Do not for for the finacial pressure of xmas

geoffky

At a time when people are really struggling with household costs we are now entering that time of year when like little sheep some go out and spend hundreds of pounds on Chinese crap that not many wants and no one needs due to the wonderful world of advertising that makes out you are a loser if you do not run up the credit cards on crap.

Take a moment and think what is it all for because i just can not agree the pressure people feel to buy lots of stuff at this time of year is worth the pain in paying down the debts at a later date or the cash could of been used in future for a rainy day that a lot of people will experience.

by all means get some gifts but to go mad and spend a fortune on credit cards is madness and all dreamed up to relieve you of your hard earned money.. refuse to play the game and look after your family first.

Have a nice one but do not enrich your bank to do so,

katerinasol

I completely agree with you. OH and I have been panicking because we've finally decided to stop sticking our heads in the sand about our debts and start sorting them out and paying them off, but unfortunately this means having less 'spare' money to spend on things like Christmas! We knew it was going to be like this and are completely prepared to only spend what we do have, but it is still a bit gutting to not be able to buy people nice presents - I love seeing my family's faces light up when they open something amazing that I bought them!

But at the same time, Christmas for non-religious people is about spending time together - listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas films on TV, overindulging in mulled wine perhaps... and appreciating the time that we do have together as a family. This year we're planning on making the most of the small amount of money that we do have and putting a lot of effort into coming up with something small yet significant - maybe even homemade! I've already seen some great ideas for hampers etc on here.

mrshassall1987

Totally agree :-) We started xmas shopping during the summer sales this year so my son has lots of presents but most were 75% off. We haven't gone into any debt whatsoever for xmas,this will definitely be how we shop every year

avstar

Good advice - it's easy to get carried away by the hype.

I'm in a christmas savings club run by a work colleague - we contribute how ever much we want 10 months of the year, she puts it all in a BS account, we get the cash back in November (:T) and then I only spend that amount. Been doing it for years and it's a lifesaver.

Plus my family all made a pact that we'd buy for immediate relatives only (plus the children if you wanted). I wouldn't want anyone to get into debt buying stuff for me that I don't really need.