As a December baby I love the festive buzz, but as I get older the financial burden<\/a> of covering the mortgage, bills, and Christmas costs \u2013 especially as a freelancer with irregular income and delayed payments \u2013 weighs heavily on my mind.<\/p>\n As a child, I remember wanting to buy Christmas gifts<\/a> for all of my school friends which, rather embarrassingly, came out of my parents\u2019 pockets. My mum encouraged me to start saving for the festive season so I could buy my own gifts, so I started squirrelling \u00a31 away every week from chores into a dedicated \u201cChristmas pot\u201d in the same way she always has. It\u2019s a tradition that I\u2019ve kept up over the last 20 years \u2013 though the amount has steadily increased.<\/p>\n New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n Use this Christmas to set next year\u2019s budget<\/p>\n At the end of each December, I calculate how much to set aside for the following year based on what I spent. This year, the target was \u00a385 a month to cover presents, the festive food<\/a> shop, decorations, any spikes in winter bills<\/a> and extra hosting essentials. <\/p>\n 2025 has been the most I\u2019ve ever saved for Christmas \u2013 primarily because my boyfriend and I are hosting both sets of parents, my sister, her partner and their two daughters. Increasing my monthly \u201cChristmas pot\u201d savings has been harder than ever, though. There have been numerous weddings, new babies, birthdays and long overdue payments for freelance projects. When I was feeling the pinch, my living costs took priority of course, and I\u2019d forgo paying into the festive fund for a month or two. However, I\u2019d make sure I paid extra (triple, this time!) a few months later to catch up. Which, in itself, is an additional pressure. <\/p>\n It\u2019s meant declining dinners with friends<\/a>, cancelling work meetings in central London to avoid the cost of travel, scaling back food shops and selling my clothes on Vinted or at car boot sales. I\u2019ve even used birthday money that I\u2019ve been given to buy Christmas gifts for others \u2013 which I suspect isn\u2019t unusual. <\/p>\n Still set gift boundaries, even after you\u2019ve saved<\/p>\n I know I\u2019m not alone in feeling overwhelmed by Christmas costs. The Bank of England<\/a> reports people spend 30 per cent more at Christmas than in a typical month, which can fetch a staggering \u00a32,460. Unsurprisingly, 25 per cent of Brits rely on their credit card to cover the expenses, while seven per cent borrow from friends or family, according to banking app thinkmoney<\/a>. Over 35 per cent of Brits plan to spread the costs of Christmas by using Buy Now Pay Later schemes, which are most popular among Gen Z (52 per cent) and millennials (48 per cent), according to Clearpay<\/a>. And all of this then leads to \u201cfinancial Christmas hangovers\u201d that drag into the New Year, claims the BoE.<\/p>\n To avoid overspending this Christmas, I have set firm boundaries around gifts<\/a>. In previous years I made \u00a3100 hampers for my in-laws, and I bought presents for every couple in my social circle, as well as their children. However, buying for 19 people was too expensive for my Christmas pot to cover. So, this year I have limited gifts to just our parents and the children, which I think is fair considering my boyfriend and I are the only couple without kids, and we\u2019re hosting. I have allocated \u00a350 each for my in-laws and my parents, and \u00a330 for our five nieces and nephew. My boyfriend and I have also capped our gifts to each other at \u00a350 as our birthdays are in December.<\/p>\n There\u2019s always ad hoc costs \u2013 especially if you\u2019re hosting<\/p>\n Out of my Christmas Pot, I have budgeted for a real Christmas tree, which is expected to cost \u00a380, and crackers that average \u00a315 a box. Though I love an ornate wreath and have never had one, at \u00a340 minimum this is not the year to splurge unnecessarily. I usually send approximately 30 Christmas cards to extended family and friends, but a book of eight first class stamps costs \u00a313.60, so my Christmas card list is getting culled. The Christmas food shop to cater for eight people is averaging \u00a3170, which is not far off My Voucher Codes<\/a>\u2019 \u00a3140 estimation, though it doesn\u2019t include food for the limbo week between Christmas and New Year.<\/p>\n I have also factored utilities into my Christmas budget. Last year, our electricity bill doubled in December and January, which I expect will happen again with more guests visiting. Plus, every year without fail, something has broken in my home on Christmas Eve: the kitchen tap, hob, and the washing machine. I\u2019m just praying the oven doesn\u2019t pop its clogs this Christmas! If I stick to the budget, and no appliances break, I will have a small buffer to cover me in the post-Christmas period when work is quiet.<\/p>\n The effort helps me enjoy Christmas more<\/p>\n Despite moments of doubt this year, my Christmas savings target is within reach. When I question whether I can keep up with my Christmas Pot tradition, I think about my mum who started this tradition long before I was born, and still maintains it today to ensure Christmas looks exactly as it did when I was a child. There is an abundance of food on the table, a dazzling Christmas tree, and gifts (yes, plural) for the entire family. <\/p>\n As a 32-year-old homeowner with no dependents, I recognise how fortunate I am to have more disposable income than some. There is no denying my Christmas Pot is crucial in keeping my finances afloat year after year. It stops me dipping into my overdraft, racking up hefty credit card bills, or borrowing money. When I reach my savings goal I feel a huge sense of achievement, I get more pleasure out of buying gifts instead of panic buying at the last minute, and I am encouraged to start saving again for the next year. More importantly, my savings tradition has taught me the value of money, living within my means, and gratitude. From a young age I appreciated the smallest gesture because I understood the efforts people went to just to buy and send a card.<\/p>\n While it dawns on me that my Christmas savings will reset in a few weeks, albeit with lower monthly installments to lighten the financial load, I will never give up the tradition because I would seriously struggle without it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twenty years ago, my mum taught me how to budget for a fun and fulfilling festive period –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[832,79,16838,2190,18,3617,19,17,825,234,235],"class_list":{"0":"post-218403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-budgeting","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-cost-of-living","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-features","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-money","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-personalfinance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115672213732144427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_276498299.jpg\")
Maisie with her mother, who taught her how to budget for a magical Christmas from a young age.<\/p>\n