Tips for a Frugal Christmas

I'm becoming more and more aware of how relevant my ramblings are - (not trying to sound up myself - I'm well aware of my blow-out on boots) given our changing times. I'm 31 and have been a child of the "boom" in available credit. I'm not badly off - not struggling in some ways that others are (I'm sincerely sorry if you are reading this and have real problems in this area) but I do need to be sensible and try to put a hold on being extravagant this Christmas. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I become terribly over generous at Christmas - last year I racked up further debt in finding all my friends and family the very best presents I could. I forked out well over a £1000 in total and genuinely embarrassed some people who simply couldn't afford to reciprocate.

I'm really glad that I don't have a mortgage - but I'm not in the black either - I have credit card debit that needs no more help to expand.

This Christmas my lovely big sister has been great in enforcing the following mantra on us all "we can only spend a maximum of £20 on each other" - this is fantastic because Mum and Dad retired this year and she has 2 boys who love video games.

There will be 7 of us on Christmas day - 6 presents to buy from my end. With a total spend of £120 on gifts. This is 12% of how much I spent on them all last year.

I believe that the key to a frugal Christmas is thoughtfulness and preparation.
So, START NOW!!!

I am planning on putting my recently bolstered sewing skills (see post on Recycled Clothing) into play and will be (at the risk of ruining all surprises) happily taking on the wonderful tutorials posted on the Pink Penguin I love everything about her blog - it's pretty and it's inspiring - what more do you need?!

I will also be eBaying like mad. I have already bought a number of things on there. The wonder of eBay never ceases to amaze me I will search and search on line for present ideas - find the perfect thing and then I'll search for it on eBay. It has pretty much everything you could possibly want on there. Beware though - it's not always such a bargain when you add on the postage and packing costs. you also get a lot of things on there that are the same price as in the shops and when you whack on the postage charges it's a false economy.

I will endeavour to make most of my gifts, or at least include something I have made for all of my close family. They key to a homemade gift is confidence. Make something you know is good. You know if you're capable of creating something that is pretty high quality and you'll be proud that you did. It doesn't have to be something they can keep forever it can be something edible or disposable.

I also have colleagues to buy for - as a PA "it's all about the perks" and I do get very generous presents - however, reciprocation though not expected is, in my book, only polite - but what do you get them?

Here are a few ideas for classy homemade gifts that are not too complicated and will not break the bank too much:

Fudge – you’ll have lots of fun trying out recipes!

Your favourite biscuit (cookie) recipe in a box with some to sample

Vanilla sugar (in your own recycled jars) lovely one here

Lavender Bags (you can hand stitch and they’re great for the more mature women in your life!)

Lavender Sugar (for the foodie in your life) another great one here

You can find instructions for making all of these things by simply Google searching. There are lots of different sites with tutorials - recipes for EVERYTHING and you can buy pretty much all the bits you need on eBay.

For those of you who are a bit more confident in your creative abilities, blog’s like the Pink Penguin are a fantastic free resource. I love her patch-work drawstring bag – which if you’re not planning on making patch-work a habit can be made from old clothes and scraps of fabric (the original thinking behind this lovely craft).

I’ll let you know how I get on with my Pink Penguin projects (but won’t let you know who they’re for until the New Year!).