A thrifty Scots who has been pregnant over six Christmases in the last 11 years has shared her top money-saving tips after shaving £2k off her gifts bill. Mum-of-eight Jenny Harris has become a super-organised budgeting guru who starts putting money away in September to be able to spend £200 on each of her children.
The 34-year-old, from Fife, is now a savvy shopper who always searches for discount codes online before making a purchase while setting alerts on Amazon for price drops on specific items. After getting all the discounted presents, Jenny and partner James, 46, then spend around six hours on December 24 wrapping the mountain of gifts.
And their massive Christmas dinner also doesn’t break the bank as the student paramedic collects Nectar points throughout the year to cut the cost of the festive feast. Jenny said: “Christmas is a lovely time with everyone around and I like to make it as fun as I can for the children.
“It’s like a sea of wrapping paper while they’re all opening their presents on Christmas morning. But it is an expense we have to save for. I usually say £200 per child, but this year that’s gone up to £500 each as they wanted bikes and bigger things.
“I’m lucky as I get a student discount, so that’s saved me about 50% on some presents. I always search for discount codes before buying anything online, sometimes that can save me hundreds of pounds.
“And I set up alerts on Amazon so I know when an item has dropped in price. With eight kids, I bulk buy a lot of things. On sites such as eBay, the more you buy, the cheaper the per-item cost, so it becomes cheaper.”
She’s already spent £2,000 on Christmas presents for Logan, 16, Thomas, 14, Kalyn, 13, Keanu, 11, Kaleo, 10, Elijah, 7, Kastiel, 5, Oakley-Axl, 3 - but believes without the offers she’s found, it would be closer to £4,000.
Jenny uses the Nectar points she’s saved up for the entire year to buy the family festive dinner - and she always buys items she gets bonus points on, so says it “quickly adds up”. “I’ll buy the biggest turkey and biggest bag of potatoes I can find from Sainsbury’s. And then dessert will be a Viennetta or ice cream as they all like that. It’ll cost around £120.”
The part-time bar worker does a lot of Christmas shopping around Black Friday and she buys gifts from Argos as that gives her Nectar points to use for Christmas dinner too. When it comes to clothes for the kids, Jenny admits she hardly ever buys brand new items, as the younger ones have hand-me-downs from the older siblings.
But for gifts, she trades in their older trainers for new ones with Adidas, which can give her 30% off the price. She took advantage of the McDonald’s Monopoly pieces promotion this year to get the kids earphones for Christmas.
“They don’t have lots of items on their Christmas lists, but if they do, they’re not really expensive. On Christmas morning, the house looks like a toy shop. We let them make a mess and unwrap everything, and then they have fun trying to find all their presents underneath it all.
“I have to be really savvy to get them everything they want and to make it work for us financially. James and I have given up on buying each other Christmas presents as it’s too much.”
Day-to-day, Jenny said that as she studies full-time, James will look after the kids. They start their day by getting the younger children ready for nursery and school, while the older ones take care of themselves.
Then Jenny goes to college, while James does the housework. Then they divide pick up and it’s dinner time. Jenny reveals she’s been pregnant for six Christmases over the past 11 years with her eight children and says she always wanted her children close in age so they would be friends.
But she says being mum to such a large brood means being a super saver when it comes to things like days out and presents. Jenny and James spend from January to July saving for the summer holidays, then September to December for Christmas.
“I have to budget all year round, not just Christmas, to make it work. For household bills, our washing is always done at night to get the reduced rate. I also swap lights for candles at night too.
“Our food shop is all about bulk deals, and I check the price that the items would have been individually and work out if it’s cheaper to buy in bulk or in smaller quantities. It usually means it takes a lot longer to do the shopping, but it’s worth it.
“For electrical items, we plan buying those months in advance, and I watch the price rise and fall on a number of websites, then I’ll look for the best deal around Black Friday time. My student discount is a huge help, too.”
But when it comes to Christmas, Jenny does say she leaves present buying to the last few weeks. “I make sure I’ve got the best deal possible, and that I’ve got lots of points if I’m going to use those towards it,” she said.
“The kids can be sneaky too, so it means we have to keep all the presents hidden, and if they’re in colourful wrapping paper, they’d find them all. So James and I don’t wrap them until all the kids are in bed at around midnight on Christmas Eve.
“It takes us about six hours. I love being a mum and finding the best deals means my money goes further - and I’m happy to do that if it means it puts a smile on my kids’ faces.”
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