Thrifty mum-of-two reveals how she got £1,300 worth of Christmas presents for £500

A THRIFTY mum-of-two has told how she’s slashed her Christmas present bill by 60 per cent and saved almost £800.

Kayleigh Hughes, 28, from Grantham, managed to get £1,301.78 worth of gifts for just £510.22 by looking out for the best deals, scouring charity shops and shopping early.

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Among her cut price finds are toys for her two sons Joshua, three, and 19-month-old Jaxon for as little as 99p and a massive saving on her 33-year-old husband Dave’s Xbox One of £150.

She paid less than £7 for a Thomas the Tank Engine Rail Rollers Spiral station, reduced from £32.99 to £21.89 with £15 of vouchers bringing the cost right down.

And she bagged three soft toys from the movie ‘The Good Dinosaur’ for just £1.99 each. Full price, the three would have set her back £45.

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Kayleigh, who blogs for , saves thousands of pounds each year on everything from her grocery shop to buying presents to days out with her family.

She searches for the best voucher codes from online sites, writes to retailers, is a regular in her local charity shop and keeps an eye on in store deals for the best bargains.

She said: “I set myself a budget this Christmas of £550. I knew it would be tough as I wanted to buy Dave an Xbox One, so I had to use all my bargain hunting skills to get the best deals.

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“I did start my shopping in September so have been keeping an eye out for deals for some time.

“Spending time researching the biggest deals is the best way to save hundreds of pounds. Both Clinton Cards and Argos have had massive sales this year with lots of discount code offers.

“In Clintons I managed to bag £185 worth of gifts for just £24. Among them were toys from recent movies for the boys. I paid as little as 99p for most of them. The highest I spent was £1.99.

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“My mum picked up a lovely silver photo frame in the same shop down from £6 to 99p and I got my dad a couple of gifts which should have been £10 and I paid just £2.

“I’ve made huge savings in Argos too. Dave’s Xbox should have been £349.99 and I paid £199.99. I then got a £10 voucher because I’d spent over £100.

“That voucher and another for £5 went towards the Thomas Spiral Station which ended up costing me £6.89 rather than £32.99.

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“I’ve picked up lots of Minion toys from the same store for the boys. The cheapest were reduced from £3.99 to 99p with the most expensive being a Stuart toy slashed from £49.99 to £9.99.”

Frugal Kayleigh is "amazed" by how much cash she's managed to save.

She continued: "When I set my budget I thought it may be a little unrealistic but knew if anyone could hit it, it would be me.

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“It was made a little trickier this year when Joshua gave me his first ever Christmas list but I managed to get him most of the gifts he really wants without paying full price for any of them.

“My Christmas haul proves that shopping around and looking out for the best deals really does work and it will certainly be worth it seeing happy faces on Christmas Day.”

Money saving guru Darren Williams from PromotionalCodes.org.uk said: “Kayleigh shows that with a bit of time and effort it is possible to save an absolute fortune on your Christmas present bill.

“By shopping around and checking sites like ours she’s been able to save almost £800 – that’s the cost of a family week away – certainly worth doing."

For more of Kayleigh's tips, visit