MoneysavingCatherine: Ideas to raise money for Christmas on Maternity Pay or Low Income
I am so excited for Christmas this year but as much as it will be a different experience for me now that I’m a Mam, it will also be very different financially as since University I’ve always worked full time. We have a lot of people to buy for and now our dear little Hollypop is here, she has catapulted our budget out of the window. I thought I’d share my ideas on how to raise a bit more wonga and how I plan to make my measly maternity pay stretch a little bit further. If you are in a similar situation or find yourself a little low on cash for any reason, please read on and see if any of my tips can help you out.
Before I go any further, I just want to say that Christmas is not about buying lots of gifts and spending money on stuff for the sake of it. I hate seeing people wasting their money just because “it’s Christmas”. Yes it’s lovely to want to treat other’s at this time of the year but just take a minute to think about this: what did you buy those people last year – can you even remember? Did they use the things you bought them more than once? Have those items seen the light of day since? If not, don’t buy stuff mindlessly – it’s a waste of money and bad for the environment. Why not make someone a thoughtful little present instead – make them something crafty or put together a cookie mix in a jar such as this Jamie Oliver recipe. You could reuse a jam jar and use a gift tag to write down the recipe. You definitely don’t have to flash the cash to give a gift and your company is worth much more than a generic Christmas gift.
Sell Stuff
My first tip is to have a root about and see what you could sell to raise some instant cash. I’m currently selling books and DVDs via WeBuyBooks and Ebay. I got a decent price for some of the books on WeBuyBooks who give you an instant price and offer free postage for your goods however, make sure it’s the best option; I was offered only 10p for some of the books! The books where they gave a low instant price I rejected and chose to sell them on Ebay instead. The Ebay app is very handy for scanning barcodes and creating listings in a few minutes. You could also try selling on MusicMagpie and CEX. Some other items to consider selling are technology such as phones, tablets, games consoles, games, CDs, clothes, bags and shoes.
If you’re using a selling site that requires postage, it’s definitely worth checking out your options especially if your items are bulky or heavy. Some of the books I’m selling were going to cost £4 plus via Royal Mail but after I looked at the Hermes prices, it worked out £2.90 – a big difference to a potential customer! Hermes also offer a label printing service for free at postage locations such as the Co Op but check out other couriers too to see what’s best for your items.
If you have a lot of stuff to sell, you could also check out indoor carboot sales that are taking place over Autumn/Winter. You might get a little bit less for each item but it’s the best way to shift a lot of stuff at once. Remember to review the fees before you commit – check out Car Boot Junction to see what’s on near you.
Cashback
I’m always raving about Topcashback to people – I absolutely love it! It’s literally money for nothing and since using it (5+ years) I have earned over £500! For those who are dubious, this is how it works – the retailers partner up with cashback sites to offer cashback incentives in order to drive traffic to their website. For every sale that goes through because of the cashback site, the retailer pays a fee and the cashback site share a portion of this fee with the customer (me and you). Each retailer offers something different ranging from 1% cashback onwards. The most I’ve received in one transaction was £50 from switching my gas and electric supplier plus I got a £50 giftcard. Mostly I use it for small purchases so only receive pennies in cashback but it all adds up and currently I have over £30 cash built up. This will come in really handy for Christmas and by the time I’ve bought a few more presents, I will have earned even more cashback. It’s worth having an account with multiple cashback sites especially for big expensive purchases as you want to pick the site with the best offer. Both sites I use are free but make sure that if you sign up, you switch your membership immediately from a Plus or Premium membership otherwise they may take a yearly fee from your hard earned wonga! Be sure to check out the main two sites which are Topcashback* and Quidco* (*this is a referral link so you receive cashback as do I if you sign up).
Check out your loyalty cards
Get that purse or wallet out guys and have a leaf through your plastic – you’re bound to have some loyalty cards in there! Get online and check out what points you have stashed away ready to use towards slashing your Christmas budget. I have recently checked my Boots Advantage card, Tesco clubcard and Nectar Card and have a nice little pot of savings spread amongst the three of them. From doing this, I also found out that I can link my debit card to my nectar card and rack up points on purchases automatically. Have a look for yourself on the Nectar website or read about it here.
Also, don’t forget about food and drinks loyalty cards – you might be able to bag yourself a free cuppa (Costa loyalty card) or a sandwich (Subway) to refuel you on Christmas shopping days.
Finally…
…read the ’60+ ways to earn extra money’ article from Martin Lewis at Moneysavingexpert.com and sign up to his newsletter. Some of my tips are actually on there (great minds think alike eh Marty Boy) but he has a ton more out there for those keen to earn a few extra pennies.
A few years ago, Martin spoke about his wish to ban unnecessary Christmas presents and said we should stop buying things for each other just to tick a box knowing that they aren’t a good gift and suggesting we do Secret Santa if we can’t totally give up buying or give a donation to charity instead. I’m totally for this as like I said at the beginning of the blog, it’s not about spending for the sake of it and especially true if you don’t have the money. If money is tight please don’t spend it on festive fodder that will be forgotten about by New Year. With alot of my friends, we agree to spend our money on going to an event or out for a meal instead of buying ‘stuff’ and I honestly prefer that.
December is creeping closer every day so get on and make use of these tips and ideas to raise money as soon as possible to maximise the coins in your Christmas piggy bank!
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