Martin Lewis: How to go Christmas cold turkey

1. Don't do a Christmas lust list

Many start to think about how to have the perfect Christmas – yet for most, that leads to debt or disappointment. Instead, boringly, focus on the finances first. Work out how much you've got to spend and ask yourself "what is the best Christmas I can have on that cash?"

If you're really struggling and have nothing, then do truly go cold turkey – see family, spend time, think about life, watch the telly, but don't spend money on it. Christmas is just one day. Far more important is a happier, financially less-stressed New Year.

It has had over 17million views and been shared 300,000+ times so far, often by people who tell me they did that as a way to tell friends they wanted a pre-NUPP (feel free to do it and blame me). Best of all, rather than their friends being unhappy, most people seem to be grateful kindred spirits.

Christina tweeted: "@MartinSLewis, just watched... texted everyone... including hubby... to say let's not bother gifting... heart in my mouth... but everyone agreed! Feel like a weight is lifted! Thank you."

Pauline emailed: "Just watched, Martin. Your speech about cutting down (or out) presents moved me to tears. As [I'm] a pensioner on the state pension, Christmas is hard enough for me to buy nice presents for my sons, their wives, my grandchildren and great grandchildren – and my partner. Giving me permission to NOT have to do that has made me feel a whole lot better! Memories are more important than buying the latest iPad or gadget! Thank you."

And for those thinking "what about the gift of giving?", well, you may give to someone who's struggling financially thinking it's generous, but it actually often simply obliges them to buy back for you at a similar value.

Imagine you give them a £20 scarf, and they give you £20 socks. The net effect is they've spent £20 on the scarf you gave them – that mis-prioritises their finances. They may have preferred to spend that money on feeding the kids.

Sometimes the best gift is releasing someone from the obligation of buying for you (more on this in the Ban Unnecessary Christmas Presents blog.

And if that leaves you feeling short-changed, why not donate to charity in a friend's name, then you know the money really will do some good – see Charity Gifts.

4. Little'uns aren't retail snobs – they don't care about how much you've spent

Children don't value your gift based on price – it doesn't matter to them if it costs £1 or £100. And when they're older they will want more expensive gifts, so you're better off saving the cash while you can.

In fact, there's the old saying that kids prefer the wrapping to the present. I tested this with a class of five-year-olds on my TV show a few years ago. I first gave them giant wrapped boxes just filled with balloons (carefully supervised – balloons can be dangerous). They loved it, and played for 20 minutes.

Then I gave them giant wrapped empty boxes – I told them they were empty before they were opened, so as not to disappoint. They ended up spending even more time, 40 minutes, being creative and pretending they were houses or spaceships.

My point isn't that you should give children empty boxes (though they may like it), more that you don't need to shell out big bucks to give them a great day.

6. If you need debt help, don't wait until January

Sadly, Christmas isn't jolly for all. If you are worried, panicking or even ignoring your financial problems, the best thing to do is to go and seek out non-profit free debt-counselling help from the likes of National Debtline, Citizens Advice, StepChange or Christians Against Poverty.

Do it now, as in January, after the Christmas period, it's hugely busy and appointments are very difficult to get. They're there to help, not judge. The most common feedback I get from people who've done that is "I finally slept last night". You can read more about how they work in our Debt Help guide.