Christmas sure is one of the best festivities of the year, isn’t it? All those family and friend reunions where you get to spend time with your loved ones – even the ones you barely see the rest of the year! We all get a little bit more generous around that time of the year and who could blame us? The lights in the streets, the shops with their decorations… it all adds a little bit of magic to the air and without realising it we’re spending a lot of money on gifts to show everyone just how special they are to us. But could we start prepping for Christmas in advance to try and cut the expense? The answer is yes, and we have a few ideas we’d like to share with you.
Buy gifts in advance
We know it might be easier said than done but something that’s worth a try is buying gifts throughout the year whenever you spot something that someone close to you would like. You can keep them at home and wrap them up once Christmas comes. This can be an amazing way to ease your way into Christmas by spreading out the expense. On top of that, it means you won’t need to stress about finding something that is good enough with little time to spare.
Buy gifts during seasonal sales
The same goes for buying gifts on worldwide sale days such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. We know it might not always be easy to think of Christmas gifts when the date is still far away, but both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are conveniently a month before Christmas, so it’s definitely something to consider and you could save a fortune!
Regift things you don’t use
It’s almost Christmas and you haven’t bought any gifts yet... Sound familiar? What can you do to save money then? Well, this might be controversial, but you can always regift something you don’t use. It might sound like a rude option but sometimes we have things at home that we haven’t even used and someone else could find useful. This way you would be saving money, giving a second chance to that vase or book that is covered in dust and making someone happy!
DIY
Are you a crafty one? Sometimes gifting something handcrafted by you might be way more meaningful than buying someone something expensive just because they know you made it thinking of them. And yes, it’ll generally save you some money too. If you would like to give this a go but are short on ideas, you can always look for DIY ideas or tutorials online. There are quite a few original gift suggestions out there, so don’t be shy and start working on it! It might be a handknitted jumper, a work of art or something delicious to eat.
Secret Santa
Another way to cut on Christmas expenses is to do a Secret Santa. You can do one with your family and another one with your friends. This way you will only have to buy two gifts, which highly reduces the expense. You can also set a price limit so that everyone spends more or less the same. If you would like to give this a go, there are websites that will do the draw for you. You can also set restrictions so that no one will get the same person they got last year for example.
Kids gifts
You might be thinking to yourself: but I have kids and they don’t understand the low budget concept! Well, we won’t deny that. But there are ways to control the expense on children gifts. You could of course set a budget but what would really help you out is to look for the best price before buying anything. Luckily, the internet really makes it easier for you to find the best deals. Of course, we would recommend checking in advance. This way it’s more likely you won’t miss out on the deals due to the shop running out of stock!
After reading all of these ideas you probably figured out that the sooner you begin to save for Christmas the better. As they say, the early bird catches the worm! If despite all these tips you still find yourself short in cash for this Christmas and think a small loan can be an affordable solution to your temporary shortfall, you can check the payday and multi-month loans we offer at cashasap.co.uk for some extra cash. However please bear in mind that you should only apply for a loan if you know you will be able to make your repayments in full and on time, as failing to meet your loan repayments can cause you serious money problems.
