Want some ideas on how to avoid the post Christmas blues when we have to deal with our Christmas spending or rather over spending?
Top tip is to plan for the festive season. This means listing what we want to do (and what we do not want or need to do). We make a simple list of ‘must do’ activities and decide on the maximum we are able and prepared to spend on each item. This is simply formulating a budget.
Let’s start with Christmas cards. Why not just send messages on line to our friends and family. OK – maybe one or two cards for the special people in our life such as our spouse or grandparents but otherwise we can make a significant saving on the cost of cards and postage.We need to plan our food shopping so as to avoid spontaneous shopping and we should include the alcohol spend in this plan. It makes sense to shop around for offers and bargains, to shop early and to prepare menus for the big meals so that we purchase the right quantities and avoid food wastage. Making shopping lists with this plan can be fun.
We also need to budget for buying family presents. One idea is to agree the maximum amount each family member will spend and to get consensus with family members on a strategy. For example if everyone bought just two presents – one big (£50 to £150) and one small (£10 to £25) then family members would receive two Christmas gifts each – one big and one small. The whole thing can be organised on a secret Santa basis so that nobody knows their benefactors until Christmas Day. Obviously, the family profile and ages of children are factors in how the plan is worked out but even formulating the plan can be great fun.