Wrap up your gift buying for less

Are you dreaming of a cheaper Christmas? Teresa Hunter has 10 tips to reduce your costs

AS UNEMPLOYMENT bites and the credit crunch tightens its stranglehold on family budgets, Scottish consumers plan to take an axe to their Christmas spending, according to Deloitte’s 14th annual Christmas Retail Survey.

Scrooge has been lampooned for more than a hundred years for expressing the sentiment: “Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you, but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing the books… ”

As the economic storm clouds darken, Scrooge may find growing numbers of Scots on his side. According to Deloitte, Scottish consumers plan to cut back more harshly on their festive spending than any other region, shelling out just £406 on gifts, compared with nearly £500 last year.

So if the time has come to begin thinking about credit-crunching your Christmas, here are 10 tips to help:

1. Get organised in advance

Before you start to shop, draw up a budget and write yourself a letter promising to stick to it. Set aside so much to spend on each person, and if that adds up to more than you can afford, go back to the drawing board and lower the amount. If necessary, discuss with family members how much you should be spending on each individual this year.

Next, draw up a detailed list with prices and the stores where you will be buying presents. On no account deviate from it.

2. Pay the lowest price possible

Before you go out shopping, check out who has the best price for the individual items you are looking for.

The cheapest deals are often found by buying over the internet, but there are also dozens of price comparison sites which can hunt out bargains, including www.kelkoo.com, www.pricerunner.co.uk and www.xpert4u.co.uk.

3. Make the most of discounts

Do whatever it takes to get money off. Cut coupons out of newspapers and search for free vouchers via www.myvouchercodes.co.uk. You can receive discounts at stores such as Debenhams and Body Shop by applying for a special code.

Some stores will give you discounts if you open one of their store cards. Promotions differ from store to store, so ask retailers when these or other money-off days are planned. Then get the bulk of your shopping done on the same day.

Some shops allow you to open a new store card and enjoy discounts of up to 20% even if you already have one, provided your old one hasn’t been used for three months.

But beware: store card interest is jaw-dropping if you don’t pay off the debt, so never use these to borrow.

4. Shop for free

Let someone else pay for Christmas lunch by cashing in your reward points from supermarkets and other retailers.

Similarly, you can use these to buy presents. Particularly good value is on offer with Tesco Clubcard four-for-one deals ( www.tesco.com/clubcard), which allow customers to exchange £1 worth of vouchers for £4 worth of goods including jewellery, days out and annual magazine subscriptions.

5. Make the most of freebies

Free stocking fillers, from cosmetics to books and DVDs, are available by searching for free samples on the internet.

Try www.free-stuff.co.uk, www.smartfreestuff.co.uk, www.freeinuk.co.uk or www.freebielist.com.

For bigger items, try www.freecycle.org, where people donate items for free to a good home.

6. Let others pay

When money is tight, there’s no room for sentiment. Ruthlessly recycle presents by rewrapping early gifts and handing them on to someone else.

Similarly, if you are entertaining don’t leave it up to your guests to decide whether to bring you “a little something”. Ask each for a specific item such as candles, serviettes or flowers with a themed colour. And this can be on top of suggesting they bring nuts and crisps or something to drink.

7. Sort out finances

The cost of credit cards is rising, but there is still time to bag a bargain.

Before it is too late, decide how you intend to pay for Christmas. If you will need to borrow, apply for an interest-free credit card. Halifax All In One MasterCard and Marks & Spencer MasterCard both give interest-free credit on purchases for 10 months. Cards applied for now should be through in plenty of time for Christmas. Lloyds TSB, Barclaycard and Tesco also have cards charging zero interest, but only for six months.

If you don’t need to borrow, then cashback cards take some beating. American Express Platinum Cashback Card is currently refunding 5% of spending during the first three months up to £200, and up to 1.5% thereafter. However, be warned, not all shops accept Amex cards.

Egg is also reimbursing customers with 1% of their annual spending. Check out other interest-free and cashback cards at www.moneyfacts.co.uk.

You can also take some of the heartache out of the holidays if you time your spending carefully. Most credit cards come with 56 days’ free interest, so make the most of that interest-free period and push the bills as far into the future after Christmas as you can.

8. Consider paying by cash

If controlling your budget is paramount, Christmas can be the one time to pay by cash, to prevent your spending running away with seasonal spirit. You are much less likely to be tempted into rash purchases when handing over hard cash, because with the filthy lucre you can see what you are doing. Also with cash, when the money is gone it is gone.

However, remember: you do not receive the same consumer protection with cash purchases that you get with credit cards. With plastic, if you buy something which turns out to be faulty but the company goes bust, you can claim a refund from your card issuer.

So while cash is okay at reputable stores, be careful when shopping at small outlets.

9. Get the Midas touch

Turn anything you can find into money. Hunt down the back of settees for coins and scratch around the back of drawers for old building society accounts which might have £10 or £20 in them. Cash the money in.

If you can’t find any, do an online check at www.mylostaccount.org.uk, which allows you to hunt for accounts at banks, building societies, National Savings & Investments and the Post Office for free.

Otherwise, remember it is the thought that counts. Make simple thoughtful presents, such as homemade DVDs with music from a memorable year.

Recycle wrapping paper or use old newspaper and magazine pages instead. But again, choose significant news stories, features or picture spreads. Cut up old Christmas cards instead of buying parcel tags.

10. Cut Christmas card costs

Sending Christmas cards can be a huge expense, so if money is really tight, consider replacing them with free online e-cards, or make your own, possibly out of last year’s cards.

Always post early and use second-class postage. The final second-class post guaranteed to arrive before Christmas in the UK is on December 18.

The last airmail posting to Australia is due on December 5, to US on December 10 and to Europe on December 12.

Finally, if you have family abroad, plan in advance the cheapest way to make the festive telephone calls.

For example, broadband telephony, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is one way of making free calls if the recipient owns similar technology – or can result in a 92% discount if making calls to landlines in Australia, Ireland and the US.

Alternatively, non-VoIP customers could purchase an international calling package for the festive season.


Pricey presents may be a Touch too much

CHRISTMAS is an expensive time in the Hoyle family, as Pete and Helen have a large extended family and usually end up buying about 20 presents on top of those for daughters Chantelle, 12, and Kimberley, 11.

However, careers adviser Pete, 42, says he avoids paying by credit card as he likes to keep track of his purchases. “Spending on credit cards at Christmas comes back to haunt you in January and February, so I try to avoid that if I possibly can,” he says.

This year the girls want the latest Apple iPod Touch, which can cost well over £100. But Pete is not sure if that will happen, and if it does he will not be looking at the top of the range models.

He says: “What the girls want and what they get may be two different things. Usually with these music players, the greater the size of the memory stick they have, the greater the price, so I shall be looking at the basic models.”