Suzanne Harrington: Make a Christmas pre-nup. No unnecessary presents

The worst thing for an Irish person to be thought of is mean. The English don’t seem to mind it too much, but we would rather die than have someone call us tight.

Suzanne Harrington: 

This Christmas, as we burn furniture to keep warm and our pets look increasingly edible with the 25th bearing down, the UK money-saving expert Martin Lewis advises going cold turkey on unnecessary gift buying. Things being what they are in the UK – like Ireland, only a million times worse – he suggests we all make a Christmas pre-NUP: No Unnecessary Presents.

For those living in actual poverty, eating out of food banks and freezing indoors, this will be acutely obvious, seeing as even Necessary Presents remain a challenge and a major source of stress; but for everyone running around buying festive crap for their kids’ teachers, their hairdresser, their second cousin’s neighbour’s cat – the message from Martin Lewis is simple. Just don’t.