How to reduce your Christmas spending pain
With just five weeks until Christmas, Aussies are out splashing cash on everything from food to presents. But there are a few easy ways to keep your costs down.
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Savvy consumers will limit expenditure on gifts and hand over fewer presents this year to help keep their spending in check.
Just over five weeks remain until Christmas arrives again and the budget-conscious are not afraid to stick to a strict spending limit.
New independent analysis in the St. George Christmas Spending Report surveyed 1000 Australians and found:
• 46 per cent of households have agreed on spending limits.
• 30 per cent plan to give fewer presents this year.
• 50 per cent of households would spend up to $1000 for Christmas.
St. George Bank general manager Ross Miller said the findings showed many Australians were “putting a limit on what they are spending this Christmas”.
“It’s early enough to get your banking records from last year, have a look at them and if you’re not happy with that work out what you can do differently,” he said.
The report also found when it comes to paying for presents, food and festive holidays a majority (44 per cent) said they would use their everyday regular spending account.
This is followed by using a credit card (31 per cent) and stashed cash (21 per cent).
“Overwhelmingly people are using the money they have versus a credit card and that’s about not having a (financial) hangover,” Mr Miller said.
“Have a look at what you spent last year and if you’re one of the Australians that don’t want to use their credit card, think about how much you have got or want to spend.
“Set yourself a limit and be careful to consider the hidden costs of Christmas.”
Rising Tide Financial Services’ director Matt Hale said the best way to approach Christmas was to pay for items now and not later.
“Bring the pain forward so you avoid regret,” he said.
“Make a realistic list and get really comfortable with it. Check what you are spending often.”
Mr Hale suggested paying for all items one way – for instance if you were paying by cash buy everything this way so you could keep track of your spending.
To cut back on spending waste, research from ING found 26 per cent of people prefer to tell family and friends what they want for Christmas.
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And there’s pre-Christmas sales ahead for shoppers to optimise, including the Cyber Weekend which features Black Friday on November 29 and Cyber Monday on December 2.
Buy now pay later schemes including Afterpay and Zippay have remained popular among shoppers who delay the pain of forking out for items in one hit.
Instead, through these schemes they can pay off the items over a set time, but fees and charges apply if strict criteria are not met.
St George’s research also found 22 per cent of Australians opt to buy their own gifts.