Mum's budget Christmas selling some daughter's toys on Vinted then buying new ones

SWNS

A savvy mum had a budget Christmas after selling some of her daughter's toys on Vinted - and using the cash to buy her new ones.  Melissa Kerrighen, 28, from Canterbury, UK, was determined to do a “budget Christmas” and not overspend on gifts for her five-year-old daughter, Isla.   She sold her daughter’s old toys, including gifts from last year, on the reselling site, Vinted.  She made around £85 – which she put back into buying second hand gifts on the site.  Melissa said she only put in £35 of her “own money” into additional stocking fillings – spending a total of £120.

Transcript

00:00I've spent £35 on my daughter's Christmas gifts and here is why I've chosen to do a budget

00:05Christmas this year. Hiya if you're new here I'm Melissa and I talk all things money and family

00:10life and today is day 15 of the £250 budget. Now this Christmas I have only spent £35 out of my

00:17pocket this year for Isla's gift and that's because I have sold lots of her old things

00:21on Vinted that she didn't want anymore and I managed to raise £85 so this is the first year

00:26I've stuck to more of a budget and I've not overbought as this is something that I tend to

00:30do even though I know she doesn't need the extra gift. It's almost like the cupboard doesn't exist

00:36until I get back home. Do you just keep buying if you see something or are you able to stop

00:40yourself from buying extra over the Christmas season? Today I spent £6.50 on some snacks for

00:45the car as we visited family today so there is still £123.81 in the pot and if you'd like to

00:51see more content around money and family life then please pop me a follow. Do you think that

00:56Christmas has gotten way out of hand or do you enjoy all the new traditions that have been

01:01started more recently? Hiya if you're new here I'm Melissa and I talk all things money and family

01:06life and today is day 17 of the £100 budget. Now it seems like every year something gets added to

01:12the list of things to do in December and I think mums especially put too much pressure on ourselves

01:17to make sure everything gets done and everyone has a good time. When I was growing up we got

01:22a chocolate £1 advent calendar, a stocking on Christmas morning and we had to wait until my dad

01:26woke up to open our gifts. Nowadays it's Christmas markets like Switch Ons, Elf on the Shelf,

01:33Pantomimes, Santa Visits, Christmas Eve boxes and the latest I've heard is a December box.

01:40Now I'm sure people make all these things up so mums feel bad that they can't do it all.

01:44Not only is it a lot with having to buy gifts and seeing friends and family and going to school

01:49nativities, it also costs so much extra in fuel and travel costs, extra food and gifts and so on.

01:55I think we should all try and stop the rush of fitting it all in and do what makes us happy and

02:00as mums we need to enjoy Christmas too. So if you're feeling guilty about trying to do everything

02:06just remember that this isn't realistic and if you are doing it all that's okay too. Christmas is

02:11what you make at the end of the day. Today we had a family day and we got a Greggs which was £12.35

02:17which leaves £32 in the pot. Christmas on a budget. So I'm spending around £120 this year on

02:25my daughter. She will get one present from Santa and the rest will be from us. This year I've

02:31decided that I'm going to be buying her some new toys and some used toys as she changes her mind

02:37so often that it's just not worth spending all that money for her not to play with it in a month's

02:41time. I've always put money away each week for Christmas and all previous years I've rinsed

02:47that account and I'm not too sure why I've done it. I've just come to the realisation this year

02:52that why am I doing this and I'm also on a debt payoff journey this year and I'm pretty sure

03:00paying off my debt would make more sense than buying presents that she's not actually going to

03:06play with. So I have already spent around £50 on Isla this year. I've got a few stockingy bits

03:14and about six presents and I'm sure that the rest of my budget will be able to account for

03:22like a main gift and a few more stocking bits and what have you. If there is actually anything else

03:29that she mentions in shops and what have you I'll take a picture of it and I'll send it to family

03:34who have already asked for ideas and I always find that so difficult because I've got everything that

03:39she wants and every year without fail even though I do a massive clear out in November

03:45we still can't fit it all in come like the 27th of December and we just have boxes piled up and

03:51piled up and she never plays with them. They just get sat there and it's just such a waste

03:56and I think doing it this way will be so much better this year.

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