Keep Calm, it's Christmas

Christmas is meant to be a time of joy & festive cheer although when you add a toddler, a large family, present buying, finances etc into the mix it can be stressful enough to drive anyone to the sherry bottle. 

Here are my tips for how I'm keeping calm at Christmas! 

.1. Buy little & often

Fred's birthday is at the start of September so I'd finished his birthday shopping in August so I started Christmas shopping then. That's meant I've had quite a few months to buy bits rather than having to go out and spend a mass amount of money at once.

.2. Be cruel to be kind

Between us, we have 6 neices & nephews whom we normally spend around £20/£25 on at Christmas time. It soon adds up. To keep costs down we say that we will buy for the children and not the parents, our brothers do the same for us so everyone's happy and we're not going over budget.

.3. Sell before buying more

I've had a big clear out of all the toys that Freddie doesn't use and sold them on eBay and local selling sites. I then used the money to buy new. It makes sense as there is only ao many toys that we can house or Fred can play with.

.4. Look online & take advantage of deals

I've bought lots of gifts from eBay or Amazon. I also joined bargain pages on Facebook where people tell of deals that they've seen online. I got Fred a garage that was originally £45 for a mere £15!

. 5. Recycle, recycle,  recycle! 

We all have gifts that we've been given that we still have in a box in a cupboard somewhere. I have a present box that I store bits and pieces and I have no shame in regiving if necessary! Just be careful giving something back that they've given! Eek!

.6. Home made

I wish I could say I make lots of gifts from scratch and give homemade jam and the sorts but truth be told, I don't! I'm useless but if you have the time and inclination to do so, make gifts. They save you money and they are super sentimental. There are lots of ideas to be found on blogs or sites such as Pinterest.

How do you stay calm at Christmas? 

What saves you stress, or money?