16 December 2021

For many of us, 2021 has been an emotionally and financially testing time. While Christmas is an exciting opportunity to get family and friends together and celebrate, it is also an expensive period and comes with stresses of its own.

Here are some ideas to make Christmas a little more affordable this year.

Share the load

All too often, the Christmas festivities fall on one hosting household. If you’re having people over don’t be afraid to ask them to bring along a plate of food, drinks or games or decorations to save you buying everything yourself.

Set expectations on gifting

Buying gifts can be risky business - and if you’ve got a big family with partners and kids it can be an expensive process too. Be upfront with your loved ones and agree on the gifting approach you’re going to take and stick to it. You can opt to just buying things for the kids, agreeing on a maximum budget, making homemade presents for a sentimental touch, or setting up a Secret Santa so you only need to buy one gift each.

Shop Savvy

As a result of COVID-19, many retailers are offering additional discounts outside of their usual calendar sales to encourage spending. Make sure you shop around prices for gifts between multiple stores and don’t be afraid to ask a retailer to price match if you’ve found the same product cheaper elsewhere.

Don’t be tempted by credit

It might seem easy to put a few extra items on the credit card, but make sure you can afford to pay it off. The December/January pay cycle is notoriously long, so make sure you’ve factored any additional spending into your budget calculations.

We hope you have a wonderful and low-stress holiday period. If you’d like advice on how to budget for the festive season please contact our risk insurance team.

Any advice is general in nature only and has been prepared without considering your needs, objectives or financial situation. Before acting on it you should consider its appropriateness for you, having regard to those factors.