Top Financial Tips This Christmas

Christmas time is notorious for its power to grow our waists and shrink our wallets. But believe it or not, there are ways to enjoy the silly season without all the setbacks. Like all great things, changing your spending habits takes a bit of planning, time and practice to get right. We have put together our top financial tips to help you keep your money just where you like it this Christmas – in your pocket.

Set A Budget For EVERYTHING

Presents, events, food and drink, socialising; there’s no doubt the lead up to Christmas boasts the greatest temptations to indulge. This is when your critical planning should spring into action to avoid any overspending, debt creating, hefty bill stimuli like last year (ok, and maybe the year before too).

Write down your financial allowance for each expenditure you can think of involved with the Christmas holidays. You could start by noting any events you have arranged and the costs involved (remember food, drink and travel costs). Next, devise a list of everyone you need to purchase a gift for and create a budget for each. When generating your budgets, it is also important to be aware of your usual costs too, such as mortgage, groceries and electricity bills (you may find yourself at home more over the holidays, so be mindful of higher bills). Of course, you can give yourself some lenience over the festive season, but planning will ensure you don’t go too overboard with the costs.

Shop Around

This isn’t a fun one for those of you who leave their shopping until the eleventh hour, but it’s time to embrace the festivities and start looking around for those bargains early. Stores thrive off panicked last minute shoppers, so become sale savvy, look out for bargains and avoid those pricey Christmas Eve purchases. You would be surprised at the amount you could save from looking at alternative shops and online offers.

Stick To Your Saving Habits

It’s very easy to wave goodbye to healthy routines during the holidays – with overeating and overspending being at the top of the list. Unfortunately, the longer we let a healthy routine slide, the harder it is to get back into the swing of it. You should continue to practice your healthy habits during the holidays as much as you possibly can. For example, if you put a percentage of your earnings into a savings account each fortnight, continue with this routine throughout the holidays. Sticking to a good routine will also help you to avoid adopting bad habits (like dipping into your savings for an expensive restaurant bill).

Keep Your Receipts

As always, keeping the recipes from all your purchases is a valuable routine to get yourself into … at any time of the year. Receipts are beneficial for when it comes to tax time, dealing with your financial advisor and accountant, and generally keeping your finances on track. Receipts can be even more useful during the Christmas period, arguably the expensive time of the year, as they can be used for exchanging or refunding gifts, proof of warrantees and to assist you with budgeting.