Well, it’s a funny old Christmas here. If you are wondering why I’ve been a little quiet in recent weeks, it’s because Thrifty Baby’s arrival is imminent… late, in fact. This also meant that a few weeks ago it dawned on us (again, somewhat late – can you spot a theme developing here?) that we didn’t have much baby prep time left.

So instead of making the house look nice for Christmas, we’ve been making the house look like this:

DIY everywhere and lots and lots of laundry, as we rush to get everything ready in time.

My giant bag of soap nuts from Summer Naturals has been going down fast! Apparently soap nuts are suitable for baby clothes, as the soap is very gentle and doesn’t irritate sensitive skin. I do hope so, as I have been washing a lot of baby clothes.

I’ve been drying everything on the rads, as we don’t have a tumble dryer and trying to line-dry anything in North Yorkshire in December is a fool’s errand…

Those little onesies are amongst the very few items that we have bought new (ASDA, six for £5 if memory serves.) We are tremendously grateful as we have have bought very little: instead, friends and acquaintances have passed down a large number of newborn baby items. It has been unexpected – and rather brilliant. I have also picked up discounted products in supermarkets and bargain items at second-hand sales. We’re at the stage now where I think we have everything we could possibly need… but more on this at a later date, as I don’t want to tempt fate at this stage!

So now the baby items are all neatly folded, stacked and in place; the much-needed DIY is finally done and the house is looking spick and span. And in the nick of time, we’re finally ready for Christmas. Hurrah!

Big glittery star: another ASDA bargain (75p).

Christmas food: bring it on.

My favourite Christmas decorations, wheeled out year after year.

Okay, we’re all good to go, Santa Claus (and the baby) can come out now…

I’d like to thank you for reading this blog over the past year, and wish you a very Happy Christmas. Here’s to a thrifty 2012!

Large image credit: emilyonasunday.

The competition is to celebrate the launch of Tesco Magazine online’s Christmas Gift Guide. This year is the first time that Tesco has created its Christmas Gift Guide exclusively online. Not only does it include gift ideas for all the family, but it also has how-to videos with wrapping tips, along with practical tips and ideas on everything from party hair and make-up to decorating the Christmas tree. If you see something you like, you can buy it there and then.

How To Enter:

To enter the competition, leave your top thrifty Christmas tip in the comments below.

Closing date: 10 am GMT on Friday 2 December 2011.

One entry per person. To be eligible, entrants must be UK-based and aged 18 or over. As usual, a winner will be selected at random from the comments section, using the Online Number Generator.

BONUS ENTRY: If you follow Miss Thrifty on Facebook, you can enter a second time. The question is the same; leave your thrifty Christmas tip below the Facebook post about this comp.

Good luck!

P.S. If you win the £100 voucher and you would like to spend it online, Tesco’s last order date before Christmas is before 3pm on Thursday 22 December for Express Delivery of small items, and Tuesday 20 December for large items (furniture, kitchen appliances etc).

P.P.S. If you are on Twitter, follow @tescomagazine for more chances to win gift vouchers and goodies for Christmas

There is nothing I like more than a good list. So in the main, the feature is all about setting a budget and then planning everything down to the last parsnip. I tend to go to town at Christmas. I still have a five-page spreadsheet titled CHRISTMAS DINNER 2004, set out in 10-minute increments. It begins, “0950 hours – GOOSE – remove clumps of excess fat from inside cavity. Hobs in use – 0/4. Oven shelves in use – 0/3″. It ends with a list of every single ingredient and cooking implement I will need. Eight years later, I am still not sure if it is a work of art, or the work of someone with control issues. It was a damned good dinner though…

Christmas this year will be a strange one: my due date falls during Christmas week, so I’m not going anywhere and, although I’m certainly not planning to entertain the masses or spend the day in the kitchen adhering to a military-style timetable, I have quite a lot to get organised before everything goes, well… belly-up!

Two thrifty Christmas tips that didn’t make the cut:

1. If you are planning to shop for Christmas gifts online, I recommend InvisibleHand. It is a free, downloadable tool that will search the net and find the lowest price for any item that you google.

2. Practice your Furoshiki! I’m a fan of this Japanese method of gift wrapping, which uses squares of fabric rather than expensive, sparkly paper and tape. It’s simple, pretty – and the “wrap” can be recycled. Best of all, if (like me) you are the sort of person who has a drawer full of fabric offcuts, you have a cheap, readymade wrapping stash. It requires a little practice, so watch the demonstration video here and get folding.

I’ll be featuring plenty of thrifty Christmas ideas over the coming weeks, so if you have any tried and tested money-saving tips, I’d love to hear about them…

[Tesco Magazine - Four ways to get organised for Christmas]

Image credit: Steve Snodgrass.

Yes: the new look has finally been unveiled! Back in January I cast three New Year’s resolutions. One of them was a blog makeover – and thanks to the talented Gary at FrogsThemes.com, I’ve squeezed under the bar with just days to spare.

There is still work to do – bits to add, bits to change and bits to fuss over – so bear with us, but we’re almost there.

So… What do you think?

Yes: this box of brand new Stephen King hardback editions costs just £8.00, including postage.

With Christmas looming, I’ll be featuring a variety of gift ideas over the coming weeks – and this book deal from Books Direct Bargains seemed like a good place to start.

I ordered this set of Stephen Kings on Monday and it arrived today, three days later. The books cost more than £90 if bought separately.

