Tips To Economize Your Festive Shopping

By Author: Daniel Crow
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With the festive season round the corner, do make sure you plan your gifts and their shopping well in advance. With rough and tough economic conditions, you will have to keep yourself well in check before you splurge on some last minute shopping expenses. This is definitely a time to put on the thinking cap and plan your festive shopping ensuring you are able to gift your friends and family just what they wished for.

Beginning with make sure you plan your spending and allocate a fixed budget for your gifts. It is very easy to get carried away by impulsive shopping and worry about settling their bills in the near future which could turn out unnerving later on.

You should plan and budget your expenses on food, party and even going out apart from your gifting expense and make sure you draw up a list on them. Most people work it out mentally but when you write these down you do them firmly etched in your mind and begin to think accordingly.

Well, since the budgeting and spending is all in your hands, you should aim to spend less than your budge ensuring you stay within limits. Also as far as possible do carry ...
... along just the adequate amount of cash and avoid using the credit cards altogether.

In an initiative to cut corners, you could begin by economizing on your weekly or daily expenses to a certain extent. Do keep a look out for mid-week or weekend bargains on groceries and other items of regular use which could help you save quite a sizeable amount of money. Economise on time and fuel by shopping for a week. Here, again preparing a written list helps rather than a mental list.

Also, when you are at the supermarket compare and check cartons - single as well as multi packs with respect to weight and their prices rather than simply lifting them up and putting in your shopping trolley. You could even make use of the supermarket reward claims which you have collected over a period of year

With the availability of interest free credit cards, you could use them when you shop and feel relaxed that you do not have to interest while repaying the credit card company back.

Be it shopping for the festive season or gifting, do make use of vouchers which are easily available. With so many online sites offers you with discount voucher codes and promotional codes, you simply need to search and locate the right one for your requirements. These voucher codes can be utilized by yourself or even gifted as you find it convenient. . These vouchers can be used at the store or even online enabling you to save time and money.

Organizing a festive party means you do order the right quantity of food and other party supplies. In case party supplies have been unused, they can always be used on some other occasion. But when it comes to food, you could always order for a variety of dishes in slightly small quantities which could be sufficient in a way.

3 As the Con-Dems cut back, it's an ideal opportunity for you to agree with family and friends that you are also going to cut down on the cost of Christmas this year. Put a limit on the amount you will spend on presents for each other.

Why not have fun with a lucky dip system where you each get one member of the family or person in a group of friends to buy for. The other alternative is to buy for kids only.

4 If you've been collecting reward points during the year, such as Nectar, Tesco Clubcard or Boots advantage card, don't forget to make use of them.

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5 If you're looking for a way to spread the cost of Christmas, consider a 0% interest free credit card deal. That way you won't end up paying over the odds in interest charges. Look for a card with the longest 0% deal on purchases.

Tesco is currently offering 13 months' 0% interest on purchases, Sainsbury's, Barclaycard and Virgin have 12 months and Halifax and the AA is offering 10 months.

Make sure you don't get carried away, though. You don't want to be still paying off for tinsel and turkey next summer. Think before you spend to ensure you'll be able to clear the full debt well before the 0% deal ends.

6 Make extra cash by flogging all your unwanted stuff. Clearing out the clutter will also make room for all those lovely presents on your wish list.

You can sell anything on eBay. There are also specialist sites, such as musicmagpie.co.uk where you can get cash for your old CDs and DVDs. At Game stores you can trade in your old games and consoles for cash - they are currently offering £90 for a pre-owned PlayStation 3 80GB and £16.50 for Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

You can even recycle old gadgets, such as mobiles at MirrorGoGreen.co.uk and make up to £150.

7 Instead of spending money on presents you could design and send personalised practical vouchers where you offer to give up your time to babysit, provide a taxi service, car cleaning or even cook a meal or walk the dog. It will cost you nothing but your time and a bit of creativeness.

8 There are plenty of BOGOF deals or three-for-two offers in the run-up to Christmas. Big shops such as Marks & Spencer and Boots usually offer the chance to stock up on lots of present ideas with these. Great for sharing with friends, too, so you can split the cost and both save.

9 Have a rifle though your kitchen cupboards and freezer. Bet you'll find a number of ingredients to knock up a couple of cheap and cheerful dinners and help you save more cash. Don't leave food to go to waste and end up having to bin it.

10 Send e-cards. They're free and you could save around £45, compared to buying cards and stamps. It saves you the bother of finding addresses and writing them out.

11 Keep an eye out for discount vouchers, which are available on everything from food, drink and eating out to clothes and jewellery.

There are lots of websites where you can download vouchers and find offer codes. Remember, too, to check out Cash Queens every Friday in your Daily Mirror for money-saving vouchers and mobile deals.

12 You'll be surprised how you can save by taking packed lunches to work, giving up a couple of pints or a bottle of wine, or cutting down on sweet treats.

Put that cash in the piggy bank instead. If you put in £10 a week now you will have £90 in your fund by Christmas, £135 if you can stretch to £15 and an impressive £180 with £20 each week.

While you're thinking about it, why not do something about next year now? Andrew Hagger, from moneynet.co.uk, recommends putting a fixed amount in a savings account for the next 12 months.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society, Santander and Principality Building Society are all paying 4%. Put away £20 a month and you'll end up with £240 plus £5.17 in interest.

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