Holiday spending naughty or nice? Tips for sticking to budget
Tips for keeping holiday spending under control
A few helpful tips and reminders will help you curb holiday spending this season.
Beacon Staff Reporter
It’s easy to get caught up in the spirit of giving and let holiday spending spin out of control during the holidays.
The temptation to buy can be pretty tough on the wallet, and leave you with significant credit card debt to pay off in the New Year.
With a little planning, and the following tips, the holidays could be nice on your budget this year.
“The holidays can create a great deal of stress and worry for those who over extend themselves and let their spending spiral out of control,” says Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada Executive Director Jeffrey Schwartz. “Setting a realistic budget, and looking at alternatives to material gifts can go a long way towards enjoying a joyful and stress free holiday season.”
To help Canadians avoid the stress of debt, and keep their holiday spending on the nice list, Consolidated Credit offers these tips to keep spending under control:
- Make a list and check it twice. Make a list of everyone you plan to purchases a gift for. After creating your list, give it another look and determine if you can eliminate anyone from this year’s list.
- Set a budget and stick to it. Now that you have a good idea of who you need to buy gifts for, set a realistic limit on how much you will spend on each person and stick to it.
- Cash is king. One of the best ways to stick to a budget is to pay cash for everything. Shopping with cash makes it difficult to overspend – and once it’s gone, stop shopping.
- Practice safe plastic. If it you must make purchases with credit, pay it off on time. The longer it takes to pay off the debt, the more interest accumulates. Use a credit card debt calculator to determine how long it will take to pay off the holiday balances.
- Consolidate credit card debt. If you see you will have a problem meeting your obligations and paying off the debt, don’t wait to start struggling before you seek help. Contact a credit counselling agency to speak to a trained credit counsellor about your options for debt consolidation.
To help Canadians avoid the stress of overspending and keep their budgets off the naughty list, the Holiday Survival Guide more merry ways to budget and save this season.
Category: Financial
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Comments (1)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Sites That Link to this Post