How I Spread the Cost of Christmas All Year Round….

We absolutely cannot wait for Christmas this year. 🎄 It’s our first Christmas in our new house, I was poorly last Christmas and, if I’m not careful, all that excitement could very easily turn into me spending far more than I intended.

Which is exactly why I’ve been preparing for it all year. 😁

For me, starting early isn’t about wishing the year away or filling the house with Christmas decorations while it’s still sunny outside. It’s about spreading the cost, picking things up at the right time rather than the most expensive time and making sure that when December arrives, we can actually enjoy our first Christmas here without feeling like every week involves another huge bill.

We bought our trees at the cheapest time of year 🎄

The house has really high ceilings and two big bay windows, so as soon as we viewed it we knew we wanted much bigger trees than we’d had before.

We found a 10ft tree for the living room and an 8ft tree for the dining room on Marketplace in January, before we’d even completed on the house. 😂 It was a bit of a gamble, but after Christmas is such a good time to buy pre-loved decorations and trees because people are clearing out and prices are usually much lower.

I’d always rather buy a good quality pre-loved artificial tree than a brand new one. I don’t think buying a new artificial tree is especially sustainable and, if I was buying new, I’d much rather have a real tree — ideally one that could be replanted in the garden afterwards.

Buying pre-loved means the tree already exists, we’re extending its life and we’re also paying far less than we would for something new. Hopefully both of ours will last us for years, which makes them even better value.

I’m spreading the cost of decorating them ✨

Of course, the downside of having two much bigger trees is that we need a lot more decorations.

Rather than waiting until November and buying everything at once, I’ve been picking decorations up throughout the year whenever I see ones I genuinely love. I’ve found some lovely ones in charity shops and I’ve also bought loads of handmade decorations while we’ve been away.

That means I’m spreading the cost without really noticing it and, more importantly, I’m not panic-buying loads of decorations just because Christmas is suddenly three weeks away.

It also means the trees will be full of things we’ve actually chosen because we love them rather than because we needed to fill a gap.

I keep everything in one Christmas box 🎁

Anything I buy for Christmas goes straight into a Christmas box in one of our cupboards.

That includes decorations, Christmas Eve box bits, little presents and anything else I pick up early. It sounds ridiculously simple, but it stops me forgetting what I’ve already bought and accidentally buying things twice.

Buying early only saves money if you actually remember what you bought. 😂

I save supermarket rewards all year 💷

I save my supermarket rewards specifically for Christmas rather than spending them as I earn them.

So far I’ve got about £32 in Asda Rewards, around £8 in Tesco points and roughly £10 in Boots Advantage Card points. That’s about £50 already sitting there to use towards Christmas.

It’s not going to pay for Christmas, obviously, but £50 is £50 and it’s money I won’t have to find from December’s budget.

I barely notice the rewards building up throughout the year, which is why I like saving them for one bigger spend.

We save towards presents every month

We also put some money aside each month to help with Christmas presents.

Again, it’s not complicated. I just find it much easier to save smaller amounts throughout the year than suddenly try to fund everything from one or two paydays at the end of the year.

It also means that if I spot something perfect for someone early, I can buy it without throwing that month’s budget completely off course.

I start Christmas Eve boxes early too 🎅

Christmas Eve is probably my favourite day of the whole festive season and I love making Christmas Eve boxes for the kids.

They’ve changed as they’ve got older and their partners are included now too, but they’re still something everyone looks forward to. I usually fill them with a mix of practical things, funny things and little treats.

The problem is that lots of little things can quickly add up when you’re filling several boxes, so I start buying for them ridiculously early.

That lets me spread the cost and also means I can pick up things when I see something that’s just right rather than trying to find everything in December.

The Christmas cupboard starts in October 🍫

Around October I start what I think of as the Christmas cupboard.

Each week when we do the food shop, I’ll try to add one slightly bouji thing to the trolley and put it away for Christmas week.

It might be nice chocolates, fancy crisps, something for a buffet or just one of those things we wouldn’t usually buy.

Buying one extra thing each week means we gradually build up a lovely stash without getting to Christmas week and adding a huge amount to one food shop.

It doesn’t make Christmas food free, obviously, but it definitely makes the final shop less painful.

We choose experiences over more presents ✈️

We don’t really buy each other much for Christmas anymore because, realistically, we mostly have what we need.

We’d much rather spend the money doing something together.

In the past we’ve flown to Alicante for the day and we’ve been to Belfast Christmas Market for the day. Both were very long days, but both were absolutely worth it and we remember them far more than we would another present we probably didn’t need.

So part of my Christmas planning is starting to think about what our big Christmas day out might be this year.

For us, experience over stuff works really well. It means we’re still spending money on something special, but it feels much more worthwhile.

Starting early helps me enjoy Christmas more 🎄

I think that’s the biggest reason I start thinking about Christmas in August.

This year especially, I want our first Christmas in this house to feel really special. I can already picture the 10ft tree in the living room bay window, the 8ft tree in the dining room, all the decorations we’ve collected throughout the year and the whole house lit up for Christmas.

But I don’t want making it special to mean overspending.

Starting early gives me time to buy pre-loved, spread the cost, save rewards, put money aside and make better choices instead of expensive last-minute ones.

After last Christmas being a bit of a write-off because I was poorly, I really want to enjoy every bit of this one. Our first Christmas in our new home only happens once, and I’d much rather get to December feeling organised and excited than wondering how on earth Christmas ended up costing so much. 🎄❤️

I’d love you to follow me on Twitter and it would be amazing to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. If you’re interested, you can find out more about me here and while I’ve got your attention, if you’re wondering why some of my posts lately are a little bit less frugal then have a read of this post. 😉

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