How I SAVED almost £300 on my Christmas Shopping 2018

As I have mentioned in plenty of previous posts, I like to make sure I’m getting a good deal with my Christmas shopping. The majority of it is completed over the Black Friday weekend, although I did take advantage of a few special offers as I saw them earlier in the year – in fact I actually bought a Lego advent calendar for £10 from £25 at the end of last December!

In this post I have compiled the savings I have made alongside the RRP for each items.

Obviously a lot of these deals are no longer available so the link supplied may not be to the source I bought from to avoid broken links, but I still thought it would be useful to compare the savings.

When something has been bought on a 3 for 2 offer, I have left the original prices of the higher 2 items and listed the remaining item as free to avoid faffing about dividing prices by 3.

Plum has been saving money for me all year to the tune of £450 and my rough budget was £600. It would be great if I could get it all for the £450.00 though.  Let’s see if I stuck to that target!

Daughter – (age 3.5)

BUDGET: £200

Lego Friends Advent Calendar (2017 edition) £10 rrp £23 – Sainsbury’s Late December 2017 – so it’s worth keeping an eye out now if you can take a gamble on what your child will like next year! (mine luckily paid off)

Wooden Dolls House – £34.90 rrp £69.99 – Toys R Us closing down sale back in April :’( This doesn’t seem to be available in the UK anymore but have included a link to the product which is currently 200 dollars on Amazon.com!

Minnie Mouse Restaurant £15.00 rrp £35 – Home Bargains (still currently in stock Dec 2018) and available full price on Argos, Debenhams and a number of other places. Very pleased with this price for something that looks like a “main” gift!

Trunki – Bernard The Bee special offer with FREE Backpack – £33.00 RRP £40 plus backpack RRP £20 IWOOT special offer Nov 2018

Crybaby doll £20 rrp £30 – Very Nov 2018

Polly Pocket – Free on Argos 3 for 2 October 2018 RRP £5.00 – this was a pack of 2 RRP £10 but the second has been given to my goddaughter as part of her present.(see below)

Sylvanian families set – £20 – Boots. No reduction on this but I took advantage of their 3 for 2 offer to buy another gift for my niece for free. (see below) In previous years I wouldn’t have thought of looking for toys in Boots and would have treated myself or bought random toiletry gift sets on 3 for 2 that didn’t necessarily fit who I was buying for.

Lol Surprise Lil Sisters 2 pack – £11.99 Argos 3 for 2

Lego Friends Olivia’s Bedroom £13.00 Argos 3 for 2

Sylvanian families toilet set (This was a VERY specific request from my daughter since September! She’s crackers!) £7.99 from a local shop

Sylvanian familes washing machine set £8.99 (Ditto above)

Home Bargains Stocking Fillers:

LOL doll annual £2.99 RRP £7.99

LOL stickers 99p RRP £3.99

LOL colouring set 99p RRP £3.99

Moana sticker book £1.99 RRP £5.99

SERIOUSLY, I LOVE HOME BARGAINS!

RRP TOTAL: £291.96

SPENT: £170.94

That’s a saving of just over £120.00!

Other family

I have just listed the people I buy for here, there are other members of my husband’s family that he specifically buys for as it just works out easier, such as his Dad and brother as they usually just sort out what they want from each other between them.

Husband –  Budget: £150

£100 towards new TV as requested (Black Friday purchase and paid in cash)

Under Armour Tshirt – 15.00 RRP £22.00 – Under Armour website

Taskmaster book – £6.99

Thermos flask as requested – £13.00 rrp £23

Gaming coasters – £8.96

SPENT: £143.96

FAMILY – Budget £20.00 per person

My Dad – Jasper Conran leather driving gloves £28.00 –  RRP £40 Debenhams pre Black Friday

My Mum – Boots No 7 set – £20.00 as part of 3 for 2 – The product has gone off the website but this one is similar but £30.

My brother – WWE Tshirt £15.00 RRP £25.00 WWE Euroshop website pre Black Friday offer

Mother In Law – Joules scarf £11.97 RRP £39.00 Joules outlet on eBay – Black Friday

Joules gloves £7.77 RRP £12.95

Sister in Law – Joules Hat & Gloves £7.77 each RRP £12.95 each as above – all from outlet eBay store

BUDGET:£100

RRP: £159.85

SPENT: £98.28

It looks like the more expensive items averaged out my total spend here but at least it’s under budget!

FRIENDS – £15-20 per person

Female Friends (x 2) – Katie Loxton Bag £16.99. No saving here, I did see them for £13.99 on Amazon but I decided to go for the website as I wanted to make sure it came in the official shop packaging. I also got a Black Friday offer to get a free gift worth £8 for myself which was a lovely gold snowflake decoration.

Female friend – Jasper Conran necklace £6.00 RRP £22.00 – Debenhams pre Black Friday sale

Male Friends x 2

It has become a tradition for us to buy each other jokey presents which we swap at new year. I could probably find stuff in the sales after Christmas but I would prefer not to still be hunting down presents after the big day.  I usually head to Home Bargains and B&M for these! There were a couple of good finds such as:

Pie Face Game – £5.00 RRP £20 Home Bargains

Super Mario Heat Change Mug – £4.99 B&M (Similar were much more expensive in department stores)

Drinking Game Beer Mats – £1.99 B&M

BUDGET: £80.00

RRP: £115.98

SPENT: £69.98 plus free Katie Loxton charm worth £8

CHILDREN – BUDGET – £15-20 per child

Nephew age 5– Lego juniors set £10.80 RRP £18.00 – Debenhams pre Black Friday sale (The crazy thing is this was back up to £18.00 in the shop on Black Friday)

Ninja yoyo thing (I have no real clue)- £1.99 RRP £15 Home Bargains

Niece #1 age 4 – Lego Juniors set – FREE on Boots 3 for 2 RRP £12.99

My Little Pony Rarity set £2.99 RRP £14.99

Niece #2 age 1 – George Asda Kitchen £40 RRP £50 (went halves with other auntie & uncle so spent £20)

Goddaughter – Cath Kidston apron £7.50 RRP £9.50 – Cath Kidston website

Mermaid Activity Book £1.99 RRP £6.99 Home Bargains

Polly Pocket FREE RRP £5.00 Argos 3 for 2 dual pack split with my daughter (see above for link)

BUDGET: £80.00

RRP: £107.47

SPENT: £45.27 – This is a great saving!

TOTAL CHRISTMAS SHOPPING BUDGET: £610.00

TOTAL RRP: £824.30

ACTUAL SPEND: £526.47

TOTAL SAVED: £297.83

As you can see, I didn’t manage to stick to the £450.00 I had saved up but it wasn’t too difficult to find £76 extra in a month where you are used to stretching your budget.

I am really pleased that I have managed to save almost £300 on the RRP but I have to say adding everything up like this has been a bit of an eye opener – I would never have expected that I spent so much especially when I am always so conscious of getting savings where possible.

I’m definitely going to take this into consideration when planning next year – it seems like a ridiculous amount of money!

However I’m really pleased that I have managed to stick to cash for everything and not relied on my credit card once – this is definitely a first.

Other Posts You May Like

How I bought £200 worth of products for £6 cash in the Boxing Day Sales

How to get the best Black Friday deals (And avoid the worst)

10 Smart Ways to Save Money This Christmas

Ultimate Guide to a Debt Free Christmas

How to Budget Your Food Shop This Christmas

What was your Christmas shopping budget? Did you find any great deals? Let me know in the comments!