Christmas is the time when all the family comes together, but before everyone is sitting down for Christmas dinner and board games a lot of planning and preparation is needed. There is shopping, card writing, gift wrapping and decorating the tree, but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas, if things wouldn’t change along the way. Thanks to modern technology you can keep everyone up-to-date at all times, simply by calling them via mobile phone or sending them a quick text.

With people having different networks calling and texting can get rather expensive especially when trying to arrange get-togethers, but this Christmas being organised doesn’t have to break the bank. Tesco Mobile is offering families some of the best deals on handsets and tariffs, such as the Samsung Galaxy Ace – available for £12.50 a month including 500 free minutes, 5000 texts and 500 MB of data or the BlackBerry Curve 9320 -  available on pay as you go for £125.

Other networks do the same? Well, being a bit of a bargain hunter and a Clubcard addict, I can tell you that it really is worth having a look at Tesco Mobile’s deals:

Control your spending:

You can set spending limits for each family to make sure that nobody used more than their monthly allowance or texts, minutes or data. This way you have a great overview of how much everyone uses their phone and you save yourself a nasty surprise at the end of the month.

Get extra perks:

Are all your family using Tesco Mobile? If so, make sure to add all handsets onto one single bill. If you have two or more contracts, each member can pick extra perks such as free texts, minutes or data.

Collect Clubcard points:

Collecting Clubcard points is genius in itself, but being a Tesco Mobile customer makes it even more worthwhile as you’ll get triple points for every £1 you spend at Tesco Mobile.

But using Tesco Mobile is not the only way to make great savings for Christmas. The following tips and tricks have saved me a small fortune over the last couple of years, so why not adapt them for your own family?

Set yourself a budget and stick to it

This sounds easier than it actually is, so be really strict with yourself. Write down all the people you have to buy presents for and allocate each person a certain budget. Once you have set it, don’t go back to change it. At the same time, make sure you keep an overview of the presents you have already bought. Whenever you buy a present, write the item next to the person you have bought it for and cross them off your to-buy-for-list to avoid buying two or three presents for the same person – believe me, I’ve been there!

Buy in the sales

Wrapping paper, Christmas cards and decorations won’t go off, so why not buy them in the January sales? They will just cost a fraction of their pre-Christmas price and you won’t have to rush buying items everyone wants just before Christmas. You could save even more by making your own tree decorations, cards or wrapping paper.

Collect bonus cards throughout the year

There are a number of great bonus card schemes around, which allow you to collect bonus card points throughout the year. At the end of the year you can exchange your points for vouchers or use them as payment for presents. Tesco even lets you double up your Clubcard points in one of their Clubcard exchange events.

Make your Christmas presents

I love receiving homemade Christmas presents. They are much more personal and often cost much less than presents you buy in the shops, so if you enjoy being creative or like cooking and crafting why not make your own Christmas presents. Chutneys, jams, pillows, scarfs or picture frames make beautiful presents and it doesn’t end there. Be creative and save yourself a small fortune!

Disclosure: This post is part of the BritMums #XmasSavingTips Challenge, sponsored by Tesco Mobile.