100 Days To Go

Christmas is lumbering slowly towards us. Its a great time of the year for overeating and drinking and also for getting a little something for those you love, which set me thinking how present buying and mince pie making will fit into the extreme budgeting calculator. It just so happens that other people seem to be pinching their pennies too (don't know why that is hey David Cameron?) and while I was looking at Christmas things I found a helpful little device to turn those pennies into pounds.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/income/demohohotivator/
It was an entertaining way to see that if I gave up my daily snickers bar (which obviously I am no longer allowed) at 60p per day would give me £61 in cash towards pressies. With a big family and two lovely toddlers to buy pressies for £60 doesn't go that far, but I've gone down the handmade presents route before and it was a bit of a disaster. I think the main trouble was I started with only a couple of weeks to go and making something for everyone in the family was a bit too much of a challenge. My poor dad graciously accepted his pair of his and hers canal boating fingerless gloves without complaining that one hands glove was considerably larger than the other and my younger sister still has her jar of handmade marmalade untouched in the cupboard a year on which is somewhat a bad sign. I shall have to get the thinking cap on for this year and meanwhile I shall keep playing on the hohotivator!