Frugal Friday | Christmas thoughts

I had a look at the prices of turkeys today. The larger ones work out cheaper; generally speaking. The turkey crowns are about £9.00 a kilo. The price per kilo varies a lot and some are basted with butter. The price can be less than £3.00 a kilo for a large turkey. I found Asda to be cheaper than Tesco. It pays to check all the prices per kilo. I live alone and don’t want much left over and so the turkey thigh joint will be enough for me.

Some of the wrapping paper is shiny gold and you shouldn’t throw away old wrapping paper but keep it to make things out of. Some shiny paper, a little glue and a lot of imagination and the kids can make Christmas decorations for a fraction of the cost of buying them.

Christmas Eve is on a Saturday this year and the shops will be open but don’t leave your shopping until the last minute. It can be enjoyable just to walk around window shopping on Christmas Eve and listen to the Christmas music and carols, safe in the knowledge that your shopping is done and you have money left over!

My car passed the MOT (safety test) this week and the garage checked it over. I didn’t have the oil or anything changed. A good oil costs £30 for  4 litres and unless you do a high mileage it doesn’t need changing every year. You can save money by buying a good quality oil and changing it every few years than buying cheap oil and changing it every year. My car never breaks down and so I think I’m doing well, it also sailed through the MOT without any advisories. My engine tends to be very quiet, except when I first start off. This is the oil taking it’s time to get around the engine, so I drive very slowly and don’t accelerate too much until it quietens down. The way you drive helps keep the car running well and you can also save fuel by careful driving. I drive in a higher gear to save fuel and try not to accelerate hard or brake hard. I also try to avoid unnecessary journeys.

If money is short you might try talking to friends and family and deciding to buy presents for children only this year. The expense of buying presents can get a bit too much. You can also look for bargains on markets and you should find some in the supermarkets. Try to buy what people will actually want rather than something that will get sent to a charity shop in January. Gift vouchers for the supermarkets are a good choice because they sell such a wide range of things now, everyone can find something they like.

A few ideas

Rechargeable batteries are always useful. They are reasonable in Lidl, I had AAA and AA batteries. I had them for my camera and if someone takes a lot of photos a spare card is handy (usually an SD card). Flash drives are useful too I save files on them and even record TV on one. Stationary can be useful, hard back books, notebooks, pens, felt tips or highlighters. I had some nice T shirts from Matalan not long ago, they make a nice present if you know what size to get. Don’t go for bright colours unless you know the person likes them. Other clothes can be risky, we all have different tastes. A bottle of something can be handy for an adult, anything from sparkling wine to spirits depending upon what they normally drink and what you can afford. Even a special bottle of beer might be a good idea. Personalised gifts can be expensive but not always and a mug or glass inscribed with something personal is good.

I’ll try to come up with more ideas before Christmas, in the meantime there are more fascinating blogs on my Home Page.

 

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