With Christmas almost upon us, the festive period is yet another added pressure on the millions of households already struggling with high mortgage rates and monthly bills.  Whilst there has been some good news in inflation finally dropping to single figures, a recent survey has found that half of Brits are planning to cut back on their festive spending to try and combat the cost-of-living crisis. Although Christmas is just one day out of the whole year, we wanted to help by sharing our 10 top tips for saving money this year.

The survey by Hodge Bank which surveyed 2,000 UK adults also revealed that a third of households admitted to spending over £500 on food, presents and socialising last Christmas. Of those that said they are planning to cut back, 60% said they are planning to continue the cutbacks heading into 2024. It also found that the majority of people are looking to spend between £100 and £500 across the festive period with presents being the top priority, followed by food, festive events, and travel. Alongside this a separate study from Tesco found that 38% of Brits are planning on staying indoors during December to try and avoid splashing out on socialising

Work out a budget – and stick to it
Make a budget of what you can afford to spend after paying all your monthly essentials and then draw up a list of the people you need to buy for. Set an individual budget for each person and try and stick to it.

Eliminate unnecessary presents
Prioritise who you need to buy for this year, which is essentially family and consider cutting back on friends or just don’t buy for work colleagues. They will understand and you may find they were thinking the same thing, but didn’t know how to approach it.

Sign-up for online discount alerts and promotions
If there are particular stores you know you will be buying from this year, sign up online in advance to make sure you receive alerts and emails updating you of any deals from those particular retailers. “January sales” often start in December!

Make the most of retailer loyalty points
If you are signed up to any retailers loyalty schemes and use them throughout the year, you may have quite a few points available to give your Christmas shopping a boost – either to help pay for gifts or to reduce your grocery bill. Log on and find out how many points you already have and continue to save the points whilst making the most of any special discounts and deals that are posted or emailed to you. Often we forget to take our physical card with us and therefore, lose out on hundreds of loyalty points. To make sure you don’t miss out, download the digital loyalty apps to your phone to collect all available points. Some schemes like Tesco Clubcard also allow you to exchange your points for up to three times on meals or days out and cinema tickets which can really help over Christmas.

Shop around for the best price
For those medium to big purchases, make sure you shop around for the best price by using comparison sites and researching voucher codes for online retailers. An easy way to do this is to add a browser extension like Honey or Coupert to your computer browser, so, when you visit an online retailer, it will automatically alert you with a message if it has found discounted voucher codes – which can save you a considerable amount overall.

Use cashback cards and mobile app
There are many cashback sites out there including Top Cashback and Quidco, where you can search for preferred retailers (including any upcoming insurance renewals) and see if they offer a cashback percentage. If you then click through to the retailer from their website you will receive that percentage back and can then withdraw the amount to your bank when you reach a certain amount.

Sell or regift unwanted gifts
Most of us finish Christmas with a number of gifts that we just don’t need or want, so select a cupboard at home in which to store them. Then either regift them to people throughout the year for birthdays or keep them for regifting at Christmas. Alternatively, you could sell them on Vinted, eBay or Facebook Market Place to give you more money for Christmas.

Buy second-hand
On the other side of gifting, consider looking at buying second hand to save money, as it’s a sustainable way of shopping as well as being good for your bank balance. You will often find people selling unused, brand new items that are still in the box items on Vinted, eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

Book travel tickets in advance
Buying tickets ahead often saves a considerable amount, so get organised and buy your train or coach tickets now for either days out over the festive period or for visiting relatives to save you money.

Consider dropping down a level on your supermarket brands
To finish off our Christmas savings ideas, another way to cut costs is with the food we eat. Before, you go shopping compare how much your usual shop would cost at each of the retailers to see if you could make a considerable saving and consider dropping down a level to the supermarket own brands to save money. Recently Consumer Expert, Alice Beer compared Asda, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Lidl, Sainsbury, Aldi, Morrisons and Waitrose on what they charged for Christmas dinner. She looked at which supermarket was the cheapest for a family of four to buy a turkey crown, potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and a bottle of prosecco. Aldi came out as the clear winner at just £30.54 and Marks and Spencer was the most expensive at £49.25.

We hope some of these tips will help as you work your way through Christmas; by trying to be proactive and a little bit smarter, it’ll help put us in a better financial position to start 2024!