Christmas breakdown

By Laura Carpenter

As we get further into December, the last minute scrimmage for perfect Christmas gifts draws even closer and the average man (or woman) on the street can't help but make expensive mistakes here and there.

While my Christmas shopping is far from finished, I'm hoping to avoid the debt this year by taking advantage of as many money saving tips as necessary. If this means stocking up on buy one get one free stocking fillers in the supermarket, then so be it.

After getting my recent mortgage bill, I made a pact not to get caught out by the financial seasonal sting for once, and am now firmly on the hunt for as many bargains as it's humanly possible to find.

My tips include heading down to Boots and taking advantage of all those three for twos on gift packs. It's quite easy to cut the cost of Christmas with those deals – everyone loves a pack of bath bubble bath afterall! I've been able to get a couple of trinkets for my kids and their other halves at my local branch.

Another tip that goes hand-in-hand with saving the pounds at the local pharmacy is to use loyalty points to make purchases. I've saved myself lots of messing around by using a Tesco Club Card and Sainsbury's Nectar Points to buy a couple of presents this year.

I'm but no means advocating store cards, which, as we all know, can lead to astronomical debt problems, but those cards with loyalty points don't half come in useful over Christmas.

On the lookout for other potential Christmas finance boosts, I came upon news about taking care when buying warrantees for electronic gifts.

Everyone's favourite comparison firm, famous for putting mortgages and washing machines to the test, revealed that breakdown cover and extended warranties can almost double the cost of some gifs.

Indeed, Which? found that £900 million worth of extended warranties are sold to consumers each year – many of which are completely unnecessary and, in my view, just another of those things thrown in to make shoppers part with even more money.

Malcolm Coles, editor of the consumer group, said: "Expensive warranties that cost nearly as much as the product itself just aren't worth it. If you pick a reliable brand in the first place – with a bit of help from which.co.uk - then you shouldn’t have any need for one of these policies.

Sound advice, and something I will be keeping at the forefront of my mind when I brave the crowds this weekend to pick up those last-minute presents.