Bought my first packet of Thomas The Tank Engine Christmas chocolate buttons in Mothercare over the weekend, I now officially dispise queing systems that plant product at every twist and turn. I also conceed that I have broken the unwritten rule of uttering the word Christmas in September! Yes, yes I did! In my job (head of marketing at Get The Label) Christmas is always on the brain but that doesn’t mean that I don’t make an audible gasp when I start to see Christmas cards and decorations in shops at this time of the year, not to mention Boots starting to display their ‘3-4-2 on Christmas gifts’ stuff already.

However, when I got my regular Money Magpie newsletter with a feature about saving for Christmas, I realised this probably is a good time to start forward planning - something I am usually rubbish at. So here are some tops tips I’ve collected, and some of my own knowledge, for making the countdown to Christmas a bit easier!

from sillydog.org

First off, start your Christmas shopping now. It’s less stressful than doing it all in December, your bank account won’t take a slamming all in one go and you might find better offers and prices now than you will nearer to Christmas. Money Magpie has some great examples of current deals.

Start looking for discount vouchers and coupons now too - make online money saving websites your best friend! If you can’t be bothered looking through all the sites, try signing up for a couple of newsletters.

Planning which food and drinks you need and start buying! Look for alcohol offers and frozen bits that you can just store in the freezer - just don’t forget it’s there and buy more stuff!

Now’s also a good time to work out a budget - how much can you actually spend on presents, decorations, parties and all the other miscellaneous stuff that comes with Christmas? Setting a budget now will make sure you don’t overspend - or forget anything.

That’s it for now - it’s too early for me to think in any more detail. If you have any of your own tips let me know!