By David Field -


If you're living on a tight budget, then making sure your outgoings are less than your income (surely the most basic rule of personal finance) can be difficult enough. But things can get a lot more difficult when Christmas starts rearing its ugly head, and you need to think about spending big for the festive period.

Christmas does of course have many good points. It's a great time to have all of the family around, eat yourself stupid and then fall asleep in front of the Queen's speech. But for many people it seems that the financial burden of Christmas is becoming a bigger issue, with the expectation of expensive presents and the best food forcing people to spend more money than ever.

Take a recent poll conducted by Tesco Personal Finance, for example. They asked 2,000 people about their festive finance experiences, and found nearly a quarter (22 per cent) felt that the huge cost of the occasion actually spoils the celebrations and parties. And this seems hardly surprising, given that nearly half of those surveyed said they expected to spend more money over Christmas than they have done since August. Money worries could also be adding to the estimated 28 per cent of us who dread the onset of Christmas in general.

Ok, so this may be a minority of people (53 per cent said they were not at all worried by the added expense that Christmas brings), but it's a pretty significant one - and you can see where the concerns come from. First, there are the presents. Gone are the days when children were happy with a single toy or some chocolate (when was that, the 1950s?) and now parents, uncles, aunts and other relatives are under pressure from the little terrors to get the latest games console or must-have item. You just have to look at the scrums of parents at department stores fighting to get their hands on whatever the latest fad is to understand the pressure that kids can put you under.

Then there's the food. Farepak, the Christmas hamper company, collapsed in October, and suddenly people who had been saving for their Christmas food all year were left with nothing. The various banks pledging money to help these customers out might do the trick, but isn't the concept of spending that much money on a day's worth of food a little bit strange? But then I guess if you're not going to treat yourself on Christmas day, when are you going to do it?

Finally, there is the ritual of the after-Christmas sales, which seem to start at about six in the morning on boxing day, when most sane people are still in bed, digesting Christmas pudding.

My personal solution is simply not to fall for all the hype, and realise that you don't need to spend a fortune to have a relaxing day at home with the family and an afternoon film. Buy some thoughtful (and cheap) gifts off the internet, and put your feet up.