Five ways to start saving for Christmas now

While Christmas may seem like its ages away, it will be here before you know it. Saving for your Christmas spend now can help you save a lot more money once the holiday season begins, and prevent playing catch up come January because of overspending. Follow our five easy tips to see how much you could be saving by starting early.

1. Shop the sales: The end of financial year sales are starting to come to a close, but there are still plenty of deals to take advantage of no matter what you have on your list. You can also stock up on holiday cards, giftwrap and even a Christmas tree at heavily discounted prices.

2. Make a list (and check it twice!): Making a list of everyone you need to buy gifts for, and what to buy them, will help you not only stay on track, but can also help you save money. Keep an eye out for sales, vouchers and promotions both in-store and online to buy the items on your list at a bargain. Make sure you keep all your advance gifts in a designated spot so you don’t forget a purchase you made months in advance.

3. Cashback websites: Using cashback websites like PricePal or CashRewards can help you get cash back on every purchase you make online at participating stores. These websites make a commission from you shopping through them, and pass part of this commission on to you in the form of cash back. This can help you save quite a lot if you like to shop online.

4. Find local bargains: Use websites like Ebay and Gumtree to find items people are selling locally at bargain prices. Because you’re buying outside of the holiday season, you’re more likely to find better prices and be able to negotiate more.

5. Start early and make a plan: By starting saving for Christmas as early as possible, you spread out your spending over a longer period of time which helps control overspending and also helps you budget your money better. You can create a spending plan over the course of the next few months where you allocate a certain amount of money each month to go towards Christmas gifts, and keep track of what you’ve spent so far by keeping all of your receipts. All of this helps you avoid spending all your savings once December hits.