A money-saving mum has created more than ten Christmas hampers for less than £55 in total - saving her over £160.
Ellie Thomas, 28, a business owner from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, used cashback, vouchers and money made from online surveys to fill the gift baskets with goods.
She made 13 hampers in total, at a cost of £54.69 - which means she forked out around £4.23 on each one, and they have between £30 to £40 worth of contents inside.
The gift baskets are filled to the brim with branded goods including toiletries, alcohol, coffee and sweet and savoury treats.
Some of the brands she picked up include Kenco, Costa and Quality Street.
Ellie estimates the total worth of all the goods is £221.42 - meaning she saved £166.73 exactly.
She said: "I have been collecting items for the hampers since August. There are 150 items all together which should have cost £221.42.
"But I am savvy with my money and always use the cashback apps which often means branded items like Kenco, Costa and Quality Street were either free or less than half price.
"Most of the items in the hampers were free or I paid using a Tesco or Amazon gift card earned through survey apps.
"I have been spending no more than half an hour per day completing a survey and earning about £150 per week."
Ellie says her favourite survey sites are Field Agent and Citizen Me.
Field Agent pays you for mystery shopping, doing market research and performing audits at retail stores - but the jobs can be sporadic, meaning there isn’t always the work available.
Citizen Me is similar in that it provides surveys for you to answer - but again, this can be infrequent.
It can also take time to build up your rewards balance on these sites, meaning you’ll need to be prepared to put the time in.
Ellie also recommends fellow bargain hunters make the most of cashback sites, with some of the most popular ones in the UK being Topcashback and Quido.
Cashback sites do what they say on the tin. You'll get money back for a qualifying shop when you provide proof of a receipt, and as long as you complete the transaction via their website.
Now she has finished her Christmas shopping, Ellie says her hampers will be gifted to her family and children Liam, 12, Poppy, eight, Vinnie, five, school teachers.
She adds: "I am always on the lookout for discounted items - even if I don't need it at the time.
"I will purchase as I know I will need it in the future. I paid £1 for most of the hamper baskets and £7 for one which is an investment as my mum will give it back to me every year to refill.
"I have themes for each hamper such as coffee lover, chilli and cheese, ale and snacks, sweet treats and one that should have cost well over £40 but cost me just £9.
"It is a pre-teen dream hamper filled with make-up, face masks and other beauty bits such as a Miss Dior tester which were free through 'OOOO Lucky box'.
"There are also baking hampers costing less than £5 for my youngest kids and a breakfast hamper.
"It was supposed to be £24.80 but I paid £7.17 as the Nescafe, BAHLSEN biscuits, coffee samples, Lipton, Waze Jam, VIBS biscuits were all free.
"The only items I paid for was the pancakes and croissants which were £1.37 for both, £1 for a tray from the charity shop and £1.80 for both mugs that were reduced in Tesco.
"The hampers have £30 to £40 worth of coffee and I got it for next to nothing."
