10 Reasons You’re Likely to Spend Too Much This Holiday Season

Most of us spend too much during the holidays, and most of us finish them feeling more stressed than we went into them. We tell ourselves it’s inevitable, but it’s really not. 

10 Reasons You’re Likely to Spend Too Much This Holiday Season

I stayed home on Black Friday last year and off the shopping sites on Cyber Monday, and I spent (a lot) less overall than many of my sale-obsessed friends.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all those other pre-holiday sales

Pride and expectations

Instead of an overly pricey present, try putting in the time to find a less expensive but truly thoughtful or appropriate gift. That can be just as impressive. 

The pressure to parent perfectly is there year-round, but during the holiday season, you’ll be exposed to even more perfect parents with their adorable families, smiling down from billboards or out of TV commercials.

Perfect parent pressure

Convenience

The convenience of online shopping is a huge advantage for most of us, allowing us to shop from our own homes, late at night, in pajamas. It also makes it easy to overspend, especially as we’re using credit cards or PayPal, which don’t feel like real money.

A small but perhaps significant issue with online holiday shopping is that it may take place (as mentioned above) late at night, in the holiday season. 

Shopping under the influence

Shopping psychology

Everything from the pricing schemes to the colors in the holiday-themed display encourages you to spend more. Be aware of their cheap tricks and resist them if you can.

If you can’t be more realistic about what’s needed, at least have a plan and system ready to freeze or re-use the leftovers.

Over-estimating

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2021/03/C