Saving for Christmas

Perhaps try one of those bank accounts that "saves the change " into a savings account and reserve that account for Christmas .

Whenever you pay say £4.80 , £5 goes out of your account and 20p (the change ) goes into your savings account .

I've seen them advertised but not sure which banks do them .

Have a look at your budget and see where you can easily cut down on your spending each month and put that money into a savings account. Look at how much you could easily put aside each month and set up a direct debit so that amount comes out your account into the savings account each month.

When your car/house insurance is due for renewal look for a cheaper one andc put those savings into the savings account, do the same with your energy provider. If you have items you no longer need or use then sell them and put that money into the savings account.

Also buying things throughout the year when you see a deal on something will help save money and will spread the cost too.

I have a xmas savings account (well i have a couple for different things) and i transfer whats left every week into my savings accounts. Im aiming to put £10-20 per week in my xmas account so by xmas 2021 i should have at least £500 saved which is a big help! My partner saves in his account too. I buy things throughout the year if they're in the sale or theres an offer on.

I have already got £100 in my xmas savings account (i started saving the week after xmas and added a little bit extra as i didnt need to pay one of my bills in January).

We are on a low income and my partner is self employed so its hard given the situation but xmas is by far our most expensive time so we just save all year.

julie781x I use the 'yellow sticker' method, the difference between the sticker and original price goes into piggy, I would have bought the item anyway. Last year 'piggy' paid for TV, freezer and Christmas.

Set a budget for each area of your life. Each week or each month, take that amount of money out of your account and put the budget for each area of your life into a paper envelope. From that point forward, pay everything in cash out of the envelopes. When each envelope is empty, don't refill this until the following week or month. The idea is that this way cuts out mindless spending on a credit or debit card.

I use apps like GreenJinn, Shopmium and Checkout Smart to save money on groceries I would buy anyway, then set that money aside all year to save for Christmas.

1 thing that has totally helped me for years is my trusty spreadsheet of who my bills are with ,how much they cost and when I work my way through them year after year I then contact the companies and make them earn there money which in turn means in turn I pay less for my bills and makes birthdays and Christmas really enjoyable and not stressful.

Skint Dad method - In a year, you can save nearly £700 by putting just 1p away in day one, 2p in day two…. you get the idea. For a normal (365 day) year you can save £667.95.

My mom does this with two jars, one starting at a penny going up and the other starting at £3.65 going down!

We have whats called in Scotland a tidly, mine is done with my neighbor / friend. Every week we give her money and she puts it all into a bank account and we get it out in November. I also have a save the change account as mentioned above, which builds up quite quickly. I use this account for my grandkids. I pay money in every week for when they are older but it is topped up with the pennys from using my bank card. I also save all my change in a pot that you can’t open until you break it. So no chance of dipping into it

Get into the habit of saving money on household items that you continuously use, like toilet paper, washing powder, coffee etc by always buying in bulk at the lowest price with free delivery, from Amazon or wherever else has the cheapest deal.

Don't forget the other side of the coin - i.e. what could you do to earn extra money?

You could work out what your rough Christmas spending budget is and put money away each week or month. So if your Christmas spending budget was around 300, you could put £6 a week, or £25 a month away into a separate bank account

Asda has a savings scheme where they give you a bonus in November.

We try and put a few quid into a jar every month then after 5 years smash it open