscar!

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips from Life with Holly - Christmas Mantel Garland

 

For decor, I’ve always liked to bring the outdoors in. Foraging for foliage is a great free way to get greenery for your home and the amount of things you can do with it – it’s amazing! From stair garlands to wreaths, from greenery chandeliers to mantlepiece swags – there are so many things you can do. Just make sure you ask permission from the landowner if you’re going out foraging! Here’s an easy rustic table setting you could do. I’ll be having a look out in the garden to see what foliage is around in the next few days and will be making a start on my door wreaths soon.

 

 

We also use loyalty points at our local supermarket, the Coop. Over the year Mr R and I have each racked up about £60 on our loyalty cards (and we don’t even do our main weekly shops there – this is the product of nipping out for a bottle of wine on an evening!!) so we’ll either get our Christmas wines or food using these points. We’ve decided to just have us three for Christmas this year, which will also keep the costs down as we won’t have to cater for anywhere near as many people!

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips by Life with Holly - Christmas Table Styling

 

Another money saving thing, although not necessarily for Christmas, is to look at your mortgage. We recently used Habito to remortgage and I can’t recommend them enough. I have quite dodgy credit – throw being self employed into the mix and I’m the kind of person that banks won’t touch with David’s (as we say here in the R household). Habito managed to find us a great deal, saving us £110 a month! If you need to remortgage in the near future, you can use my personal link to get £100 cash when you complete your deal. It’s also free, as Habito get their fees from the lender. A lot of mortgage advisers we looked into charged the client a fee AS WELL as getting a fee from the lender, which I thought was so unfair!

 

So I hope this gives you some ideas as to how to make Christmas more affordable. Do you have any other Christmas money saving tips? Comment below!

 

DISCLAIMER – This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you decide to make a purchase using these links, at no cost to you. This commissions help to run the blog. Thank you! 

 

Christmas Money Saving Tips and Advice for Christmas on a Budget by Life with Holly

Related

Previous:
Weekend Wander to Upperthong, Holmfirth
Next:
Faux Christmas Wreath Workshop with OKA {gifted experience}

Comments

  1. Thuy says

    20 November 2019 at 1:56 pm

    I love thrifty holiday tips! I want to be able to DIY presents this year to save a little cash, but still give everyone something meaningful.

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:15 am

      That’s such a good idea! Home made gifts can be so special x

      Reply
  2. Simone says

    20 November 2019 at 3:06 pm

    WOW, great post mama. Every mom should read this.

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:15 am

      Thank you so much x

      Reply
  3. Deb Lee says

    20 November 2019 at 3:19 pm

    I love the idea of limiting the number of gifts. That way, each one is more meaningful and you don’t end up with clutter from too many purchases.

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:14 am

      It’s such a good idea! There is too much stuff in the world already x

      Reply
  4. Gabi says

    21 November 2019 at 10:02 am

    These are great recommendations! I prefer also to buy from small businesses, let’s support them!

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:14 am

      Definitely! I try and shop small if at all possible x

      Reply
  5. Shibani says

    21 November 2019 at 11:24 am

    Excellent tips!

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:13 am

      Thank you so much x

      Reply
  6. Maria says

    21 November 2019 at 3:05 pm

    Wonderful ideas and your decorations are absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      22 November 2019 at 6:13 am

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  7. Matilda says

    22 November 2019 at 8:59 pm

    I love that decor! It’s so clean and stylish, yet so festive!

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      2 December 2019 at 1:23 pm

      Ah thank you! x

      Reply
  8. Xoxocb says

    23 November 2019 at 2:03 pm

    These are great! I hate shopping for Christmas gifts and would rather take my family and friends out to dinner or a movie and spend time with them.

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      2 December 2019 at 1:22 pm

      Me too! I always feel that we end up buying things just for the sake of it, and it’s all unnecessary! Treating family and friends to dinner is a great idea! x

      Reply
  9. Rachel says

    25 November 2019 at 12:13 pm

    I love a scaled back and more sustainable holiday season. Great tips!

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      2 December 2019 at 1:19 pm

      Thank you! It can all get a bit out of hand so we’re really scaling it back this year, without losing any of the magic x

      Reply
  10. Thuy says

    26 November 2019 at 5:27 pm

    I always spend so much during holidays so I appreciate any savings I can get!

    Reply
    • lifewithholly says

      2 December 2019 at 1:20 pm

      Me too! I’m determined this year to make it more sustainable! x

      Reply

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About Me

Hi! I'm Jo, and welcome to my blog about my life with my daughter Holly. Here you'll find posts on interiors and DIY, our home and garden, our travel and other day to day goings on. Thanks for stopping by!

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