Christmas Comes but ones a year – guess when the next one is?
It’s January, a new year. With people bright as a button (hopefully) about what they can achieve in the next year. We start Diets, Exercise programs, and give up smoking. For about a week. Then reality sets in.
And the credit card bill arrives.
There was quite an interesting segment on Close Up Just before Christmas (a TV One current affairs / news program). On the 17th December, they ran a piece about spending at Christmas as we are now in a recession.
Firstly they interviewed some people on the streets who mostly said that they were either:
- Not Buying Presents
- Limiting the Amount they were spending
- Making Stuff instead of buying it,
- And two people said just stick it on the card till it gets declined (and then use someone else’s card (I think that was tongue in cheek!)
They then ran a test Through Paymark, an outfit that handles EftPOS transactions. They had run the same test on the same day last year: from 1pm to 2pm they work out how many transactions there are, and how fast, and how much people spend. The results were interesting:
17th December 2007
236,000 transactions
17th December 2008
276,000 Transactions
Which means that despite doom and gloom everywhere, and no one having any money, there were 40,000 MORE sales in the same hour!
They also noted that the $ Value was down 8% – which on the face of it looks like people were buying more items but of lesser value. Expect when you REALLY listen to what they said – it was 8% down on the FORECAST of what was likely to be spent. So some economist somewhere said that they figured people would spend $x and they spent a bit less than that. So it’s really not telling us much. They did point out that the reduction could be due to a huge decrease in Fuel Prices, and early discounting at the shops.
They then had 3 experts on talking about what they saw as the best ways to deal with the shock of Christmas spending. I’m sure it won’t come as a shock to most that the recommendations were:
1. Save up during the year to cover the extra costs.
2. Work out whether you really need to buy something or you just want to buy it (I think I’ve heard that somewhere before J.
3. If you can’t afford it now – don’t put it on credit – cos you can’t afford in 3 months either.
4. You do not have to buy expensive toys for your kids. They are just as likely to enjoy a day out at the beach – and will likely remember it when they are 35 years old!
5. Pick your favourite Christmas food items and cook those – don’t cook everything and anything.
Saving up during the year.
I remember back when I started getting into this budgeting and money management lark, that I read on Moneysavingexpert, an article telling us that Christmas would be arriving the next year on the 25th December. That we might like to make a note of it and do something about it now, rather than panicking about it on the 2nd January when the bill comes in.
So I did.
I’ve been saving up for Christmas ever since then. We put aside $200 a month for it, which we basically use to cover pressies, and some extra food (and alcohol) spending. It has made a HUGE difference to the after – Xmas panic. I don’t have any.
You know – my Grandma used to do this for us when we were kids. She held on to our pocket money and gave it us at the start of December, so we could buy some presents. £1 a week if I remember correctly. I often wonder why I got out of such a good habit in the first place.
We also don’t go mad at Christmas. Now as a family we tend to buy some little individual Presents like books and DVDs but use most of the savings to buy something big for us as a family. Last year it was a huge Macrocarpa table and chairs to go out on the deck.
Just remember – in 2009 Christmas will once again come on the 25th December. You don’t have to put much aside – but if you KNOW you are going to spend more than your December Salary – put SOMETHING aside. You will be really glad you did.
One of the people on there was Sophie Gray from Destitute Gourmet, a website about cooking good meals on less money. If you are not used to cooking without the use of expensive store bought ingredients – head on over. Being able to cook a good meal from scratch is one of the best ways to make money go further.
Related posts:
- How much to spend at Christmas?
- What do you do just in case things do go to hell in a hand basket?
- A Merry Kiwi Christmas.
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