Mother-of-two who cleared £40,000 debt is ‘giving Martin Lewis a run for his money’
A mother-of-two who recovered from £40,000 of debt is ‘trying to give Martin Lewis a run for his money’ by buying all her Christmas presents second-hand this year amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Maddy Alexander-Grout, a 39-year-old chief marketing officer from Southampton, Hampshire, typically spends £250 on Christmas presents, but so far this year has spent just £30 at charity shops, car boot sales and online.
She has bought books for her husband, James Alexander-Grout, 41, as well as games, scooters and Paw Patrol presents for her two children, Ben, seven, and Harriet, three.
Maddy has also sold her unused Christmas presents from last year on Facebook Marketplace and is using Nectar points and vouchers to buy her Christmas dinner.
She is not only taking actions to save some cash, but also to help the environment, using recyclable and reusable wrapping paper and ribbons, and buying second-hand gifts without plastic packaging.
Maddy is a savvy shopper day to day, using coupons and buying yellow-sticker items, but the cost-of-living crisis has encouraged her to save that little bit more this Christmas.
She said: “I think the cost-of-living crisis is probably impacting me less than other people just because I’ve been a money-saving person for a very long time.
“Having said that, there are still things which are massively impacting me. I’m not immune to energy bills, and they have gone up, as well as my childcare. It was about £620 a month, and now it’s £700.”
Maddy has been on the lookout for second-hand Christmas presents since September, going to charity shops twice a week and a car-boot sale twice a month, and so far she has spent just £30.
She has found FatFace clothes on Facebook Marketplace, scooters for her two children at a car boot sale, for just £7 each, and a remote control car, for £1, for her son in a charity shop.
To keep her children occupied over Christmas, she has also picked up board games as presents, with four games costing just £4, which she knows the children will love.
She joked: “I also got three books for my husband, for 50p each, and I can wrap all three of those up separately so it looks like I’ve got him a really good present.”
The mother-of-two will be reusing her Christmas decorations, like she has done for the last eight years, to keep costs down, as well as using her own My VIP Rewards website and Nectar points to get discounts on the Christmas dinner.
Maddy is the chief marketing officer for My VIP Rewards, a website where users can sign up for either £3.99 a month, or £10 a year, which offers discounted gift cards for high street retailers as well as discounts for local and national businesses.
She said: “Christmas doesn’t cost me anything extra for a year really because I budget for it.”
She also uses brown paper and ribbons, instead of wrapping paper, so it can be recycled and reused – making them a cheaper option in the long run.
Maddy is funding her Christmas by selling things she owns, including some presents from last year, such as a pair of FatFace boots that she has never worn.
To find what her children have asked for on their Christmas list, Maddy shops on eBay.
She said: “My kids don’t always even remember what they’ve asked for.
