As Christmas approaches, one financial expert has some top saving tips to help with budgeting for the festive season.

Between groceries, presents and Christmas parties, the winter can be hard on our wallets, but there are some areas we can cut back and save money.

On The Pat Kenny Show, The Home Show host Sinead Ryan said that it's "not too late" to save money for Christmas.

Invisible spend

Sinead says consumers should focus on their "invisible spend" in order to free up money.

"List all of the invisible spend out of your account," Sinead said.

Invisible spend includes subscriptions and memberships you might not use anymore.

"A lot of the time by listing it and by listing the amount you’re spending every month, you might realise 'Actually I haven’t used that in the last three months, or could I skip that for now and rejoin them in January'." she said.

Energy

Another area where consumers can cut back is through energy, Sinead said.

"For most people it is vampire energy," she said.

"We’re talking about leaving televisions plugged in, laptops plugged in, appliances in the kitchen plugged in.

"Turn all of those off.” 

Tax relief

Sinead also urged consumers to claim the tax relief and credits owed to them.

"About 300 million goes unclaimed every year in tax reliefs and credits that people don’t bother asking for," Sinead said.

"Most of the time they don’t ask for it, because they either think it will be very complicated or that they’ll suddenly become on Revenue’s radar.

"I hate to break it to people, but you’re already on Revenue’s radar if you have a PPS number and you pay tax."

She urged consumers to make sure they're claiming back their medical expenses.

"You’ll get back 20% on every single cent you spend on medicines, medical aids or appliances and doctor's visits," she said.

House insurance

For homeowners, Sinead says consumers can save money by switching their house insurance policy.

“The biggest switch I think most people aren’t doing is house insurance because most people insure for what they think their house is worth on the market," she said.

She said insuring your house for the rebuild cost rather than the value of the house is the "single biggest saving" consumers can make.

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