by Holly Sturgeon

Created on: November 29, 2010

Christmas - a time for over indulgence? Try over spending! Everything costs and everyone expects money to be spent on them. Little do they know that there are huge money saving oppurtunities available - queue evil laugh with a Ho Ho Ho added on at the end.

Okay so every year we vow to be more organised with our christmas shopping and tell oruselves that by the time december comes we will have bought and wrapped all of our gifts and be in Christmas bliss with our wage packets still firmly in our pockets and every year we disappoint ourselves, miserably, because we end up running around at the last minute trying to find bargains yet still find exactly what our families and friends would want.

All the mayhem leads to feeling far from cheery over christmas which is why it is important that we learn how to avoid spending too much on christmas gifts. 

Ebay - if you go onto any website and find what it is youre looking for youre sure to find it at a fraction of the cost on ebay. A great way to get bargains on ebay is to search at late or very early times of the day - people have auctions finishing at abnormal selling times and as such, very few people bid at that time of day or night. Also, another great way to find bargain buys is to search for misspelled items - very few people will find an item if it is misspelled and as such you get a great deal.

Car Boot Sales - At car boot sales there is usually all the rubbish of the day but if you look beyond that you will find huge bargains, a friend managed to get her daughter a rocking horse which was brand new and in its box with a tag on it for over £100 for £10, on a seperate occasion, there were tens of me to you bears by carte blanch which were brand new and unused and still in their boxes. Some were worth £35 and others £50 - they were all being sold for less than £10.

Sales - every department store and retailer has a sale - many people are having sales on december 1st where you will be able to buy items for less.

Last but by no means least, is discount and voucher codes. There are thousands of discount and voucher codes available when you £50 spends you will not be disappointed by the bargains you will find online. Search for them in your favoured search engine and you will find hundreds of vouchers and money off codes to be used online. A great way to save money is to use catalogue stores. Many catalogue stores offer £30 off of £60 spends on first orders and have huge sales meaning you get great savings when you shop online.

There is absolutely no reason to be disorganised this christmas but if youre like many and have left it until the last minute, fear not, just follow this fail proof plan and you'll avoid spending too much on christmas gifts!

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