Christmas always turns out to be an expensive time of year, even for us stingy students who only have three people to buy presents for. No matter how hard we try to limit ourselves, the bank balance is always left depressingly low. Hopefully these money saving Christmas shopping tips will help this year and mean we can manage to feed ourselves throughout the festive season too.
Staff discount: I realise we don’t all have holiday jobs, but if you do, buying stuff from where you work is a great idea. Maybe if you work somewhere a little specific (I know Ann Summers always want Christmas staff) then this advice might not be too relevant, but most places looking for Christmas staff will have generic gifts you could get for most of your family and friends if you are really stuck. And that staff discount does go a long way. A nifty trick is to get family and friends come to visit you in work and you can sneakily ask them if they like this or that, or see what they were looking at when they came in. Not only is it cheap but you know they’ll like it. Even using a friend’s discount card is a good idea, if you can get away with it.
Make something! We always hear people talk about how the commercialisation of Christmas has gone too far, maybe they have a point. Making something a bit more personal that can’t be bought in a shop is a great sentimental present for a close friend or partner. If you’re really not that creative, even making Christmas cards for everyone is a nice touch, and takes attention away from the potentially cheap present, not a bad result!
Secret Santa: Doing a secret Santa is especially great in student houses: last year I ended up frantically searching for presents for flat mates I didn’t know too well. Were we even getting presents? I didn’t know, but what I did know was that none of us had that much money. Secret Santa is a great idea with a group of friends, allowing you to put a spending limit on each gift, even if it’s just £5. Stick to getting each other simple, jokey gifts. It saves the awkwardness of getting a gift off someone you haven’t got anything for, as well as saving the cash you would have spent on buying all six housemates something each.
‘Going-halves’: We know buying stuff for parents (especially dads) can be hard, so if you have siblings why not get them something between all of you. You can get something that is a bit more expensive than what you would have spent by yourself. Don’t underestimate the gift of getting along with your annoying little brother just long enough to get your mum a scarf. The thought won’t go unappreciated, and remember your family will realise you’re a poor, starving student and won’t be expecting much!
Student discount: I live off my student discount; never go into town without it. At Christmas a lot of places tend to increase their discount, for example Superdrug sometimes increase their normal 10% to 20%, more of a discount than the staff get! It really is worth looking into this, it allows you to get stuff that may normally be a little out of your price range – maybe your mum knows how much that perfume usually costs and will be really shocked when you’ve managed to scrape together the pennies for it!
EBay: I think a lot of us are scared of buying things second hand, we don’t want to seem cheap and lacking in effort. But don’t underestimate charity shops for DVDs that would be four times the prices just to be wrapped in unopened cling film. If you’re buying something for someone close to you they know you don’t have all the cash in the world, so no need to go all out. EBay is also great as it sells stuff you can’t get from high street shops, and may seem that bit more personal if you’ve had it shipped half way across the world. It’ll end up costing half as much as a less exciting, high-street version of the same thing.
Establish spending limits: We all know gifts for our other halves can be particularly expensive; both of you constantly trying to win the other one over with the perfect gift, or the number of little presents you get them. You shouldn’t be scared to talk to them and put a spending limit on your presents for each other. Even with close friends, there is no shame in telling them this year you’re a little tight on cash, and that you’re not expecting much from them either.
Hope this has helped, enjoy your Christmas shopping and have a merry Christmas!
Image Sources: Author’s own