Skint at Christmas

[Floridatilly]

I budget, budget and budget some more. I have a weekly food budget, saving budget and Christmas budget. So it really grates me to say that I am totally skint!
I just can not believe it, I am usually so careful with money.
It’s been bouncing down with rain the past couple of weeks so lazy me, instead of getting money out for my weekly food budget I have used my card and not therefore not took notice of how much I have spent in Tesco oooooo that looks tasty, oooooo I will treat us to that etc etc etc
Our iron gave up yesterday on my husband, so he had to iron his work shirt with the tiny travel iron!
Got food for this week but next weeks shopping will be cheap meals as my husband does not get paid until Christmas.
I need one more big gift but will have to wait and see about that, hopefully some money will fall off a tree
It’s so easily done! I am usually very careful but now realise how easy it is to over spend at Christmas.
Watch your wallets and purses everyone! You don’t want to be worrying about money in this festive period.

[°o°-Hannah-°o°]

I’m also very careful with money and that’s because we have very little spare each month. I’ve hardly bought anything for Christmas yet, it’s going to be a very tight one in our house

[Smilesonfaces]

I save for Christmas all year too. Unfortunately prices have gone up and as children get older they ask for more expensive items. ( I have to add she doesn’t get them all !)

This week it will be one of our odd meal weeks. I need to clear the freezer out anyway and every few weeks we have a week of eating everything out of the freezer even if they don’t actually go together.

I have seen a lot of Facebook posts recently from friends who are having clear outs and selling items so that could be an idea.

It would help us if my husbands customers paid on time !

I’m sure you will have a good Christmas. Just being off work is present enough for me anyway !

[DisneyDaffodil]

Christmas is the hardest time to budget for. I am really good at budgeting and managing on our income, which as only DH works isn’t a high income. But I do find Christmas a struggle. Our food shopping each week goes up by 50% on the run up, gifts are increasingly more expensive each year. I have spent much less on DD this year as she is waiting until the summer for her main gift, a laptop, just before she goes to uni. But I now look at her gifts and realise how little she has for the amount we have spent.

And just like you Floridatilly, my iron packed in yesterday too so I am going to have to get a new one this week. It’s just another thing to add to the list of things I need to get and I know that I will end up over budget.

I am sensible with finances though so with some strict cutting back in January we will be back on track. However I volunteer as a CAB adviser and know from this how many people find their debts get completely out of control especially around this time of year so it really isn’t worth overspending too much as the consequences can be catastrophic for some

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Christmas is the hardest time to budget for. I am really good at budgeting and managing on our income, which as only DH works isn’t a high income. But I do find Christmas a struggle. Our food shopping each week goes up by 50% on the run up, gifts are increasingly more expensive each year. I have spent much less on DD this year as she is waiting until the summer for her main gift, a laptop, just before she goes to uni. But I now look at her gifts and realise how little she has for the amount we have spent.

And just like you Floridatilly, my iron packed in yesterday too so I am going to have to get a new one this week. It’s just another thing to add to the list of things I need to get and I know that I will end up over budget.

I am sensible with finances though so with some strict cutting back in January we will be back on track. However I volunteer as a CAB adviser and know from this how many people find their debts get completely out of control especially around this time of year so it really isn’t worth overspending too much as the consequences can be catastrophic for some

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Our children have not had as much this year either. Money wise they have but that amount buys a lot less than it used too.
To make it worse January is a five week month
Luckily I am very careful with money (or tight as some may say ) I regularly check my bank as I did yesterday (shock, nothing left ) so no shopping now apart from food until Christmas.
I can understand how some people get in trouble over Christmas. A lesson to me is to make sure I get the money (weekly budget) out of the bank as paying with my card is lethal!
Does anyone know the lottery numbers for next week ?

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

Our children have not had as much this year either. Money wise they have but that amount buys a lot less than it used too.
To make it worse January is a five week month
Luckily I am very careful with money (or tight as some may say ) I regularly check my bank as I did yesterday (shock, nothing left ) so no shopping now apart from food until Christmas.
I can understand how some people get in trouble over Christmas. A lesson to me is to make sure I get the money (weekly budget) out of the bank as paying with my card is lethal!
Does anyone know the lottery numbers for next week ?

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Five week months work out better for us as DH is paid weekly 😀 I agree cash instead of card helps to control the finances too. I, too, have to be stingy when shopping until Xmas week now which is so difficult with the stores full of nice things to tempt me. Let me know if you get those lottery numbers 😂

[vampiress88]

I’m crap at budgeting. I make a budget. Hubby doesn’t stick to it and I have an account that has some money in for just in case so end up using that. Sometimes don’t know why I bother trying.

Been off sick this week tho so not gonna get much money between now and Xmas.

Would love to be able to stick to things. Useless really

[Mexy02]

I’m skint but Ive had a new radiator and oven to buy but I’m lucky as I did most of my Christmas shopping in June to October in the sales as I never seem to be able to budget properly over Christmas so now spread it over summer .we save Asda savings card every week so that covers a large shop which ties me over in January for the big stuff so my shopping bills are smaller . Mum does Christmas dinner and I do Boxing Day and that’s it , normal food otherwise . We learnt it gets ridiculous for one day of the year so stopped doing it and feel much better in January for doing it . I also don’t know how I would have bought the above emergency’s if I hadn’t have done it this way .

[Posiesmum]

This is the very reason I almost never use a card for food shopping - I always take a weekly amount in cash and when it’s gone it’s gone. I was amazed at a previous thread where most people said they never used cash!
Also, I noticed the phrase that the OP *needed* to buy one last big present. We stopped this some years ago. DH and I don’t buy each other presents, we tend to treat ourselves to a theatre/cinema trip and dinner instead. DD who is 35 and her partner have specifically asked us not to buy ‘stuff’ as they have all they need, so our gift to them when we visit on Boxing day will be some home made bagels and us!

[minnie29]

I normally do a weekly food shop in Asda and spend around £100 for the 4 of us, maybe £120 some weeks! I set myself a budget today of trying to only spend £50 for the weekly shop (Our Disney holiday balance is due at the end of January!).I went to Aldi and home bargains and my total shop for the week was £62 - I was really careful, normally I just chuck things in the trolley, now to see if the food lasts a week