My bonkers ideas have saved me £1k this Christmas – I’ll celebrate on a different day & give POST-IT notes as gifts

EVERY year, our Christmas spending goes through the roof.

We have presents to buy, food to prepare and decorations to kit out the house.

If you are looking to keep the price down this Christmas, you’ve come to the right place.

Tom Church, Co-Founder of , said, “Christmas dinner is more expensive, Christmas presents are more expensive, Christmas travel - getting home and petrol prices - are more expensive, everything's coming together to hurt our finances.

“So how can you make Christmas cheaper and still enjoy it?”

Although you might be stuck in your ways with some Christmas traditions, there are some easy swaps that you can make to save yourself some cash this year.

Thanks to Tom, here are seven easy swaps you can do at Christmas which can save you thousands.

From swapping turkey to chicken, to swapping the day of Christmas itself, Tom shares his swaps that have helped him have a Christmas on a budget.

Swap £40 Turkey For £5 Chicken

Does anyone actually like turkey that much anyway?

Christmas turkey costs between £2 - £5 per kilogram if frozen, and between £4 - £8 per kilogram if fresh. It goes up to £12 per kilogram for premium quality.

If you're serving between 6 - 8 people at Christmas dinner, the turkey can cost between £11 and £40!

Who said you have to eat turkey if you’re on a budget?

You could buy a whole chicken which weighs a minimum of 1.35kg for an average of just over £3.

Once it’s on everyone’s plate with all the usual trimmings, you’re unlikely to get any complaints - and you can pocket some cash.

Swap Supermarket

If you’re shopping in a swanky supermarket, you might want to try going elsewhere in order to save some cash this Christmas.

Tom said: “Research from LatestDeals.co.uk’s supermarket price comparison tool found Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for Christmas dinner.

“£7 cheaper than Morrison’s for like-for-like items. And from Thursday 16th December, bags of carrots, potatoes, brussels, parsnip and swede are all 19p.

“So consider swapping supermarkets just for Christmas to save.”

Swap £25 Champagne For £6 Prosecco

Champagne can set you back and to most of us, it tastes pretty similar to Prosecco anyway, so why not make a swap there?

Tom said: “Christmas is a time to celebrate, and whenever we have a drink during the festive season it’s customary to say cheers with a glass of champagne.

“However, this drink can easily cost anywhere from £19 to £43 per bottle on average!

“So swap it for prosecco which is usually about £6, or even a cheaper bottle of wine.”

Swap Christmas Day to Boxing Day (Or Even Later for Bigger Savings)

You might be shocked by this one, but if you’re looking to save serious cash, Tom advises you to swap the big day for another.

Tom said: “This is the most controversial money-saving tactic…celebrate Christmas on a later date.”

Supermarkets drop prices on Christmas Eve as they mark all the Christmas food stuff as reduced-to-clear.

FABULOUS BINGO: GET A £5 FREE BONUS WITH NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED

There’s a double whammy of being shut on Christmas day (some stores shut also on Boxing Day) and then bank holidays too. So loads of best before dates are in play for bargain hunters to nab.

Christmas decorations, presents - especially gift sets - are all reduced-to-clear as well straight after Christmas. Plus, you have the Christmas and Boxing Day sales to nab items on sale too.

The only trouble is convincing your family.

Swap Real Christmas Tree For Artificial And Save £20 a Year

The debate around whether to buy a real or artificial Christmas tree returns every year, with people having plenty of strong opinions in both directions.

However, it goes without saying that artificial trees will be cheaper in the long run if they’re properly maintained.

Instead of spending each year on a new tree, you can carefully box up your fake one and put it back in the attic or storage cupboard, ready for next time.

The average price for a budget-friendly artificial or real tree is around £20, so by getting a reusable artificial one you avoid making this spend every year.

In terms of the environment, it is said that if you keep an artificial tree for 10 years, it works out better than cutting down real trees.

Swap Shops for Free Delivery on Christmas Presents

You can get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime to nab free two-day delivery.

If you enjoy it and want to continue with the subscription, great, if not, you can cancel any time.

Lots of people don’t know though that you can get free click and collect at thousands of Amazon Lockers too.

Plus, if you spend over £20 you usually get free delivery anyway.

Ebay is a forgotten love that has millions of new items from high street brands with free delivery too.

It usually takes a little bit longer so watch out, but can be good.

Also look for free delivery voucher codes. Debenhams often has them, and shops like boohoo sometimes have discount codes giving you next day delivery for 99p.

Swap Gift Guilt for Creative or Naughty Favours

Tom said: “The unspoken biggest cost of Christmas is gift guilt. They gave me a present so I have to give them one.

“This is especially true of friends, colleagues and extended family.

“It can be too hard to say no. So here’s a fun alternative which a friend once did for me: Grab some Post-it notes and write down a bunch of favours you can give them. For example, ‘I will make you a tea’, ‘I will help you with this or that’…

“You can give as many as you like. If it’s for a loved one, you can do some naughty favours.

“Best of all, they can all be free.

“Better than a costly present, and it creates lots of memories.

“Plus, you’ve broken that annual cycle of having to give each other presents.

Over the years you might save a thousand pounds with this.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Hinch reveals easy DIY Christmas gift box hack – it costs less than £4 and makes a great gift.

Also, I’m wrapping my Christmas presents in Primark bags this year – it saves money and they look great.