5 Top Tips For Pre Planning Christmas Gifts

I don't want to scare you away; but I am going to use a word that can put dread and panic into your heart.  Christmas.

Christmas you say?  It is months away, why are you talking about it now?

Quietly whispers to you, it's only 3 months....  

Well, my suddenly terrified reader, because I want you to be prepared this Christmas and not run around like a headless chicken, credit card in hand; buying presents the week before the big day.  I have been there.  I swore never again.

So here are my top tips for pre planning your gift buying for Christmas without making a mess of your finances with panic purchases.  If you plan ahead, Christmas doesn't have to be that stressful.  I promise.

Lists Are Your Friend

So you have had a (hopefully) lovely Christmas with friends and family.  A few too many festive wines, waaaay too much chocolate and the last thing you want to think of is next year's Christmas planning.  My first tip.  Have a break first, leave your planning till February.

Next, make a list of the usual family and friends that you will be buying a present for.  Add in a miscellaneous gift to the list.  For the person who invariably turns up with an unexpected gift that you want to reciprocate.

Alongside the name of each person, write an amount that you are happy to spend on them and will stick to.  Now you have a budget that you can save for each month.  Add another £50 to it marked Christmas.  Trust me.

Take Advantage of Post Christmas Sale Items

OK now I know I told you to wait a couple of months to think about Christmas, but buying some dirt cheap wrapping paper on sale and maybe a few cards isn't going to kill you in January, right?  I much prefer my money to go on the contents, not in its wrapping.

What Do Women (Men & Children) Want?

It's June.  You made your list a couple of months ago, you've started saving.  You are ahead of the game.  Now is the time to start thinking about things that you want to buy.  Write them on your list.  Check out the latest deals, find out when the sales are.  That watch you want to buy for your boyfriend for example sounds a lot better at £50 in a sale than £100 two days before Christmas doesn't it?

Live By The List, Don't Die By The List

It's September.  Hopefully by now your Christmas saving budget is going well.  You have bought a few presents.  You are on track.  But are you?  Sometimes you can plan all you want and then you might have a couple of rough months financially and your saving isn't quite where it should be.  Don't panic.  You have time.

People appreciate the thought of a present and the time spent coming up with a great gift more than the amount it cost.  If you need to make changes, reduce your budget or maybe have that conversation with a friend about maybe not swapping gifts this year, it is ok.  The world will not end.

Time To Wrap It Up

It's the end of November.  Finish your shopping, wrap your presents.  You are set.  

The next few weeks will be distributing gifts, office parties and impromptu "hey lets go for a drink, it's Christmas" invitations.   Things that you haven't accounted for in your Christmas saving budget.  That is what you will spend your extra £50 on.  You will, without a doubt, end up spending more, but at least you have a little buffer for some fun.

So that's it!  My pre planning for Christmas tips!  Let me know what your tips for Christmas planning are.

*Collaborative piece

What to do when your Christmas gifts arrive damaged

The moment you've been waiting for weeks for finally arrives; your Christmas presents are here and much to your dismay, some of them are broken!

Unfortunately, these things happen, so it’s important not to get too caught up in the disappointment. Instead, act quickly and get the problem resolved well before Christmas Day arrives.

Even Santa himself isn’t immune from damaging his precious cargo! The different weather conditions and environments can take it’s toll on his sleigh, preventing him getting from A to B with all the presents intact.

Fortunately, the protective case experts over at The Case Farm are offering their top tips to help you solve the problem of damaged goods. Read on to discover how to ensure you get your gifts refunded and replaced before Christmas!

Know your rights

As a consumer, you’re entitled to certain rights under the Sale of Goods act 1979 that protect you when purchasing goods.

The Sale of Goods act states that you have legal rights if the item you bought is either:

• Broken or damaged in some way
• Unusable
• Not as advertised i.e. it isn’t as the seller described

It’s a good idea to be aware of these rights if you’ve received damaged goods, as they can help you get the compensation you deserve!

Find your proof of purchase

When buying items online or in-store, it’s crucial to keep hold of your proof of purchase just in case situations like this arise. This is usually a receipt, but it’s best to check the retailer’s returns to see what counts as ‘proof’ of purchase.

Many retailers require that you must have proof of purchase if you wish to return an item or get a refund, so it’s a good idea to keep hold of your receipts as a precaution.

Contact the retailer

If the shop or online retailer you bought your presents from have good customer service, then this process should be simple and straightforward.

The retailer may ask for purchase details or whether the goods are damaged or faulty. You will then be entitled to a refund, repair or replacement.

You can claim a full refund for a faulty product within 30 days of purchase. So if you’re tight for time, this might be the best option for you to get your money back in time for Christmas.

Get a helping hand

If the shop you bought your gifts from refuses to refund, replace or repair your damaged goods, you may need a bit of extra help to get your money back.

For big purchases such as second-hand cars, you can enlist the help of a consumer ombudsman. This is a free, independent service that helps you deal with your dispute and hopefully get it resolved!


