Christmas can be magical but it’s also very expensive. With that in mind, the team at MoneySavingExpert shared an easy hack to maximise the money you save in the run up to the big day
Though Christmas is over for another year, the financial burden of the festive season can weigh heavily on the mind, prompting many people to look into viable savings strategies. When money worries are on the brain, lots turn to consumer finance website, MoneySavingExpert.
Founded by Martin Lewis, the site offers a litany of guidance and advice, with regular updates issued in keeping with news and planned changes. If you’re already thinking about how to ease the stress and added cost of next Christmas, the team and pros at MSE have one added “loophole” to give your savings a huge boost.
It all comes down to making the most out of supermarkets’ own in-house savings stamp schemes, which typically run throughout the year to allow shoppers to save up funds in preparation for the festivities. These schemes usually come with a bonus.
On the MSE website, it states: “Boost funds by up to 6% with supermarket stamps.”
It continues: “Supermarket saving stamp schemes encourage year-long saving for Christmas, yet a loophole allows you to get a year’s bonus in one day.
“Most shops pay a bonus based on how much you’ve saved by a specific date. So dunk the cash in the day before, and the store will add up to 6% on top – but the cash must be spent at its shops.
“For example, with Tesco’s Christmas Saver account, if you’d topped it up with £200 by 16 October 2025, you’d have got a £12 bonus added on top.”
It’s believed similar tactics can be applied in 2026 to make your money stretch more in the run up to December 25.
MSE even shared the clever tip on X. It stated: “How you can get an instant £25 BOOST to your Christmas food budget at Sainsbury’s (or £20 at Iceland, £15 at Asda + more).
“They’re designed to reward those who save all year, but our loophole lets you grab a year’s bonus in just a day.”
Lots of people turn to social media looking for further advice on how to ease the financial pressure of Christmas.
On Reddit, one person asked: “How do you lovely folks budget for Christmas?” And then elaborated: “It’s that time of year again where me and the Mrs but heads over the Christmas presents. She is keen, and starts buying stuff as early as January so we don’t have to spend a massive amount in a short space of time at the end of the year.
“I’m not that convinced because we don’t ever really know exactly what’s been spent as it just comes out of the spending money we set each month and I think (guessing) that it’s a little excessive.”
They then added they were “interested to know some of your ideas on how you budget for Christmas.”
Fellow Reddit users were keen to share their thoughts. One person said: “I use Monzo’s pots. I have a general gifts pot, which I contribute a set amount to each month.
“I then use those funds for birthday and Christmas gifts. Seems to work well and stops me from over spending. I don’t buy gifts for 28 people though!”
Another agreed: “Exactly this. We have a pot for Christmas gifts and then another we call ‘Christmas hosting’ which is basically for the tree, decorations and food etc.
“It’s our first year doing this but it’s so nice not feeling like we’re going to have to raid our savings. Technically we are because it would just be in our savings account if we didn’t have the pots but mentally it’s just different.”
