Start planning your festive budget
With Christmas around the corner, it’s a great time to prepare financially. Here’s a few suggestions for getting your budget ready ahead of the festive season.
Get budgeting
- Use our budgeting tool to create a personal budget plan.
- Why not take this free Open University course on managing finances - it has good advice on controlling spending.
Saving on your household bills
- Find out if you’re entitled to reduced water bills (this will depend on your water company).
- You may also be able to get cheaper broadband and phone packages if you’re claiming benefits.
Getting the support you need
- Find out exactly which benefits you're entitled to with our benefits calculator. There might be more help available than you realised.
Slashing costs this Christmas
- This useful advice from The Money Saving Expert can help you avoid overspending this festive season. It's packed with lots of practical money saving ideas and links to other resources too.
- Second-hand gifts can bring delight without breaking the bank. You might even consider giving the gift of time: completing a task for somebody, helping around the home, or taking them on a fun day out.
- Try sharing apps to find local items – and give what you don’t need.
- You can also snap up great food deals through Too Good To Go, helping to reduce our impact on the environment.
Priority payments
Before getting into planning festivities, it's a good idea to make sure you know which day your priority payments (like rent, gas or electricity bills) will leave your account. For your rent, it's easy to see when your next payment is due in your online account, My Sage Home. You'll see it on your dashboard when you first log in.
Struggling with money?
If you’re struggling financially, you don’t need to suffer alone. Our Financial Wellbeing team is here to offer support and guidance.
You can refer yourself to the team using the new ‘Help with my finances’ button in your My Sage Home online account. Or, if you prefer, give us a call on 020 8168 0500 and we'll get you through to them.
You can find out more about what the Financial Wellbeing team can help with, here.