November 8, 2021

Twelve Ways to Save Money and Stay Out of Debt This Christmas

Nick Saving Money events 4 Comments

Speak it softly, but there are now just seven weeks till Christmas. Touch wood, new Covid case numbers are falling steadily, and hopefully we can all look forward to a much more normal Christmas this year than last.

Of course, one thing we can definitely say is that – just like any other year – Christmas 2021 will be expensive. So today I thought I’d share a selection of tips for saving (and making) money while still enjoying the festive season and not having to face a mountain of debt in the new year.

1. Declutter for Cash

Chances are you’ll be planning to tidy up anyway before putting the decorations up, so why not take the chance to get rid of any bits and bobs you no longer need but someone else might want? You can then put the money to good use for Christmas. You could sell the items on eBay, your local Facebook sales page, or the ‘boot sale’ app Shpock. I’ve also heard good reports about Vinted, a website where you can buy and sell second-hand clothes.

2. Buy Discounted Gift Vouchers at Cardyard

Cardyard is an online marketplace for buying and selling gift vouchers. If you know where you want to do your Christmas shopping, you could buy a discount voucher for that store at Cardyard and get up to 25% off. Both physical and electronic vouchers are available. When I looked just now, you could buy a range of eGift cards for fashion store New Look at a 12% discount, e.g. a £148.50 eGift card for £130.68 (a saving of £17.82).

3. Make Good Use of Cashback Sites

These pay a proportion of your money back when you click through a link on the cashback site and make an online purchase at the store in question. In the UK the two best known are Quidco and Top Cashback. You can read more about cashback sites in this blog post. See also my post about new cashback site My Money Pocket.

4. Get Free Delivery at Amazon

If you’re planning to do some of your Christmas shopping on Amazon – and let’s face it most of us do nowadays – remember that if your total order value is over £20, delivery is free of charge. If you’re just under the £20 threshold, it can make sense to buy a small item to bring it to the magic £20. Before I joined Amazon Prime (see below) I often bought a pen for this purpose.

If you can’t find a small item for the right price, visit Filler Checker. At this website you can enter whatever price you require to bring your order up to the free delivery threshold. It will then display items you can add to your order to achieve this.

5. Consider Joining Amazon Prime

Okay, this does require an annual or monthly fee, but for this you get free next-day delivery of millions of products on Amazon (and same day delivery in some cities). There is a growing range of additional benefits for Prime members as well, including instant streaming of millions of songs and thousands of movies and TV shows, free borrowing of selected Kindle e-books, and secure, unlimited photo storage with anywhere access. If you’re a regular Amazon customer – or planning to do a lot of your Christmas shopping there – it’s well worth considering Amazon Prime, especially as you can try it free for 30 days.

6. Make the Most of Black Friday Sales

Black Friday is a US tradition that in recent years has been imported into the UK (though not without some controversy at first). Officially Black Friday is Friday 26th November this year, but in practice many retailers are starting their Black Friday sales earlier than this. Just beware of being swept up by the hype. Check that the discounts on offer really are worthwhile and not just reductions of prices that were artificially inflated before.

7. Consider Part-Time or Short-Term Work

Okay, this won’t appeal to everyone, but even in these challenging times there are various seasonal opportunities on offer with companies from Amazon to the Post Office. Many supermarkets also take on additional seasonal staff, full-time and part-time. Take a look also at my blog post about Viewber, a company that needs people with a bit of time available in the day to show prospective purchasers around houses. You can earn from £20 a viewing for this, plus expenses. There are also growing numbers of part-time and full-time delivery driver opportunities (including e-bike riders and couriers) – the Service Club website lists a range in the UK and Europe. Another resource for part-time or short-term work of all kinds is the Labour Xchange app.

8. Abandon Your Shopping Cart!

When shopping online go as far as the checkout page and then close it. The stores will see this and many will send you a discount voucher or other incentive to try to persuade you to complete your purchase.

9. Use Live Chat to Haggle

This can be another effective tactic for getting money off when online shopping. Don’t go straight in with a request for a discount, but ask a few questions first. You’re unlikely to get a massive discount this way, but you may be offered 10-20% off, or a free bonus.

10. Check for Discount Codes

If you know where you want to shop, it’s always worth checking whether any discount codes are available for the store in question. Voucher Codes UK is a great place to start. When I checked just now, some of the top offers included 30% off at Adidas and a huge 52% discount on orders over £40 with The Protein Works.

11. Use This Free Service to Get Price Drop Alert Emails

A website called Love Sales lets you add items from hundreds of online retailers to your ‘wish list’ and name the price you’re willing to pay, or ask for an alert when the price drops.

You first have to register on the site. Then when you’re browsing a particular item from one retailer, add it to your list. After that, the wait is on for the price to fall and the email to arrive in your inbox.

12. Check Out This Christmas Deals Predictor

Finally, you can be ahead of the game with the annual Christmas Deals Predictor on Martin Lewis’s Moneysaving Expert website. Based on previous years (and any other info they may have), this predicts the likelihood of certain offers being made in the run-up to Christmas. They say last year they predicted more than 70 deals across dozens of top retailers, and got 81% right. At the time of writing the Christmas Deals Predictor is not yet operational, but based on previous years it is likely to launch any day now.

I hope that by following these tips you will have the best Christmas possible, and a happy and debt-free new year!

If you have any comments, questions or additional suggestions for saving money at this time, please do post them below.

Note: This is a fully updated version of an annual post.

Disclosure: this post includes affiliate links. If you click through and end up making a purchase, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the price you are charged or the product or service you receive.