So You’re Broke After Christmas?

Whether you’ve spent all your savings, run up your credit/store cars, or used money that was supposed to be ear-marked for something else on Christmas presents – maybe you’ve done all three – there are ways that you can recoupe some money back.

ebay

If you don’t already have an ebay account, then get registered with ebay if you’d like to start selling things that you no longer want or need. This is a good way of making money on Christmas presents you received that you know that you will never use. If you set up a paypal account with ebay, you can be paid as soon as the balance reaches £6 so you don’t have to wait until the end of the month for money from it – payment from paypal can be as regularly or as irregularly as you wish – providing you have a balance of more than £6. You can sell as much or as little as you wish on ebay.

Credit Cards

Many people have maxed out their credit cards in the run up to Christmas on Christmas presents. This is a good chance to check your credit card rate and compare it to rates of other credit card providers. By checking in branches, newspapers, or compare.com websites, you can check to see if you are on the best deal. There may be a way of saving money by changing over, either by getting a lower interest rate somewhere else or by getting a deal from another credit card provider to change over – these deals can often involve lowering your balance slightly.

Preparing for Next Christmas

This might seem ridiculous when you are just getting over this Christmas, but there are ways that you can save for next year. These ways include Christmas savings clubs, or supermarket stamps. The Christmas savings clubs involve saving regular amounts of money each month from January up to the following Christmas and the supermarket stamps involve buying stamps – as many or as little as you wish – each time you are in the supermarket. Another way to save for next Christmas – and for birthdays – is by bargain hunting. By seeing how much items are reduced by in the sales lets you see how much of a mark up shops make from items, and how much of that money could be in your pocket, rather than that of the retailers, by buying what you need in the sales. One way this works is by taking with you a list of who you buy Christmas and birthday presents for – this way you are buying things you need for throughout the year at a fraction of the costs as well as saving some time when the birthdays and Christmas do come round again. Buying things that you do not need is not really a saving, hence the reason a list is a good idea.

Grocery shopping

You can make money throughout the year on your grocery shopping. Write out a list for when you go shopping, and try to stick to it – also try to stick to a budget. A good idea is the buy one get one free offers, but only if it is something that you actually use – if it is not something that you use then it is not a saving. Going to the shop/supermarket later on in the day can also help as often fresh stock is reduced later in the day, such as bread or other bakery products, as well as other things close to the sell by date.