Moneymagpie Team
18th Nov 2025
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Christmas can be an expensive time of year. Once you start spending money, it can be easy to get caught up in the festive spirit and lose track of expenditure! You can fall into debt or get yourself into further debt. By not prioritising, you can find yourself without money to buy what you really want, whether that is something like a holiday or more Christmas items.
Consumer champion Helen Dewdney, also known as The Complaining Cow, regularly empowers consumers regarding their consumer rights and saving money. In her latest book 465 Ways to Save Money on Christmas Throughout the Year she provides help with budgeting, prioritising, saving, spending and preparing differently. Chapters include setting a budget and saving money on cards, presents, clothes, festivities, travel, holidays and entertainment. With so many tips to choose from there is plenty that will be new to readers.
Here at MoneyMagpie, founder Jasmine Birtles says:
“Anyone who is struggling to make ends meet right now should read this book and put into practice what it says. As usual, Helen 
has come up with all the practical advice you need to spread the cost of Christmas easily over the year and cut out the burden and confusion of paying for a happy festive season. There are budget calculators you can fill in, things to do each day and clever ideas for saving and making money through the year to put aside for Christmas. One of my favourites is her advice on how to make money from rubbish which you can then put towards your Christmas savings pile. “This book is a quick and easy read, full of fab ideas, hints, tips and sensible consumer advice. Even if you couldn’t give two hoots for Christmas itself, it’s worth reading this book just to pick up the many and various ways to save day-to-day.”
Helen offered to share some of the more unusual Christmas money saving tips from the book:
Budgeting for Christmas
1) Organise your Christmas expenditure into categories, such as food, presents, travel, decorations and festivities, etc. Set a budget and stick to it. Don’t be swayed by so-called “bargains”. This will help prevent impulse buying.
2) Prioritise. Make a wish list of everything you’d like to buy. Then, using your budget, rank everything in order of importance. This will stop you buying “bargains” that are the least important until you get to that part of the list.
Saving money generally
3) Join Facebook groups and “like” pages that share bargains. Set to get notifications so you’ll always be notified when a fresh bargain comes up. Sometimes members get to hear early about dates for offers or have discount codes.
4) A displayed price tag isn’t necessarily the final price. No contract has been formed until money has changed hands. And the worst that can happen is simply being told “No!” Haggling doesn’t just have to be on the phone. You can negotiate prices via online chat on websites, by phone or email.
5) Credit cards often have hidden benefits. Check yours to see if it includes holiday offers, points to use against trips, discounts or cashback.
Saving money on toys
6) Look for toys that have been discounted due to damaged boxes, cosmetic scratches, etc., such as at Amazon Warehouse and eBay. Adventure Toys sell discounted Little Tikes returns. Marthill International sells pallets of mail order returns made up of box damaged, bag damaged, faulty items and change-of-mind returns. They can be discounted by up to 85%, so you could sell some on and/or split the cost with friends.
7) Look out for clearance and outlets online. For example, Smyths, Argos and The Works have clearance sections on their sites that run all year round. Do an internet search on the word “outlet” and any store you like to see if they have an outlet. There are many big names that do this. ao.com, Marks & Spencer’s, Currys and Tesco are just a few.
8) Money Saving Central predicts and gives dates for sales at online stores and supermarkets. (For example: here)
Saving money on presents
9) Suggest as a group of friends or family that you put on a fundraising event or volunteer to do something together, instead of giving presents.
10) If you normally buy presents for children whom you don’t see very often, film yourself reading a story. Personalise it by using the child’s name throughout the story. Upload to a platform like YouTube and set it to private. Send the child that link. You could, of course, also write your own story which would be even better!
11) Reuse clean jars and on the outside, using a glitter glue stick or pen, write something like “Appreciation jar” or “Why I am loved”. Then write out personal messages on several pieces of paper. The recipient can open the jar and take out a note whenever they feel they need to. You can also write down favourite memories of time spent together.
Saving money on other areas of Christmas
12) Check out market places, such as Facebook and Gumtree, for bargains. You are likely to save more as you can collect locally and there are fewer eyeballs on local sellers than other sites. You can also look up “collection only” items on eBay.
13) You could swap clothes on a larger and more permanent scale by running or attending a “swishing party”. Here, people take the clothes they no longer want and exchange them for tokens which can be used to buy other items. This is ideal for bagging that Christmassy number!
14) Create your own advent calendars. Children can help make them using card and pens, or making boxes and envelopes or using material and sewing on pockets. Fill the pockets with chocolates or treats or reusable toys that you can bring out every year. You can also repurpose old Christmas cards. This might become part of your Christmas activities and traditions.
15) Check out the “World Food” supermarket aisle. Pack sizes are sometimes bigger and you can often save a lot of money on products that you buy from other aisles. For example, nuts, lentils, beans, coconut milk and spices.
16) Take the carol singing one step further. Organise a Midnight carol flash-mob: Coordinate with friends to sing a single carol at an agreed spot one evening for no cost and lots of atmosphere. Advertise as much as you like!
17) Make sure you know your consumer rights when buying products or services. The main law you need to understand is the Consumer Rights Act 2015. This entitles you to goods that are of satisfactory quality, match the description, fit for purpose, last a reasonable length of time and be free from defects. For items that are in breach, up to 30 days from purchase, you are entitled to a full refund and after this time a repair or replacement.
For more on your consumer rights see The Complaining Cow website and Helen’s first book How to Complain: The Essential Consumer Guide to Getting Refunds, Redress and Results!
With a little forward planning and Helen’s savvy advice, you can keep control of your spending, avoid festive debt and still enjoy a Christmas that feels truly special.
Helen’s book 456 Ways to Save Money on Christmas Throughout the Year will help you to make savings all year long, now and into 2026.