Christmas Credit Crunch

Christmas should be a time for celebration not bankruptcy. Shopping can be an expensive and stressful time even without the hoards of people rushing around to get there Christmas gifts, adding extra hassle. With a few simple tips you can save money and time and even avoid some of the traditional Christmas time stress.

Know what you’re shopping for:

A key tip when it comes to saving money is know what you’re looking for and how much it costs so you don’t end up panic buying and spend more than you budgeted for- you will regret this when your credit card bill comes in the post in January.

Christmas shoppers plan to spend an average of £333 on gifts, which is 5% less than last year. Due to the credit crunch people just can’t afford to splash out this year. This doesn’t mean you can’t still have those little luxuries you look forward to during this festive period, you just need set yourself a budget and take advantage of all the Christmas deals out there.

Men are the worse for leaving things to the last minute, with 1.2 million men typically leaving their Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve.  Last-minute panic-buying is the biggest stress factor over the festive season, which is shown by research from National Savings & Investments (NS&I), which shows that men are six times as likely to leave their shopping until the last minute, with just 1% of women admitting to the same eleventh-hour madness. Beating the credit crunch could be as simple as starting you’re shopping early, spreading the cost over a longer period instead of parting with a huge lump sum all at once.

Shop Online:

The benefits of doing your Christmas shopping on the internet are obvious: no traipsing around stores, no pressure to shop before closing time, no waiting for the bus and no crowds. But how do you find the best deal online and is it really cheaper than the high street?

Christmas time gives you the opportunity to find the best buys with online shopping for all your Christmas shopping needs. Saving time and money is what the internet is about. No gas fill ups, no jammed parking lots, no huge crowds; shopping from home on your computer offers many one stop shopping websites which can save you a trip to the high street and maybe even an extra hours sleep.

People are being seduced by the early bird special markdowns, the availability of the latest, hottest must have hard to find toy that every child wants, and ability to get these best buys and saving cash deals all before heading off to work is truly the bargain hunters dream- so take full advantage on the online checkout system from the comfort of your own home.

Take advantage of offers:

There are billions of loyalty points sitting unclaimed on stores' reward cards and credit cards. They're like money in the bank - now's the time to redeem them in exchange for vouchers you can spend in shops such as Marks & Spencer and John Lewis.

What to avoid:

Store cards are a dangerous way to borrow. You are usually offered a discount on purchases if you take them there and then. So grab the discount and then destroy the card when it arrives. Pay the bill off in full because interest rates can be up to 30% in some cases - you don’t want a hefty charge ruining your Christmas celebration.

- K.J.N -