Spending rent money on Christmas bargains, feeding visiting family members and back-to-school costs are just some of the reasons local budget advisers are in the midst of their busiest time of the year.
Family Focus building financial capabilities service team leader Michelle Nahu said their busiest time of year was November to April.
She said between her and a colleague they had six back-to-back appointments a day, so about 48 each week, being open for four days.
Ms Nahu said clients tended to be families just getting over the holidays, who were faced with school costs.
"So we are really having a lot of people come in that have stopped all their bills and gotten into debt."
She said some had grabbed specials and bargains around Christmas but used money that should have gone towards the likes of rent.
Ms Nahu said they had been seeing a lot of people who had family members drop in during the holidays and stay, but not contribute towards costs, which set the clients back a few months.
It seemed that people did not like to ask family members to contribute to groceries, especially if family were visiting from overseas, she said.
She said the service ran a programme in March called "Christmas Comes the Same Day Every Year" where it tried to help people plan ahead.
She said it also did a lot of negotiating with schools and social services which gave them uniforms.
"We try and do as much as we can."
Rotorua Budget Advisory Service manager Pakanui Tuhura said the service's busiest time usually started this month, when bills started hitting home from the Christmas break.
"So for us January isn't a really busy time as such, but it's around February and March where we start seeing spikes."
He said the best advice he could give was for people to see a budget adviser, because it was free, and go through everything so they knew exactly where they were at.
Mr Tuhura said part of what they did was help people avoid getting into crisis situations.
"It's hard to make decisions if you don't know where you're at, so if you come in we will help you find exactly where you're at and then provide that advice, because it's on an individual basis."
Saving money tips:
• Buy secondhand goods if possible
• Find the bank and bank account with the lowest charges
• Make every effort to avoid buying on credit
• Make it a rule that you do not buy anything at the door or over the telephone
• Avoid paying people to do work that you can do yourself
• Do not borrow or spend more than you can afford for birthday and Christmas presents
• Watch out for concerts and other activities that cost little or nothing to attend
Source: www.everydollarcounts.org.nz