Ways To Stay Positive After Over Spending In December

Christmas 2017 was the first Christmas since the age of 20 that I had to think about the amount of money I was spending on presents for family & friends. I no longer have the comfort of a fat monthly wage packet and with blogging work slowing down from November onwards it was a case of making every penny count. The cost of Christmas has been on my mind since I left my corporate job back in July and I have previously written a post titled  How Are You Going To Afford Christmas ? . Luckily for me I took some of the advice given by my fellow Bloggers and put some money & vouchers to one side each month to cover the cost, but after reading a survey conducted by Ferratum UK us millennials seem to be sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to overspending during the festive period. Over 1,000 people aged 18-34 were interviewed and here are some of the key findings

Facts & Figures

 41% of millennials said they are worried they won’t have enough money to pay for
Christmas 2017.

 27% are planning to borrow money to pay for Christmas. 48% have had to borrow money over a previous Christmas period.
 1 in 4 millennials would cancel Christmas this year to clear all their debt.
 37% would borrow money to avoid missing an event they really wanted to go to.

  42% of millennials have hidden debt from their partner, friends, or family.
 35% were worried that their partner, friends, or family would find out about their debt.

Makes depressing reading doesn’t it ??? With January 15th ( also known as the most depressing day of the year ) arriving next week I thought I would share some positive ideas to make January less blue and help you save more green £££.

• Make extra money by selling unwanted Xmas presents or clear out your wardrobe and list items on eBay.
• Check out specialist websites like KatyKicker.com and find out ways to make money online.
• Do your own financial audit and consolidate any debt to reduce your monthly interest.
• Own a fancy gym membership but never have time to go? Take advice from The Money Whisperer  and cancel any ongoing memberships you haven’t used in the last 2 months.
• Why not batch cook your meals? Savings 4 Savvy Mums  is an expert at not wasting a penny in January by going back to basics, utilising what she already has in the cupboards and meal planning out her week.
• My friend Clare has a clever trick where she pushes back food shopping by 1 day each week of January by making do with whats already in the fridge/freezer. By the end of the month, she has saved nearly a whole weeks worth of shopping budget and this takes the pressure off in February.
• Take the opportunity to enjoy the free of charge great outdoors like the Ankle Biters Adventures . Fresh air & quality family time helps blow away the January Blues.
• Don’t keep your debt problems to yourself as Tony the Country Manager for Ferratum’s suggests. ”People could benefit from the knowledge and support of their friends and family if only they would reach out and ask for help”
• I really love the symbolic way Have Kids Will Travel UK uses to get rid of any negative thoughts from 2017. We took a walk with the kids to the sea and had a think about the year gone by. Talked about what we liked and wanted to do more of and what we didn’t like. For all the things we didn’t like, we picked up a rock and threw it into the sea and then for the things we’d like to do more of, we made a bucket list

I hope that none of my readers are suffering from financial fatigue and that 2018 will be a year of greatness for each of us. If you think you are in need of help to sort your finances out then contact Citizens Advice  for ways to get your finances back in shape.