Cutting Back for Christmas: How to Reduce Your Spending and Start Saving

Posted on 04 Oct 2019 by Anna Scott
But surely it’s far too early to start thinking about Christmas? We’ve not even had Halloween yet! Well, if you want to have enough money to celebrate Christmas, it’s not. Whether it’s a Christmas gift shopping list as long as your arm, buying all the ingredients for your roast and trimmings, or just having enough money for all those Christmas parties, you don’t want to be short on cash come December.

But if there’s no extra money coming in, how are you going to have enough to go around? It’s all very being told you have to start saving, but if you struggle to put away enough for the best part of the year, you’re not going to magically be able to start saving more now. The solution is to start looking at your spending habits and making a few adjustments. Yes, this might involve a few sacrifices. But more often than not, doing a bit of shopping research means you end up paying less for the same things. So where to begin?

 

Bank Statement Homework


It can be a painful thing to sit down and do, but at times like this you need to work out your monthly outgoings. By trawling through your bank statement, you might be able to identify rogue direct debits that might not be necessary. Seeing exactly how much you are spending on work lunches, takeaway coffees and all those extra treats can be very eye-opening indeed.
Once you’ve spotted a few things you can cut back on, it’s then time to identify expenses that you might be able to find a better deal on – essentials that you simply can’t do without, but could be able to get cheaper elsewhere. Hopefully they’ll be more than a few things that fall into this category. And now the saving research begins!

 

bank statement


 

 

Smarter Fashion Shopping


This is a time of year when it’s impossible to avoid clothes shopping altogether. As the temperatures drop, many of us are going to be in need of new winter coats, jumpers, jeans and boots. Firstly, put off anything you can possibly do without until January (when the season is over and there’s a good chance you can get a sale bargain too, of course). You are then left with your autumn and winter essentials, and we’re going to use the winter coat as an example. In an ideal world, finding an absolute bargain designer coat in your size in the local charity shop would be the perfect scenario, but the chances of this actually happening are slim to non-existent (but have a quick look anyway, just in case).

There are many folk who would just opt for a cheaper retailer. But there are drawbacks to this approach – these garments are generally not of particularly great quality (important if you actually want to stay warm) and usually only last one season if that. To look at the bigger picture and get as much value as you can, you need to find the right discount with a quality retailer. And this is where savings like our French Connection promo codes come in. We’ve sourced online price cuts that can get you 20% off selected new arrivals, along with an extra 10% off sale items. And if you buy your winter coat (or other essential) from a quality retailer such as this, you’re buying something that will probably see you through next year as well.

Put into the context of saving up for Christmas, this may seem like a pricier one off payment. But you will be buying something that is going to last more than a year, therefore budgeting for next Christmas already. And don’t forget, you’ll be saving money on all those fashion non-essentials you’ve decide to sacrifice too. As long as you factor this spend into your saving plan, then all is good.

 

winter coat


 

 

Reducing Your Phone Expenses


When was the last time you looked at your phone bill? It’s so tempting just to ignore the direct debit that leaves your account every month, and just hope you haven’t gone over your allowance too much. But once you do pluck up the courage to see how much it is costing you, there are a number of ways you can start saving in this area. Firstly, phone your supplier to see if they can do you a better deal. For example, if you find that you’re regularly going over your data allowance and paying a premium for those extra charges, it’s easy to save money straight away by adding more data to your plan. This may mean a slightly higher monthly charge, but it will be much cheaper than going over your allowance.

However, if you’re in a position to change your phone contract, there are many more options available. If your phone is still in good condition, there’s no need to automatically claim that upgrade. Use our Carphone Warehouse discount codes to sign up to one of their SIM only monthly plans - these start from just £6 a month, so that’s a £30-£40 monthly saving straight up for most people. But if you are in need of a new phone, their’s is also a good site to use to compare and contrast various phone packages from a number of different networks so you can find the best deal for you.

 

phone contract


 

 

Cheaper Eats


If you’re going to be really strict, then of course it’s possible to cut back on eating out and takeaways altogether if you’re disciplined enough. But this might not be realistic for many. Yes, eating out is a luxury you can easily leave to one side for now. But what about takeaways? When you’ve had an especially tough week at work, sometimes you just won’t have the time of energy to thinking about preparing something yourself. So how should you go about saving money on these occasions?

We all have our favourite takeaways, but did you know there are lots of online discounts available for some of the big hitters? For example, coming to our Dominos Pizza promo codes page first before you visit their site means you can get 25% off when spending £30 or more, or 35% off when spending £40 or more. And we’ve got similar deals for Papa Johns too!

 

takeaway pizza


 

 

Smart Saving


Once you’ve taken on all our tips for saving for Christmas, what do you do now? It’s key to keep track of all this extra money you won’t be spending. Work out roughly how much you’ll be saving every month and set up a standing order for it to go into your savings account. We know it’s only a couple of months until Christmas, but even over this short period, you should be able to put a bit extra towards your Christmas shopping. And at this time of year, every penny really does count.

But the smart saving doesn’t end there. Sometimes unexpected important purchases crop up, ones you really can’t avoid. If you find you have to replace an essential appliance in the next few months, you’re probably going to want to find the absolute best deal possible. Next week we’re covering this very thing on our blog – how to save on home appliances and tech. So stay in the loop with Discount Promo Codes and you won’t miss out on any of these incredibly helpful savings.

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