7 Ways to save money for Christmas groceries

by | Budgeting and Finances

 

How do you save for groceries over the Christmas period? Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack,  it’s always an extra expense. Christmas is a special time of the year and we all like it to be special but we don’t want to break the bank .

Fortnightly hampers

 

These are the hampers you pay off normally fortnightly then they get delivered to your door in december. Very convenient  but I think you pay extra for these items because of the convenience. The main one is crisco www.chrisco.com.au  

 

Christmas bank account

 

A lot of banks still have Christmas club accounts even though they are not as popular as they once used to be. You open this special account and deposit money in it for christmas. Most Christmas accounts get extra interest when you don’t make a withdrawal from January to october. Check with your bank if they have this account and the terms and conditions. There are also other online accounts you can use that have extra interest each month if you don’t withdraw the money.

 

Money tin

 

 Get yourself a cheap money tin. The ones that don’t have a plug in the bottom so it’s hard to get them money out. Save up your coins in this tin. You will be surprised how much is in there when you open it. We have had as much as $800 in ours. It takes the whole year for us to fill it. Daniel is actually better at filling it than I am. He is always putting coins in it where I only empty my coins when my purse is full and I spend coins also, Daniel hardly ever spends coins,

Buy weekly gift vouchers

 

When you are doing your food shopping, buy a $10 gift card each week for the supermarket you shop at, or $20 a fortnight if you shop fortnightly. If you do this from January to the end of november then you will have approximately $470 to spend on groceries for the christmas period.

 

$5 for 15 weeks 

 

15 weeks before Christmas use $5 shopping money and put it  into a box. There is $75 to go towards Christmas lunch. This would start about the beginning of september.

Supermarket rewards

 

Save up your shopping rewards. Flybuys has an app and you can get vouchers for extra points there. It also shows you how many points you can turn into $$$. Depending how much money you spend during the year depends on how much flybuy dollars you get. Woolworths rewards has an option that you can get $10 off everytime it becomes available or you can bank your $10, your money adds up and in november/december your rewards money is available to spend on groceries.

 

Food storage

 

During the year, each time you do your weekly/fortnightly food shopping, get a couple of pantry items that  you would need for christmas and store them in a box. Make a list of things you would like and cross them off the list as you purchase them so you don’t buy more of the same things. Check the use by date when you’re purchasing the items. When christmas comes you should have quite a few items you now don’t need to purchase.

If you follow one or more of these suggestions then when it comes to christmas there should be less stress about purchasing things for christmas. By having the food paid for ahead of time you should have a little spare money to organise the last minute christmas gifts and not blow the budget out. Happy savings and happy spendings, may your Christmas be a little less stressful.