How to survive Christmas expenses
At Christmas expenses multiply. Families have many extra expenses: gifts, family lunches and dinners, outings with friends, cotillion, trips, nougat, cava, sweets .. and a long etcetera fill the Christmas bags every year. For Survive Christmas expenses and that the pocket does not suffer, we offer you a series of tips that will allow you to organize yourself with the purchases and they will prevent you from drowning by increasing the cost of January.
10 tips to survive Christmas expenses
1. Plan the budget. The average cost per person at Christmas will be similar to last year, will be around 209 euros per person, according to a study conducted in 2014 by the platform 'Doofinder'. To avoid exceeding, the ideal is to take out the calculator and establish a budget based on household expenses, allocate a fee for gifts, for travel or for dinners and meals. You can also put a limit to the credit card to not exceed the budget.
2. Control Christmas expenses. It is important to have at all times awareness of the expenditure that is being made, so it is advisable to record every purchase made during Christmas. Nowadays, there are already tools of bank accounts that allow the labeling of expenses to know how money is used. There are mobile applications to manage money.
3. Look for offers. Surfing the net is an opportunity to find offers or even Christmas bargains. In addition, you can compare prices between different platforms or find original gifts from artisans at affordable prices. Online selling is full of possibilities. Also, if you buy with time, many web pages do not charge the shipping costs.
4. Buy in advance. Many stores increase the prices of toys when the Christmas season approaches. If you write the letter to your Majesties of the East with time, they can be purchased in advance and you can leave much cheaper.
5. Travel cheaper. If you are going to leave the city, you can plan a low budget trip, such as a rural getaway to nearby places. You can also opt for the so-called 'social travel', consisting of using the networks to find destinations, share means of transport or accommodation through platforms such as Blablacar, couchsurfing.com or Airbnb.com.
6. Sign up for 'Do it yourself'. To reduce the budget for gifts or Christmas decoration or dinners and meals, a good option is to sign up for the "DYI (Do it yourself)" fashion. It is a good opportunity to recycle old materials, to hold a craft workshop with your children and family, or as entertainment in free moments.
7. Go to free leisure plans for all. During these dates there are numerous free leisure plans for the whole family, organized by various entities, such as Christmas theaters, visits to nativity scenes, carol performances, etc. Instead of spending a fortune on a playful plan for which you have to pay, choose those that do not involve disbursement.
8. Opt for the invisible friend at Christmas. To avoid having to buy a gift for each member of the family (grandparents, parents, siblings, etc.), a cheaper option is to opt for the so-called 'invisible friend'. Thus, each member of the family gives only to another, reducing the number of gifts to relatives.
9. Organize the Christmas menus. Decide what will be the menu of these parties and make a shopping list to avoid reaching the supermarket and purchase unwanted products. This helps control what you are going to eat each day. It must be taken into account that products such as seafood or certain fish or meats such as lamb, greatly increase their value on these dates, so if you have a good organization of meals can be bought in advance at a lower price and Freeze it to date. If you arrive late and the prices are already sky high, it is better to prepare a more economical menu but that does not stop being exquisite. On the Internet you can find many delicious recipes at low cost.
10. Share and reuse also at Christmas. Share the expenses between friends and family to reduce the cost of meals, each contributing a part of the menu: one takes the wine, another the dessert, another the entrees ... A way to divide the expense. In addition, in these dates there is usually enough food that can be reused, preparing new dishes for the following days.
Gonzalo Medina
Advice: Self Bank, the first digital bank in Spain.
