A COST-CUTTING CHRISTMAS?

With the credit crunch among us, this is the year to have financial discipline. I'd like to give you my top tip this Christmas. The aim is to buy christmas presents, not to be paying for Christmas past.

Admittedly the perfect time to plan your Christmas is in January when you still have an entire year left to save up. You can get baubles, cards & wrapping paper at reduced prices & leave yourself well-placed to slash the cost. But for those who aren't so well prepared, there's still enough time to get your Christmas preparations underway.

Act now & there are still substantial savings to be had, wait any longer & you'll be leaving it to late to get the best savings.

1. It's about what you can afford, not what you want. Too many people are driven each Christmas by their aspirations. They sit down & work out everything they want for Christmas, from the plasma TV to the huge dinner for all the family. Only afterwards do they sit down & think about how they are going to manage to pay for it, yet that's completely the wrong way to do it.

Your starting point should be how much money you have & can afford to spend this Christmas, then the real question is, "What's the best Christmas we can have on that amount of money?"

If you have nothing or very little to spend don't think, "It's Christmas, we've got to spend it". Remember financial discipline! Draw up a budget, & plan what you are going to spend, it may not seem as romantic as spending willy nilly, but it should mean having a merry Christmas won't give you a financial hangover in the new year.

2. Don't use Tesco Clubcard vouchers for Christmas food, lots of people store up vouchers earned via loyalty points from spending there, to supplement the Christmas lunch budget. Instead, use your vouchers on the special Clubcard deals brochure which you can find on-line or instore, that way they will be worth four times as much.

Something that would get you £5 off your food bill will give you £20 towards gifts, magazine subscriptions, days out or even dinner at Pizza Express.

Instead of getting a few pounds off food for your Christmas dinner, find things that you are looking to give as presents & you'll get better value.

3. Why not have a NUPP campaign. NUPP stands for No Unnecessary Present Pact. How many times have you been given a present that you know you are never going to use hmm? You smile politely, say thank you & then throw it in the drawer, well, you are not the only one it happens to everyone. We spend millions of pounds each Christmas on things that are never going to be used by anyone.

By giving presents we often create an obligation for people to give presents back to us, & that may be something they can't afford to do. So why not sign a Pre-NUPP with family & friends? Agree not to exchange presents. But if that's a step too far for you, go NUPP-lite & agree to spend no more than £5 or £10 pounds on each other.

4. Take advantage of supermarket bonuses. Supermarket saving stamp schemes are designed so that you can save up money all year & spend it at Christmas. Asda's bonus date has already gone but Tesco's, Morrisons & Somerfield's haven't. Morrisons will give you a 3 per cent boost on your stamps, while Somerfield & Tesco offer 4 & 2 per cent.

Why are they so generous? Well, if you buy the stamps you are locked in to spending that money with them & for their administration purposes it's much easier for them to add the boost on one day. They hope people will save across the year, but there's no need to, simply buy stamps & earn the bonus on the day you want to spend.

Finally, the biggest danger at Christmas is borrowing. If you are thinking, "How on earth am I going to pay for it?" I'd say don't buy it in the first place, you don't need it, Christmas is one day. The last thing you want is still to be paying for this Christmas next Christmas.

© Copyright Tina Kay 2009

HAVE A COST-CUTTING CHRISTMAS & A DEBT-FREE NEW YEAR