A SAVVY mum will be relaxing in the coming months instead of Christmas shopping after she snapped her presents last year during the boxing day sales
Lindsay Burgess saved a whopping £700 by snapping up 80% of the gifts she needed for Christmas this year.
The mum knew she had to reduce her spending after unexpectedly falling pregnant at 42 and had to give up her job due to medical issues, meaning her income plummeted.
The 49-year-old revealed she bought all her Christmas gifts and birthday presents during the post-Christmas sales for up to half price.
Lindsay, who’s a full-time carer for her disabled son is renowned for being ‘Miss Efficient’ among friends and family.
But ‘chipping away’ at the momentous task of buying gifts for 16 people is not only cost-effective but also means she’s not running around ‘like a headless chicken’ in December.
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And Linsay is so organised she even has most of her Christmas presents wrapped up already.
The mum-of-one said that savvy shopping has become a ‘way of life’ and she regularly shares her tips and tricks online in a bid to help other families who may also need to tighten their belts.
Lindsay, from Preston, Lancashire, said: “The earliest I’ve ever started my Christmas shopping is Boxing Day but generally speaking I start on the 27th.
“I’m usually done and dusted before the end of October and it’s usually all wrapped and put away as well.
“I like getting it out of the way because personally, I like to enjoy the run-up to Christmas.
“If you’re still running around, buying, wrapping and hiding stuff, that’s very, very stressful and I don’t do that.
“In November I work my way through things like Christmas cards and letter writing.
“In December it’s all about decorating the house and making sure all the food’s bought, frozen and ready.
“Some years I save myself a fortune. I know that I’m saving about 30-50% on what the full cost would be.
“For Christmas, you’re looking at [saving] at least £300-£400 and then maybe another £300 during the year.”
Since Lindsay fell pregnant with her son, William, and started looking for bargains, she has saved thousands
Lindsay said: “I decided to start looking at reducing our expenses because we had unexpectedly found out that we were pregnant at 42 after being told that we couldn’t have children.”
When Lindsay had time to shop with William in a pram she realised just how much stock was discounted after special occasions like Christmas, Mother’s day and Father’s day.
Lindsay said that once Boxing Day is out of the way, she’ll hit the major supermarkets, as well as Matalan, Boots and B&M, to see if she can snap up anything she needs in their clearance sales.
The bargain hunter puts money aside throughout the year so she has around £500 saved after Christmas to ‘blitz’ her shopping during the sales.
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Lindsay said: “It’s not just about Christmas, I very quickly realised that some of the stuff is fine for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Easter.
“I was thinking ‘I can bulk buy. Why am I buying one Lynx gift set when I can buy one that will do for multiple occasions?’
“I started buying quite a lot to the extent I was practically buying 80 percent of what I needed for the year in December and January.”
The mum stocks up on cards and all sorts of wrapping during the Christmas sale at Card Factory to suit all occasions.
The devoted mum will usually buy everything apart from the ‘main’ present in January and takes full advantage of toy sales between October and the end of November.
She managed to bag her son’s main present this year of a plushie set for £60 from shopping around – rather than forking out over £140 on the company’s official website.
She recommended taking the same route around supermarkets as they often keep their sales items in the same place.
Food items with long shelves lives can be put away for Christmas gifts throughout the year she shared.
After finishing her January shopping she’ll separate them into allocated bags for each person and take a note of any gaps she has so she can buy the remainder of what she needs during promotions throughout the year.
She has a list of items on her phone that she has for various ages, so when she spots a sale, she’s only buying items that fill in those gaps.
Lindsay said: “It’s a way of life. I have always been known as being ‘Miss Efficient’.
“I’ve always been a bit efficient, before I had my son I worked in offices for 25 years.
“I’ve been a programme manager and done all sorts of things, so I’ve treated it a bit like a project really.
“A lot of people have asked me to post when I find something, so that’s why I do that now so other people are aware.
“That’s one of the reasons I post on Facebook because a lot of people are struggling but still want to give their families nice birthdays and Christmases.
“So it’s just how you can do that without spending a fortune and running around like a headless chicken near to Christmas.
“It’s a lot less painless if every time you go into the supermarket to look around all the clearance and sale sections, then you’re gradually topping your stash up over the year.
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“A fiver here and a tenner there doesn’t hurt as much as a thousand pounds in December does it?
“It’s made a massive change to how comfortable our life is really, it’s making our little boy happy and we’re happy because we can still do gifts and it’s not financially crippling us.”
