Christmas is immensely expensive, however over recent years we have managed to get this expensive time of the year into a more manageable state by sales shopping.
Now I am not talking about going out at 4am on boxing day to buy everything in your dress size. I am talking about getting some festive bargains online and for that starts on Christmas night.
Many online retailers start their sales prices on Christmas day and so in the past when the kids have been busy playing, Ollie has been busy watching tv, I have turned on the laptop and made a small start to our festive period for the following year.
Yep that’s right as the turkey is settling I take an hour out of my day to browse online and make some exceptionally wise purchases that can save us a fortune.
For some of the kids toys generic Lego and things can be bought knowing that I can’t go wrong, as can gift sets for family members, books, slippers, colouring kits and non perishable items. I also make sure our supply of festive wrap and christmas cards is all good too.
I have now been sales shopping for gifts for around 16 years so here are my tips to saving money in the sales for Christmas:
- Make a list of who you are buying for and then when you buy online write the products name next to the person and slip the list into the storage boxes so you will know who you are giving what to (saves time at the end)
- Have a safe and secure location to store them – Storage boxes with lids and lofts work really well. If you have nowhere to store anything it will drive you nuts and never make it to Christmas.
- Never ever buy perishables, so no christmas chocs, no mugs with drinking chocolate in and no beautiful gift packs of table sauces for your Dad very often their use by date is not long enough.
- Be realistic, if it is a great ‘themed’ present for the kids, fab but remember what they are into this year is not necessarily what they are going to be into next year
- Don’t panic buy, nothing is worth stressing over. If you don’t have anything yet in your sales shopping basket for your Mum, honestly don’t worry you can pick up something throughout the year! Also don’t forget to check out online discount sites too before you purchase, like Voucher Slug these can often be used while you are shopping online in the sales too so you can sometimes dave twice as much.
Remember after all this is about saving money and making the festive season less stressful next year so don’t over buy item or it will cost more in the long run and enjoy the online shopping aspect … no trolley ramming needed.
*Collaborative Post*