The set includes:

• Just After Sunset
• Bag of Bones
• Cell
• Christine
• Cujo
• Desperation
• Dolores Claiborne
• Dreamcatcher
• The Eyes of the Dragon
• Firestarter

Although these books were delivered promptly, I did order another Stephen King box set at the same time and this hasn’t yet arrived.  Although the website listing says that the books are still available, the money hasn’t been taken from my bank account and today’s delivery docket  says that those books are permanently out of stock. Make of that what you will! Great bargains, but they appear to be rather touch and go; I suggest that if you wish to take up this particular offer, you do so sooner rather than later, to avoid missing out.

[Stephen King set at Books Direct Bargains]

Homegrown Brussels sprouts! I was very impressed when I saw them. They were grown by my friend, illustrator Erica Read, whose aptitude for crafty things extends to cooking and gardening, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I heard that Brussels can be quite tricky to grow. Also, you have to plant them up to 6 months before you can harvest the spouts, so some forward planning is required.

Erica said that she planted the seeds out at the back of her garden a few months ago and promptly forgot all about them. She remembered them in the days before Christmas, went out there, pulled back a big frosty leaf – and there were the sprouts, all lined up on their stalks and ready to be picked and eaten. Simples!

Her timing was perfect, not just because it was Christmas but also because, according to old-timey gardeners, harvest Brussels sprouts the morning after a heavy frost and they will taste especially sweet.

If it’s that easy, I’ll have a go at growing them myself next year…

Two caveats: firstly, it is an add-on for use with Mozilla Firefox. Roughly a third of Miss Thrifty’s visitors use Firefox, so I thought this tool worth mentioning. If you are using Internet Explorer, Safari or Chrome, my apologies. [UPDATE: now available for all browsers.] Secondly, InvisibleHand is currently enabled for use in three countries: UK, USA and Germany.

This is how it works. You go here and install The Invisible Hand on your browser. It is free. Next time you are searching online for a specific product – a Flip Ultra HD camera, say, or a packet of soap nuts – InvisibleHand springs into action.

It searches online stores and a small text box pops up at the top of the screen to show you the lowest price and the vendor. You can then click through to purchase the item. In my opinion it is better than Google’s own shopping results, because it searches in real-time (i.e. you get the latest prices) and your results aren’t clogged up by overseas vendors who charge peanuts for the product – but the earth for shipping. I like it.

[InvisibleHand]

So as 25 December rolled towards us and we didn’t have as much a scrawny string of tinsel above the fireplace, I picked up a couple of cutprice bargain bin decorations from Focus DIY. I think this felt hanging decoration was about £1. As you can see, it’s a novelty advent calendar: the little Father Christmases and stockings all have numbers painted on in gold. We’re a bit old for advent calendars, but at least it added a little festive cheer to the sitting room.

Earlier this month I strung up the decoration and didn’t think anything more of it. My husband, however, had other ideas… He went and filled every little pocket with a present for me! The first I knew about it was when he told me to go and empty Stocking No. 1.

They are small, cheapie presents. So far I have had a multi-flavoured selection of Lindt Lindor chocolates (my favourites), mini notebooks (useful), a slug of sloe gin, a funny pen and a couple of keyrings, amongst other things.

In the run-up to Christmas my husband and I are both working long hours, so we aren’t seeing very much of one another. (In fact at the time of writing – a Sunday afternoon – he is once again at work.) I love what he has done: the booty is fun, but the time, effort and thought that have gone into it are what cheer me up every morning when I find out what I have for the day. My surprise advent calendar makes me happy!

Hello! I’m your Thrifty Christmas Fairy, 2009 model. Struggling to keep track of all those slashed prices ahead of Christmas? Rest assured that this lil’

You’ll find a list of all the current sales below. I’ll be keeping this post on my front page and updating it whenever new information is released.

Have I missed anything? If so, please let me know via the comments and I’ll add it to the Christmas Deals Master List pronto…

08/12/09

Argos: up to 50 per cent off toys.

Very.co.uk: if you are splashing the cash this Christmas (unlikely, if you’re reading this blog – but hey ho), check out  this online department store. It has up to £300 off flatscreen televisions. There is also a very tasty deal on the Nikon S630 digital camera: was £459, now £229. Total saving: £230.

Amazon.co.uk: Predictably there are loads of discounts and offers to be had here. Right now, in m’learned opinion, the steepest discounts are to be found in the Beauty section. Look, I made you a widget (beams). More to follow…

Would you like some free photos? Miss Thrifty reader Amy pointed me in the direction of a website called Free Photo Printing – 455 Free Photo Prints, which does what it says on the tin.

Many of the photo developers – Truprint, Boots, Jessops et al – offer sets of free prints for new online customers. You just have to pay the postage (usually around the £1 mark). This site lists all the companies, the numbers of free prints available from each one and the postage costs.

The links take you to the companies’ homepages, which can be a little annoying because you have to click around, but it’s certainly a site to bookmark.

The best offer right now is Jessops‘: 40 prints  (6″ by 4″) and 99p postage. You also get a voucher for £6 off their fancy photo paper photobooks.

Actually, if you are on the hunt for thrifty Christmas gifts, Jessops have got a couple of good offers at the moment. Until 23 November 2009, you can get 20 per cent off their personalised photo calendars.

Thanks Amy!

Image credit: tick followed tock.