Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat, don’t waste your money on expensive tat
55, female, London, director, and money-saving expert
- Set your budget for food, activities, and presents. Stick to it.
- Set a budget per person for presents
- Agree with adults not to buy for them, or their children present if the children are older or set a budget or arrange an activity after Christmas as a treat.
- What do they really want? I listen to people on my list all year round. I update my list. It means they get what they want. My sister got a La Double J dress I found half price.
- Tesco- chocolate canisters, 850-1000g, are currently ￡4.00 each and are doing great deals on selection boxes. Terry's chocolate oranges will go to a ￡1 shortly.
- Baileys always goes to ￡10-11 per litre in the supermarkets in late November to early December.
- Wine- 6 bottles at 25% off in late November in all supermarkets- this includes the quarter and half bottles at Sainsbury's.
- Half-price Christmas crackers at supermarkets in mid-November, early December, and usually seven days before Christmas.
- Start buying now, as the prices will go up as Christmas nears- the early worm gets the savings.
- All the supermarkets will offer a money-off deal at Christmas- M&S at ￡5 off per ￡40 as this is the time they make great sales. M&S is naughty to me, as they offer me ￡5 off ￡50, so I pick up other people's ￡5 off ￡40. M&S includes alcohol, plants, and magazines in their money. Sainsbury often excludes alcohol- check your voucher on the back. In Scotland and Wales, you can not use the ￡5 off for alcohol as they have a minimum price per unit of alcohol. Keep your voucher for M&S, as you can reuse them. Waitrose and Sainsbury's will not allow you to reuse the coupon.
- If doing an ￡80 shop at M&S-split your shopping into two and use the voucher twice.
- Ocado will offer you ￡10 off ￡70 or ￡80 shop if you do not use them for a few weeks.
- Sainsbury's has just started a points event to help you towards Christmas, demanding specific spending in October, November, and December for savings for Christmas.
- All supermarkets do loss leaders at Christmas on vegetables; sprouts, carrots, parsnips, and potatoes were 29p in Tescos, with Sainsbury's and M&S a little more expensive.
- Portion control- no need to waste food. I am concerned about the environment, so I prefer to get the qualities right and work out a list and weights.
- I plan the meals in advance.
- I go out for Christmas lunch at Bellenger as it is cheaper than cooking and less fuss.
- Motatos and other short-dated food sites can give significant savings.
- Amazon is good for things such as toilet rolls; if you multi-buy pack
- Use all my yellow label tricks- I save at least 50% weekly by knowing which stores discount. Happy to share these tips.
- Find out what time your stores do the discounts- all are different- ask the staff what time the second markdowns are
- You can get all your mains at up to 80% off if you freeze them.
- Canapes, hams, gammons, turkeys, chickens, pigs in blankets, stuffing, etc., will all be discounted before Christmas.
- Canapes are always being discounted, and most are freezable.
- Remember to defrost in time!
- All the supermarkets will sell toys at 50% off or more in early November- Lego, and Barbies at Sainsbury can be 60% off. Limited stocks, so they are quick to sell out.
- Argos and Amazon will do deals on Black Friday week.
- Avoid Hamley's and Harrods as they are expensive.
- Buy on eBay, Gumtree, Freecycle, or charity shops- little ones will not care if it is box fresh.
- Selfridges does a 20% off event in late November on almost everything except beauty at 10% and certain brand exceptions. Usually 23-28 November.
- All the beauty sites do great deals. Look, Fantastic does deals at 50% off. On Black Friday and the proceeding week, you get amazing offers. I bought the Olaplex hair care complete range for ￡79 instead of ￡195 ( for the rest of the year- 20% off max.) and ￡250 of Neom products for ￡100.
- I bought eight pairs of Wolford tights at ￡18 each , instead of ￡35, by simply googling the style and brand.
- From Lakeland, I got a Bamix at ￡100, rather than ￡195, and a shark steam cleaner at ￡99, rather than ￡179. (I looked all year beforehand and could not get a better offer).
- Start saving and budgeting for these deals in November today.
- Amazon Prime can be excellent but do check whether it is a real bargain.
- I have loads more tips on shopping, how to use loyalty cards, and deal stacking that will be particularly relevant for Black Friday. The deals you can get are crazy with a little bit of planning. If you fancy ￡300 of Aromatherapy Associate products for ￡100, I can tell you how to do it.
Sales in Dec and Jan and May- June for those organized or have the monies.
- Christmas cards go down to 10p a box in early January in M&S.
- M&S, Accessorise, Body Shop, Boots. Superdrug, Waitrose, Tesco, and Paperchase do stupidly cheap deals in January as final clearance. You can save 80% or more. Of course, you also get loyalty points and offers, further stretching your money.
- Sainsbury's and Tesco discount from the 26th or 27th of December, their first trading day after the Christmas Bank Holiday. I bought a ￡13 cheesecake for ￡1 and ￡13 of Lindt for ￡2.
- I buy Christmas paper and cards in the sales and store at a minimum of 50% off, but I am happy to wait for an 80% discount.
- Christmas crackers tend to be 50-75% straight after Christmas- buy them then. Christmas crackers keep for a year if kept dry.
- Buy immediately after Christmas for heavily discounted foods and freeze. I bought a ￡40 fillet steak for ￡10, chickens, gammon, and turkey at 80% off.
- Almost all shops and websites start their sales before Christmas.
Theatre productions are often cheap between Christmas and New Year. I have seen top shows for ￡15 a seat.
If I have not saved 50% on what most people will class as a luxury Christmas, I have done something wrong.
Why I had to become an expert
I have also had to become an expert on costs, as I have Secret Santa 250 branded presents to those that society has forgotten every year, having donated over 2,500 gifts to date.
Happy to talk further or give additional tips.
