Welsh Mum's Secret to a £500 Christmas Saving
A resourceful mother from Wales has revealed how she saves her family an estimated £500 every Christmas through a combination of strategic competition entries and remarkably savvy shopping. Madison Perkins, a 27-year-old photographer and content creator from Cwmbran, begins her festive preparations in November, transforming the costly holiday season into an affordable celebration for her family-of-four.
Winning Big and Shopping Smart
Madison, who describes herself as a 'mumskate', dedicates time during the Black Friday period to enter over 50 competitions and giveaways. This proactive approach has yielded an impressive haul of free gifts for her daughters, aged seven and three. Her most notable wins include a Barbie Dreamhouse worth £300, a £25 Jellybag teabag, £50 worth of Nintendo Switch games, and a premium iCandy travel system valued at £900.
For the Christmas dinner, Madison employs a clever two-pronged strategy. She purchases her meat, typically a large chicken, three months in advance when she finds it on discount and freezes it. Then, on Christmas Eve, she makes a dash to the supermarket to bag vegetables that have been reduced to as little as 8p per item. 'When you go in the day before Christmas you can get your veg for 8p,' Madison explained. 'It totals that you will be buying all the veg you need and more for only a pound.'
Thrifty Traditions and Top Tips
Madison's money-saving mindset developed after giving birth to her first daughter at age 19, when finances were tight. Now more stable, she continues these practices and shares them online to help others navigate the challenges of modern expenses. Alongside competition wins, she frequents charity shops, finding retro toys like Polly Pocket sets at over 80% less than their original price.
The family also embraces homemade gifts and decorations, creating sweet jars from old pasta sauce jars, DIY crowns, salt dough ornaments, and personalised chocolate bars. For new purchases, Madison always uses cashback schemes. She estimates that 60% of her gifts are bought second-hand, with the remaining 40% utilising cashback, gift cards, and deal stacking.
Madison's top tips for a budget-friendly Christmas include:
- Buy your vegetables at the last minute for maximum reductions
- Purchase meat up to six months in advance and freeze it
- Enter as many Black Friday giveaways as possible
- Source second-hand presents from charity shops
- Create your own presents and cards
- Research affordable product duplicates ('dupes')
- Always use cashback where available
- Focus on low-cost festive activities like movie nights and baking
By combining these strategies with festive activities like colouring and film nights, Madison proves that a magical Christmas doesn't require a massive budget. She shares her full range of money-saving advice on her Instagram account, @thismummymaddie_x, helping countless other families save both money and sanity during the festive season.
