The New Year often comes with excitement, traditions, and a strong temptation to spend more than planned. These practical tips can help you enjoy the holiday season, avoid common spending traps, and keep your budget under control.
They say that everything always comes true at New Year. Even things that don’t come true throughout the rest of the year. Joking aside, in the pre-holiday rush, it’s not always possible to resist New Year’s promotions and stay within reasonable limits.
Plan your budget for New Year’s purchases in advance
To avoid suddenly finding yourself with an empty wallet in the middle of the holidays, it’s best to set a limit in advance on how much you’re willing to spend on New Year’s. Identify your main expenses — for example, ‘gifts,’ ‘New Year’s dinner’ and ‘celebrations.’
You can use the old-fashioned method of dividing your cash into envelopes. Or you can use special mobile apps — financial planning services. You can add expense items to them, set limits for them and see the dynamics of your spending.
No matter how much you plan, you always want something unexpected for New Year’s Eve, and it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to avoid unplanned expenses.
This is not a reason to reproach yourself for being wasteful. Just decide in advance how much you are willing to spend on unexpected expenses and festive cheer and try not to exceed this amount. Then a Christmas tree decoration in the form of a cosmonaut, a tenth string of lights or a sledge will bring joy to the whole family and will not hit your budget.
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Don’t be tempted by pre-holiday discounts
Calls of ‘90% off everything!’ are very tempting, but in reality they may just be a ploy. Before the holidays, prices are often deliberately inflated several times over, only to be declared a ‘sale’ later.
Compare prices to reduce your New Year’s expenses
The same products can cost different amounts in small retail outlets, large chain stores, and online. Sometimes prices can vary by one and a half to two times. Don’t give in to the holiday hype and don’t buy the item you like right away — it’s better to compare all the options first.
Don’t believe in superstitions
It is not at all necessary to welcome the Year of the Fire Horse in a red jumper or eat Olivier salad with a golden fork. There is no need to blindly follow traditions and listen to the chimes of the clock while wearing something new. 1 January is a good reason to really start everything anew — for example, to free yourself from stereotypes.
Do not buy trinkets
Shop shelves are bursting with porcelain horse figurines, but do not rush to buy them. There is always growing interest in goods with symbols of the coming year. As a result, their prices are inflated. And who, except collectors, needs such souvenirs?
They gather dust in cupboards, unless, of course, they are thrown away immediately or given to someone else. Buying a souvenir horse is unlikely to be an exception. When you want to please all your friends and colleagues, try to come up with something more heartfelt. For example, treat them to gingerbread cookies that you bake yourself. Or make cards with warm greetings.
