One mum has shared how she managed to save over £650 in a year, an amount covering all of her Christmas shopping.
Kate Richard swears by the simple hack she has used annually for the past three years. Each time, the 33-year-old has managed to entirely fund the cost of Christmas gifts with the money she put away.
The trick involves putting away 1p on January 1, 2p on January 2, and so on, which leads to £3.65 on the last day of the year, with the total amount saved amounting to £667.95.
The mum-of-one from Huddersfield, said: "There's an app and it automatically moves money into your account for you. By the end of the year you've got £667.9 and you don't notice it coming out everyday.
"I've done it since 2019 and used it every year for Christmas shopping. They also do it in reverse and start with £3.65 and go down. It links up to the bank and you get a notification each day, you don't have to think about it and it's great."
"I already have all my presents wrapped and everything, it's all done."
She used the app IFTTT, which puts the money away into a savings account automatically.
To save a bit of extra cash at Christmas, she also took Martin Lewis' advice and did a Secret Santa with her family members so she doesn't need to buy an expensive present for everyone.
The teacher used to buy a present for seven different people, which added up to over £140 each year. But now, they draw names and only buy the one present with a price limit of £50 - slashing costs by a third.
She also uses a website called thingstogetme.com to organise Christmas lists for her son.
The site allows people to enter their Christmas list and links to items, meaning it can be sent around to friends and relatives. And, once a gift has been 'reserved' by someone, it shows everyone who looks at the list – meaning no risk of duplicates.
Kate added: "You put your Christmas list in and send it to everyone and they can reserve an item which ticks it off so there are no duplicates. You find the item on Amazon, stick the link in and any extra info like colour or size and people can just tick it off, buy it, and it's sorted.
"You can do a good range of prices – some presents were £4 and some were £40 - and I had loads on the lower end so people could pick and choose what they could afford and reserve it."
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