*Collaborative post

New Season, New Handbag!

August.  The time when the temperature starts to drop (not that we had that much of a Summer!), the nights start to draw in and we begin to pull out our jumpers and warm coats.

For me, I have an August ritual that I have carried out every year since I started working.  When it comes to work wear, I like to invest in a good, warm but stylist coat that is going to last me through the Autumn and Winter months.  I typically will wear the same coat every day to work so by the time Winter has finished ravaging us, it usually needs replacing.  I just bought this fit and flare coat from SimplyBe.

Same goes for my work handbags.  I typically use a large handbag that I can throw everything into, but over the course of the months wear and and tear does start to show and it needs replacing.  Autumn is the perfect time for me to shop around and find myself a bargain.

What I tend to use is Love The Sales where I can check out all my favourite brands and designers in the same place and everything shown is from their sales line.  I have narrowed my choices down to four handbags now.  Help me choose?

Boden £96.00

Versace Jeans £152.00 

Dune £38.00

Radley £94.00 - half price!!

3 Tips For Shopping The Sales When You Are Plus Size

I must confess, I am not a fan of shopping in the sales.  Trawling through racks of clothing that have been looked at and rejected by many others before me and jostling for position for that one great item that everyone spots at the same time is not my idea of fun.

That said, the "in the shop" experience is not something that I do, mostly because the nearest shop to cater to my dress size is an hour's travel away.  Which means that 99% of the time, my shopping is online. 

Shopping in the sales online is sooooo much easier and there are many tips and tricks that I have established along the way to ensure that I get the items that I want, for a cheaper price with the minimal time and effort.

Maintain an Offline Shopping Basket

Although I love looking for new clothes, if I am strapped for cash but in need of an item of clothing, there is nothing worse than trawling through a dozen websites and navigating their sales sections.  With this in mind, what I tend to do is whenever I see something I like but cannot yet afford in the regular non sale sections, I note down the link to save for later.

I have a shopping document on my laptop where I note down my favourite items, what they are, the current price and a hyperlink to it.  Sometimes there are just a few items on this list, sometimes dozens when I have a particular event in mind.

Every week I spend around an hour checking out these links to see if any items have gone into the sale.  This technique works particularly well at the end of the season when many items have moved to the sale section.  I don't tend to move with current trends and instead focus more on what I like so I don't worry about what is "in" and "out".

Shopping the Sales in One Go

One of the most frustrating things about shopping in the sales online when you are plus size is the limited options available to you.  You know what I mean.  You hit the sale section, full of hope of finding a bargain.  You click on a section, and then filter to only include your size.  The screen refreshes and you are left with five options.  Four of which you wouldn't dress your grandmother in.

My upgrade version of my offline shopping basket is a site that I have found called LovetheSales that puts together the sales from all the sites and lets you view them all on one website.  Below is a screenshot of a search that I did on the site, filtering down to dresses and my clothing size of 24.

Did you just let out a little "Eeeeeeeek!".  Because I did.  The idea behind the site is that they host all the sale items in one place and then it takes you to the relevant website like Asos or New Look to purchase the item.  Couldn't be simpler!

Look for Discount Codes

This is something that we call should do, but usually forget.  I cannot tell you the amount of times I have shopped on a website, only later to find a 25% discount code that I could have used.  I also have cashback account with a site that I always forget to use.  

By combining items in the sale and discount codes you can often end up with a real bargain and by using my offline method, many of my favourite items have been bought this way.

Do you have any tips for shopping for plus size fashion in the sales?

A Bad Business Plan

Let’s say you had a product to sell.   You could sell this product, if advertised correctly to potentially 60 million people in your local area.

You are aware that around 70% of the public are known to be interested in your product.  You have had massive sales for a long period of time, but these days, people aren’t buying and your numbers have dropped dramatically.

Your regular buyers are now down to approximately 1 million per week.  A massive advertising campaign is needed to engage with the public again, bring them back to you, and your product.

The trouble is, you still remember the glory days when sales were great, the public hung on your every word and you had influence in every corner. You make a wrong decision,  sales plummet even further and the end may be near.

Sound familiar?  Try the Church of England who have today said that gay marriage is the one of worst threats in 500 years and will “redefine marriage” .  This is the Church of England which was created in order to allow King Henry VIII to be able to divorce one woman and marry another.  Redefining marriage is what they were created for.

England has evolved, as have it’s people.  There are now many races, cultures, religions and beliefs living and co-existing in England.  We have atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews. We have straight people, gay people, transgender people, bisexuals……The list goes on and on.  We each have our own beliefs and opinions. 

I am a straight Atheist woman.  What the Church of England is saying quite frankly sickens me.  Archaic bigoted thinking has no place in the 21st century.  When members of your own religion, of which I have seen many today, are questioning and disputing what you say, it is time to re-evaluate and change, or suffer the consequences.