How to budget now for Xmas..

IT has been a really tough year for all of us and we need something to look forward to.

It’s 12 weeks to Christmas and now’s an ideal time to get your festive spending plan in place.

Not surprisingly, it seems we will be cutting back our outlay on the festivities this year.

We expect to spend an average £70 less, down from £582 in 2019 to £ 512, new research from Moneysupermarket has found.

One in eight of those surveyed put the drop in spending down to a change in their financial circumstances because of Covid19, while similar numbers are keen to avoid overspending.

We’ve got just the plan you need to help you stay within a budget you can afford and avoid getting into debt so you have festive fun, rather than financial fiasco.

1. Amount

Work out how much you can reasonably afford to spend on food and presents.

Have you got some savings or a festive stash put away already? If not, how much can you afford to put aside each week or afford to spend out of your i n come each week/month. Once you know where you stand you can plan properly. Even putting a small amount away each week will help you build up a festive pot. £5 would give you £ 60, £10 = £120 and £25 = £300.

2. Budget

It’s easy to get caught up in all the Christmas hype as shops pull out the stops to try and make you spend big.

Andrew Hagger, finance expert at Moneycomms. co. uk says: “Ignore the glitzy hard sell, and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness as they are simply ways of trying to part you with your hard-earned cash.”

The trick, once you know the total you can afford overall, is to work out a budget for how much you are going to spend on each of your friends and family, plus food and all the trimmings. Write it down and keep within the limit you can afford.

Keep tabs on how much you’ve spent as you go along, otherwise it’s easy to go way over your budget.

3. Smart

Be food shopping smart in the runup to Christmas. Rather than wait until the week before the 25th to do the big food shop, buy one or two extra bits each week. Spreading the cost will make it less of a squeeze on your December pay packet.

One tried and tested moneysaving tip is to try and cut back on your usual weekly shop during the first couple of weeks in December.

By buying just the absolute essentials, not only will it save you some cash towards your festive feast, it will help you make space for your Christmas turkey and all those last minute seasonal goodies.

Have a good rummage through your kitchen cupboards and your freezer and make use of some of the items buried there and forgotten about. This is a good time to put them to good use.

4. Weekly

If you leave buying your gifts until the last minute it’s a lot to find out of a single monthly pay packet, so why not start buying now? A gift a week will spread the cost.

If you cross something off your pressie list each week, by the time you reach mid-December you’ll have got the bulk of your gift shopping done and dusted.

Andrew Hagger says: “Not only does this help you with your budgeting, with just one present to think of each week it helps avoid the panic buys which tend to lead to overspending. It also takes away the stress of lastminute shopping.”

You’ll then have most of your gifts purchased and wrapped up well in advance – so you can put your feet up and relax while others are panicking about last-minute l ists and empty shelves.

5. Free

Plan your spending now and Christmas will be a fun time – not a financial fiasco

Save money by opting for thoughtful IOU vouchers. Rather than spending money on presents, it’s becoming more common to design and send your own practical vouchers.

You could offer to give up your time to babysit, provide a taxi service, clean the car or even walk the dog. It will cost you nothing but your time and a little creativity.

The personal touch often means much more to people and a little thought will go down far better than simply buying the same old box of chocs, pair of socks or bunch of flowers year in, year out.

Family and friends would rather have something thoughtful like this than see you getting into debt with gifts you cannot afford.

It saves you money and still shows you care and at the same time it will help keep your finances on track.