I don’t know if I’ve ever done Christmas without some sort of credit, be it a credit card, overdraft, hire purchase, store card, or catalogue order on buy now pay later, there’s always been an element of credit in there somewhere. Last year I decided to buy my youngest a Nintendo switch from very, an online catalogue on a buy now pay later. It was a good deal so I got carried away. He does play with it, but not much, so I don’t think it’s been worth it really. I’ve still yet to pay it off, and having those payments has made things harder this year than they needed to be. So I’ve decided this year, that I won’t be buying anything on credit this Christmas.
I’ve pre-warned the children that they won’t be getting any big presents this year and apart from my eldest wanting a VR headset which is ridiculously expensive, the others haven’t talked about the big things they want. Apart from Daniel wanting a swimming pool, that’s just fantasy land, right? They have been surprisingly OK with it. William is old enough to understand and Daniel just said he would scratch that off his list.
What I am struggling with is where is the other money going to be coming from. We have nothing spare at the moment down to our own fault, too much debt was taken on last year, so I’m getting a bit panicky about where the money is going to come from. I’ve started looking at second-hand options from eBay and Vinted and selling any bits and pieces we can to fund those.
Throughout the year I do surveys on Yougov and I roped in my husband too, so we should both have a £50 credit in time for Christmas. I have £50 in amazon vouchers from Swagbucks (surveys, shopping etc), Mistplay (games you earn credits through), Vypr, and Appinio (surveys) so that gives a budget of £50 per child at the moment. I’m saving our supermarket loyalty points towards money off the Christmas shop, and my parents and brother will help contribute because they’ll be coming for Christmas Dinner.
So it may be a frugal one this year but it will be no less full of laughter and warmth. They get so much from relatives anyway and they will have plenty of presents. We are lucky we won’t go cold and hungry this year and we have our health system and are in good health (touch wood).
This post is part of Blogtober.
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I used to buy things on credit for Christmas and then spend all year paying it off but that stopped a few years ago and now if we don’t have the money it isn’t bought. I think it’s easier once the kids are older and they understand a bit more about money. x
Yes, I’ve done the same in the past but won’t again. I have to be honest, I found the pay in 4 things easier to pay off than store cards etc, so these have helped me in the past. But this year I think everyone has to think carefully about money. It’s so hard to get extra isn’t it? I do the same as you (plus Prolific and TopCashBack etc) but when I get extra money an extra bill seems to go out or something breaks. Mine won’t be having big presents this year. One does “need” a phone replacing so that will be my biggest expense, although it will be refurbished. Good luck xxx
It can definitely be done. We have done it for 4 years now and it is the best thing! Some Christmases have been super small but still special. Kids don’t really need piles of gifts.