Christmas should be an exciting time filled with joy and festive cheer. However, if your finances are uncertain and you are operating on a tight budget it can be a very different reality. If you are in a situation where you are struggling to make ends meet, you will likely be dreading the thought of Christmas and all of the expectations that go with it. With a relentless flow of adverts on the television and the hype on social media portraying the “perfect Christmas”, it can unfortunately leave you feeling at a complete loss. Many people turn to credit cards and short-term loans to meet the unrealistic expectations of Christmas and spend the rest of the year regretting it and having to cut back for the sake of one day. There are, however, several ways you can get through Christmas if you are on a tighter budget.
First of all you need to be open and honest with your friends and family, let them know of your financial situation. Explain how you may be struggling to send Christmas presents this year and it might be different to what you have done in the past. Your real friends and family will understand, and it will be much better received than you just not sending anything at all. If you are wanting to send presents you need to agree a realistic budget and agree a maximum spend with your friends and family, you could agree to just send cards this year- it doesn’t always have to be something extravagant!
Christmas dinner can also become very expensive, if you feel obliged to meet the unrealistic expectations of others. Try to budget for the Christmas dinner beforehand, use supermarket deals and even look in the bottom of the freezer for those unused items such as vegetables. Other ways of saving money at Christmas include using vouchers or redeeming loyalty points at the supermarket, sending E cards instead of paying for postage and taking a nosey in your local charity shop- you never know what you night come across!
At the end of the day it is important to be realistic at Christmas. Don’t put yourself in unnecessary debt to fit in with everybody or by trying to keep up with your neighbours as everyone’s financial situation is different. As tempting as it may be to take out a pay day loan, you need to resit the urge as our financial situation will be much worse once the memories of Christmas disappear. Use Christmas as an opportunity to spend quality time with love ones, it should be a time for joy and love not worry about finances.