Tricks on not overspending during Christmas. It’s possible to celebrate the silly season while being sensible with your spending.
For many families Christmas can mean splashing out and spending on presents, clothes, food and decorations. But to many of us, it’s about connecting with each other. More than any other year, in 2020 and now 2021, we all want to get together and celebrate the years end. It has been a tough year for many of us with the pandemic impacting most people in some way or another.
Here are some tricks to not overspend during Christmas.
Avoid Buy Now, Pay Later
A long-awaited report by the corporate regulator released last week revealed Aussie shoppers have racked up nearly $1 billion in ‘buy now, pay later’ debt through services like Afterpay, Zip Money and Zip Pay.
Be aware that these ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes are not yet regulated. This means the credit provider doesn’t have to check you can afford to make repayments before they sign off on your loan.
We all should avoid using debt altogether as it’s the instant gratification, get the thing and deal with the problem later.
It must be paid off over an eight-week period and if you don’t you end up getting hit with a fee of up to $68. If you can’t afford it now, how are you going to factor it into your living expenses over the next eight weeks?
Have a list and a budget
By writing down who you’re buying presents for and allocating a budget for each person, you can quickly work out if you’re going to get into trouble.
You get a reality check. You might allocate $100 to everyone and realise that’s silly and pull it back to $40.
Having a list and a budget doesn’t mean you have to follow it religiously. If you’re buying for your partner and you’ve got a budget of $100, write down a couple things you think would be good and go away and research them.
If you happen to find it and it’s on sale for $70, don’t feel obliged to buy other stuff to make up the budget.
Invest in experiences
Make memories that will last a lifetime rather than a toy that can be broken shortly after or things that are going to get thrown out or used up.
Buy experiences like stand-up paddle boarding, tickets to the movies or parasailing, something they can enjoy either with you or on their own.
Maybe register for the local basket brigade and spend a day with your family helping those less fortunate. Just google basket brigade and your location.
Do a few No Spend weekends leading up to Christmas
A No Spend challenge is a great way to save a ton of money super fast!
Postage
Send e-cards rather than posting actual cards. The cards themselves can be expensive and so are the stamps and if you are sending gifts by post, choose appropriately. Don’t buy heavy things or he postage costs will skyrocket.
Tricks to not overspending during Christmas.