Saving money at Christmas

We love to recycle and are always on the lookout for new ways to be green. It’s definitely more noticeable at this time of year just how easy it is to be excessive. There are only four of us so we’ve tried to put a limit on how much we spend and we’re definitely going to be careful with how much food we buy as I hate throwing away food. There are lots of ways to save money and have fun this Christmas:

We’ve made our own decorations – hand print Christmas trees, yarn wreaths and Christmas cards

Recycled last years Christmas cards into gift tags and a paper garland

We’ve gone through toys we don’t use or play with and donated them to the charity shop

Bought ingredients to make our own mince pies, sausage rolls and marzipan stars (much more tasty than shop-bought!)

De-cluttered and made money from unwanted goods like prams, baby clothes and mobile phones. Some phone sites are brilliant for making some extra money, especially if you know you’re going to get a new phone for Christmas! It’s so easy to use and much simpler than listing and selling on a well known auction site where it might get lost in hundreds of similar listings.

I’ve actually quite enjoyed our seasonal de-clutter. There’s something energising about having a good clear out and getting ready for a new year. Our main priority in January will be putting our lovely house up for sale and moving somewhere new which will be a whole new exciting chapter for us. Just got to get through Christmas first!