![\"Jasmine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/jasmine-birtles.png\")
<\/p>\nFamilies struggling with the cost of living this Christmas are being urged to rethink how and when they spend, as soaring prices continue to put pressure on household budgets.<\/p>\n
Financial expert Jasmine Birtles told GB News that although inflation has eased slightly, everyday costs remain painfully high for many shoppers.<\/p>\n
“Prices have really rocketed since Covid,” she said. “People are going to the supermarket and coming out shocked at how much they\u2019ve spent.”<\/p>\n
Among her top tips, Ms Birtles advised shoppers to delay buying non-essential Christmas presents until after Christmas Day, when Boxing Day sales are expected to offer significant discounts.<\/p>\n
She told The People’s Channel: “I think it makes perfect sense for people to tell friends and family, I\u2019m going to get you something after Christmas when it\u2019s cheaper, so I can get more.<\/p>\n
“Everybody understands that. Even people who are usually quite well off are feeling the pinch at the moment. <\/p>\n
“They\u2019re watching the sales and waiting to see just how much prices will drop which is great for us as consumers, though not so good for businesses.”<\/p>\n
For Christmas dinner, she suggested ditching expensive traditions and choosing what families actually enjoy eating, such as chicken instead of turkey, while asking guests to bring a dish or drinks to share the cost.<\/p>\n
Jasmine Birtles shared her top tips with GB News viewers <\/p>\n
| <\/p>\n
GB NEWS<\/p>\n
Ms Birtles said: “It\u2019s a tough one. A lot of people are eschewing the traditional turkey and going for something else, like chicken and frankly, many prefer chicken anyway. <\/p>\n
“They\u2019re thinking about what they actually enjoy eating and choosing that. <\/p>\n
“Many families are also asking guests to contribute someone brings drinks, another brings the pudding, and someone else brings side dishes. <\/p>\n
“I think that\u2019s a really nice way of doing it. I\u2019ve even heard of people asking friends and family for money. <\/p>\n
![\"Aldi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/aldi-christmas-turkey.jpg\")
“If it works for your family, then go for it. Personally, I\u2019d rather ask for things, because asking for money feels a bit naff, but it\u2019s whatever works.<\/p>\n
“And of course, this afternoon many supermarkets will have lots of yellow-sticker bargains. <\/p>\n
“I\u2019m planning to pop into my local store around 4pm, as they close at 6, because I expect there will be some great deals. <\/p>\n
“If you\u2019ve got the time and energy, it\u2019s worth popping down to see what\u2019s available.”<\/p>\n
Rising commercial pressures over the festive season are driving up household spending in December, with a third of Britons admitting they are “fairly worried” about how Christmas will affect their finances, according to a recent YouGov poll.<\/p>\n
One of the knock-on effects of rising costs is that a Christmas dinner is now around 4 per cent more expensive than last year, with a typical turkey meal and all the trimmings costing roughly \u00a332.45, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n
Research by Zopa Bank suggests the average UK household will spend about \u00a31,015 on Christmas throughout December, while the Bank of England\u2019s 2024 estimate was slightly lower, at \u00a3713.<\/p>\n
While some families are happy to splash out during the festive season, for others, it may be worth rethinking how much they spend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Families struggling with the cost of living this Christmas are being urged to rethink how and when they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,18399,246,300,111,43,139,69,244,245,35078],"class_list":{"0":"post-200455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-money","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-personal-finance","17":"tag-personalfinance","18":"tag-video-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}