Say you are skint and can't afford many presents for your child.. would you avoid paying the rent to get them more presents and risk being made homeless? I think that would be really stupid.. just for one day !

I'd learn to budget my finances better in the run up to Christmas, perhaps cut back on other things if possible and spend quality time with them more than just dump a load of presents under the tree.

But say you don't have enough money to buy presents + pay rent which one would you choose? bare in mind Christmas is just one day but your child might think they have been "naughty" if they don't have many presents..

You buy what you can afford, or budget through the year. It's all part of being an adult and managing a home.. No point having a load of presents for Xmas day and the bailiffs on the phone..

Although one month wouldn't make you homeless, it's the start of a slippery slope though.

Start early, plan ahead and work with what you can afford. You can do a lot without much money if you plan properly, make other types of sacrifices throughout the year and buy intelligently... like one main present and then smaller, cheaper ones... or choosing stuff that's not as expensive. So get the smaller/middle set as opposed to that big set.

Been there and have had to do that.


* if we are talking Playstations and Xboxes then they are old enough to understand why that might be a problem, and if they are too young to understand, they are too young for one.

I don't go into debt to fund Christmas, if I haven't got it then that's the way it is I'm not killing myself to buy a few presents.

no good having a playstation if they have nowhere to plug it in

I would always start buying little bits at a time just after buying the school clothes. Did that every year and the kids always got enough.

I'd go into the next town, never further

Not as far as paying $2000 for a Hatchimal

I've always put money away each week which is used for xmas and birthday gifts, usually £20 a week these days. I've got savings tins for everything, been doing that since I was 16 and got my first wage but the labels on the tins have changed over the years when children, dogs, mortgages and cars etc have come along so no I wouldn't use other money that's needed for something else.
Have a budget plan for the year and stick to it.

In the new year I'm going to open another current account for that purpose, the money I'm saving on Sky etc..soon adds up.

I start buying presents in the summer. I do go a bit mad and buy stuff I can't really afford.

Do you think that someone would get evicted for missing one rent payment?

There's a lot of folk that go in to debt because of Christmas, but I don't think it's right to tar them all with the 'stupid' brush. At one end of the scale there are those who have fallen on hard times and perhaps have some tough decisions to make. I'm not condoning missing the rent, but I can understand it if the family has had a tough year and Christmas is perhaps the one time that the family wants to feel a little bit of normality again albeit for a short period and even if there's a financial hangover at the end.

At the other end of the scale there are families that just spend way too much without giving much thought to the consequences. This could just as easily be the family with a combined income of £100K+ a year and a pocket full of credit cards as someone on the breadline. You wouldn't know that they're running a deficit given their affluent-looking lifestyle.

Maybe Hotten.

I no longer buy gifts, but when I did, I used to buy things all year long & keep them in an allocated box. I also watched what I spent on other items such as work lunches (mostly brought mine) & never spend a fortune on outside coffee or tea. Buying stuff through the year, really helps.

This made me LOL

I went to France to buy my kids prezzies this year.

I would never risk losing our home for Christmas.

I,m quite organised in that aspect. Bills would always be paid first.

I used to buy supermarket stamps weekly and fill a few cards for Christmas food shopping.

I have often bought half of the following years presents in January. I cant understand people who leave everything until the last minute, then say they cant afford anything.
I also, keep a Christmas box. I make a list and tick the names off as iv bought for them. The list stays in the box too. I have even wrapped nearly a year in advance & forgotten what I bought everyone So, now I write it down.

Just buying £5 worth of stamps a week would be enough to cover Christmas food and a few presents.

IF the worst came to the worst, I would possibly consider buying a larger item on an Argo,s card & paying over 6 months or so interest free. But only if I knew I could meet the monthly instalments, without having to miss paying something else.

I have gone over the top at times at Christmas, but I never bought my children games & toys throughout the year, something iv noticed that many parents do on a weekly/regular basis.
This was what made Christmas special. They would get things they didn't usually have.
Their treat during the year were days out etc rather than toys or more expensive clothes. They were received only at Christmas or for birthday,s
Christmas was also a time they could indulge in chocolates etc, another thing I very rarely bought during the year...