It's hard to believe that there's only around sixty sleeps to go until Christmas! That means only two paydays until then as well - Alice Beer is a savvy shopper filled to the brim with good advice for making your salary stretch until the big festive period.
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00:00 I think it's fair to say people will be starting now to just about panic. I think what will
00:08 tip people over the edge is the realisation that there are two paychecks, two paydays
00:13 until Christmas. And I think that's really important, not because I think people should
00:17 panic, on the contrary, I think people should actually think, okay, so two paydays till
00:23 Christmas, we need to make this payday pay for Christmas, we need to think about how
00:28 we're going to approach Christmas, how we're not going to get in a panic, how we're not
00:31 going to overspend.
00:33 The run up to Christmas has well and truly begun. Where's the year gone? In fact, results
00:37 from a recent study found up to 70% of shoppers are in the festive buying mood as early as
00:43 September nowadays, and you won't find a shortage of Christmassy items in the shops to get your
00:48 hands on that early in the year. While we might have started getting a few decorations
00:53 or even a mince pie or two, most of us haven't got any presents yet, so there's still a long
00:58 way to go.
00:59 It's all about planning and a list, the list of people you need to buy for, and then probably
01:06 lopping about half of them off, because they are going to be as anxious as you are. We're
01:12 all anxious about cost of living at the moment. And if you ring people and say, sure, I'd
01:17 love to meet you for a drink, I'd love to meet you for a catch up, but let's not do
01:21 the whole present thing. And you just meet up for a lovely lunch or just a drink in the
01:25 pub, and you don't panic about buying them a present, and they don't have to buy you
01:29 a present. You just see them and your presence is your present. And that's enough. And also,
01:34 you know, if you're going to see family, you don't really need to be gifting for every
01:39 member of the family.
01:41 While the festive season might seem like a long way off yet, you're not wrong. It does
01:45 mean for most there's only two paydays in the year to go. With the cost of living continuing
01:50 to stretch budgets, the most expensive time of the year can be an even bigger squeeze.
01:55 And working out what are your expenses between now and the big day and don't leave anything
02:00 off, but absolutely everything down. Crackers, you're not going to do Christmas without crackers.
02:06 Put them down, put them in your plan, budget for them, and see how many of those things
02:12 you can buy with this October paycheck, because you don't want to be buying them with the
02:17 next one, because that's probably going on heating bills, I'm afraid to say.
02:21 Consumer expert Alice Beater is on hand to give top spending tips and advice in the run
02:26 up to Christmas to allow you to stretch those last two pay packets with some savvy spending.
02:31 So I think don't get carried away. Write everyone's name down, what you're planning on getting
02:36 them, what you're planning on spending on them. And don't go over because they won't
02:41 thank you because they will feel embarrassed that they haven't spent that much money on
02:45 you. So I think shop online, don't get swept up by Black Friday or Cyber Monday or anything
02:53 else. Shop online and do it in advance and slowly and carefully and stick to your plan.