Have A No-Waste Christmas

Do you splash out too much every Christmas? Heres how to save both your bank balance and your bin with Sue Haywards guide to celebrating wisely and well.

- Sue Hayward

Presents

Budget ahead. Sort out your Christmas spending budget before going shopping. This way you’ll know how much you can afford to spend.

Put it away. If your budget needs a boost, stash some cash in supermarket stamp savings schemes. Iceland, Asda and Tesco all run them, with some paying bonuses of up to 6% – and you don’t need to save all year with them to bag this!

Boost the power of your pound. No need to cut back – look for ways to get more for your money, such as swapping Tesco points for luxury gifts. You can get three times their value trading them for tickets for days out or cinema or restaurant vouchers.

Be a cashback queen. Shop through cashback sites like TopCashback to earn as you spend. Use cash back credit cards to earn 5% on present shopping, too. Just make sure that you can clear the bill first – or any savings you make will be wiped out by interest charges.

Cash in gift cards to buy presents. Most of us have some kicking around in the lining of our purses. Even if there’s only a couple of quid left on them, every penny counts! Save as you spend. Check voucher code sites likewww.vouchercodes.co.uk for discount codes you can pop in at the online checkout – or download Pouch, www.joinpouch.com, a handy tool that searches for any promotion codes for the websites you’re on.