12 savers saving!

HUGE debts burning like an open fire, bank loans nipping at your nose...

Yuletide store cards being sold by a choir, and Christmas full of money woes...

Overspend on a great festive season and you can be left with an unhappy debt-filled new year. Yet it IS possible to have a good time at a good price. Just follow my 12 SAVES of Christmas.

SAVE ONE - Five per cent off stamps: Superdrug is selling books of first-class stamps with five per cent off the price until Christmas - so it's a great saver if you've a lot of cards to post. And as the stamps say 1st on them rather than a price, they're effectively long-term inflation proof. So stock up if needed.

SAVE TWO - Slash cost of smellies: It is said more perfume is sold on December 24 than in all of August. So if it's likely you'll do that as a last ditch gift, grab it while there's still time at a fraction of the price from specialist web-sellers like fragrance direct. For example, Burberry Brit's RRP is £59 but costs £24 this way - see moneysavingexpert.com/perfume for full info.

SAVE THREE - Remember kids aren't retail snobs: Young children don't value your gift based on the price - it's often said they're more interested in playing with the wrapping than the gifts. Proof of this came recently while I was filming for GMTV. I pretended to give two cute under-eights presents, but to avoid disappointment, we first warned them they were wrapped empty boxes. Yet after filming they were desperate to open them, shrieked with joy as they did and then played choo-choo trains with them.

So don't shell out big bucks without need. A perennial favourite of my site's Festive Fiver Christmas gift contests is the balloon box. Get a huge box, fill it with blown-up balloons then wrap it. It's the most adored £2 you'll ever spend. For more ideas see moneysavingexpert.com/festivefivers .

SAVE FOUR - Don't food shop with Tesco points: Plenty of people use their Tesco Clubcard points stash towards Christmas food blowouts, yet 500 points redeemed in-store are worth £5 off. So instead convert them to Rewards at tesco.com/clubcard/deals and you've quadrupled the value - so £5 becomes £20 to use on gifts like jewellery, magazine subscriptions and more.

SAVE FIVE - Get five per cent off ALL spending: The American Express platinum card gives newcomers five per cent cashback on all spending for the first three months. So apply now and that's effectively a discount for the crucial big-spend Christmas and January sales period. Of course the cashback is given to encourage us to spend, hoping we'll rack up reams of interest. So ALWAYS set up a direct debit to fully repay every month so you won't be charged a penny. You do need a family income of £30,000-plus and a decent credit score to get one, however. If you don't qualify, there are alternatives at moneysavingexpert.com/cashbackCC

SAVE SIX - Carefully grab store cards discounts: They're the devil's debt with hideous interest rates yet, at Christmas, many storecards offer 10-20 per cent discounts on first spends. So sign up, bag the discount, then promptly repay in full to avoid interest. Better still, team up with friends. One of you gets the card, uses it for everyone's spending (your friends give you the cash) and you all get the discount. Then the next time someone else in the group signs up for the card, getting the intro discount again.

SAVE SEVEN - Find cheapest prices with shopbots: Whether you're after electrical stuff, games, books or CDs, don't go straight to a web retailer. Instead use "shopbots" - shopping robot comparison services like Find-DVD, bookbrain and Foundem - which scan loads of retailers for best prices. To help I've built a free megashopbot.com which auto-searches shopbots for each type of merchandise.

SAVE EIGHT - Affordability not desirability: Don't set out your perfect Christmas wish-list then ask, "what's the cheapest way to do it?" You need to let finances rule - so instead ask, "what can I afford?" and then work out the best Christmas you can have within that budget.

SAVE NINE - Be a tactical shopper: Shops are desperate to get new customers through their doors so they launch lots of web or magazine based vouchers or hold specific one or two day sales. Plan what you need from where, then use moneysavingexpert.com/discounts to monitor vouchers and sales and be ready to pounce.

SAVE TEN - Downshift your turkey: "It's Christmas, we need the best!" is the battle cry as millions hit supermarkets "finest" shelves. Yet it's the supermarket selling to you who says finest - or costliest - is best.

I once held two consecutive Christmas parties for a large group of nurses (nowt salacious, it was a TV show experiment). Unbeknown to them one party was run on high-brand goods, the other a brand-level down, and on their voting the £100s cheaper party won. So never assume costlier means better. Use comparison site mysupermarket.co.uk to find which stores are likely to be cheapest for your shop.

SAVE ELEVEN - Delay Christmas: Shops know we're hostage to Christmas as we need to buy, so they keep prices high. If you're after a big-ticket family purchase like a hi-tech TV or Playstation, it'll likely be vastly cheaper in January. To turn the tables... just wait! Give the kids a nicely-wrapped IOU and a small present from the potential saving. Explain that by waiting, they get this extra. It's a triple present, they get the gift, the extra and, best of all, a lesson in money sense.

SAVE TWELVE - Need to borrow, do it right: Christmas borrowing is a big no-no in my book, so I won't deign to call this a "save" - debt abstinence is far better. Yet as I know some will do it anyway, it's worth explaining how to do it right. First, do everything you can to ensure it's for as little as possible, Christmas is just one day and there's no point in enjoying it just to be left with a hideous new year.

Before reaching for new credit, an easy no-cost way to spread Christmas cost is available for anyone who already has an empty or near empty credit card regardless of the rate. Simply pay for a few things on the card in December, then you won't get the bill until January and, provided you repay it in full, with almost all cards there won't be any interest cost.

Need longer and the cheapest route is a 0 per cent credit card, specifically one for purchases not balance transfers. The longest currently is Tesco at 12 months 0 per cent, followed by Sainsbury's at 10 months. Use that card for the spending, then ensure you plan affordable payments that clear it before the rate rockets once the interest free period ends and it doesn't leave you paying for next Christmas this Christmas.

If you can't get a card then the amount it'll cost means frankly you can't afford to borrow - don't do it.

TV Money Guru Martin Lewis is the creator of the Consumer Revenge website www.MoneySavingExpert.com which is packed with info on how to get more money in your pocket.

Read Martin's previous News of the World columns - click here

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