How to be Ready For Christmas at the Start of December

I think I'm in the majority group of people that find Christmas to be quite an expensive affair but most of the time I actually manage to find myself ready for the festivities at the start of December, now I know it probably won't be much use to you now but I thought this would be a good post to refer back to next year to help ease the burden of Christmas. So here are five tips to help you save those pennies.

Don't just buy gifts in December

Now this might seem like an obvious one but there are so many of us that year after year after promising to start early, still find ourselves rush buying in the middle of the countdown to that special day. The trick I've found is to buy things all year round, grab the bargains when you seem them. Boxing Day is a good time to start, this is when you can get all of your wrapping paper, cards etc for the following year. And these days shops have sales on all year round so pick things up as and when you have a bit of money spare, you'll be surprised how quickly you can buy for everyone and at a fraction of the cost.my 

Save those pennies

And I mean this one literally. Save the small change. My mum and I put aside all our 1ps, 2ps, 5ps, 20ps and even 50ps when we can. This year we've managed to save just over £100 in change, this goes towards smaller presents and the drink bill. The only problem I have here is carrying all that money down to the bank, it's one heavy load I can tell you! By saving throughout the year it means that you don't have to wait for that December pay packet to go and buy things.

Put those vouchers aside.
I shop at Tesco and I save up my clubcard vouchers throughout the year and this is what pays for my food bill, that's Christmas day and boxing day, possibly even New Year sorted without technically costing me anything. This is handy as I know even if I'm struggling for money in December I can be safe in the knowledge that we will definitely have food to eat. But you can use these vouchers for anything you like so if you see an ideal present but you don't have the spare funds that month, you can use that voucher that you've got waiting at home instead.

Set a budget

Social media has made us all aware of the lengths some people will go to to buy the best presents, or to create the biggest pile of presents. For me this isn't necessary. I set a budget for each person and that's what I stick to. My kids haven't grown up with endless gifts, therefore they are grateful for the ones they do get and if you have presents that you will know will be expensive, primarily electronics then you can look to buy them at times like Black Friday and this is when we refer to tip one, December isn't the only month you can buy those gifts and this way you won't be tempted to keep buying things long into the festive period when really you've bought enough already.

Write lists

Now this might sound like a silly tip but think about it for a moment. When you write out lists you can prioritise what is important and it will also help you in buying only what is necessary instead of everything that you want. This way you can see just where your money might be going and if you can scrap a few things off of your lists it will not only save the cash, it will also take less time to purchase all those things that you do need.

As I'm writing this post I'm feeling quite smug as I have my Christmas sorted. Presents are all bought and wrapped, I've got a list of the food I'm going to buy ready with the vouchers there to pay for it and this means I can really enjoy the countdown to Christmas and spread that festive cheer around where it's needed.

If you have some tips for being ready for Christmas before December starts then leave them in the comments below as you know sharing is caring!