Christmas is a time for being generous to your loved ones - but don't spend too much, or it could come back to bite you.
It's easy to spend more than you can afford as Christmas looms. But splurging on the festive season can mean seriously tough times in the New Year. Cassandra Mason looks at what you can do to make sure you come out the other side of the festive season debt-free.
Research carried out by MasterCard on Christmas shopping habits shows more than half of Kiwis will feel the financial pinch as they overspend before Christmas, despite a quarter saying they will be tightening their belts.
The survey revealed the biggest chunk of the gift budget went on children, with an average spend of $88 per child.
Partners spent an average of $86 on each other, parents and in-laws received $48 in presents and siblings came in at $32.
Gifts for other family members averaged $23 and friends spent about $22.
"The lead-up to Christmas can be one of the most stressful times of year when it comes to managing your finances," MasterCard country manager Peter Chisnall says.
The survey also found Kiwis were relying on credit cards, their December pay cheques, putting money aside, or buying throughout the year to fund their purchases.
What can you do to plan ahead?
Hastings Budget Advisory Service coordinator Greta Wham says one of the biggest dangers at Christmas is mismanaging the early pay cheque.
"After Christmas that is one of the main problems we see: that people have gotten paid earlier than usual and spent it all and it doesn't last until the next pay day."
People don't usually seek help until after Christmas and by that time they're already in trouble, she says.
An all-encompassing budget that includes regular expenses can ease the holiday season's financial impact, Wham says.
"Work out what Christmas is going to cost and see how you're going to manage it. Make sure you keep up essential payments like your rent, your power, hire purchases and loans."
For those who want to avoid sinking into debt, buying things on credit is ill-advised.
"One of the saddest stories we've seen here after Christmas was a client who came in, who had bought presents for her children on credit and couldn't pay it so the toys were repossessed."
Christmas hamper schemes are another thing to avoid.
"They're not value for money and you end up paying a lot more for the hamper than you would if you bought the things individually yourself," says Wham.
A Consumer NZ survey found that the items in Chrisco's "traditional" hamper could be bought online from Woolworths for $327.84 - about $83 less than Chrisco's price of $410.67 or $10.53 a week for 39 weeks.
A much better alternative to hampers are supermarket "Christmas clubs", which let you run up credit throughout the year and do your own shopping once the season arrives.
There are also inexpensive ways to celebrate Christmas, Wham says.
"People might like to look at actually offering a service rather than buying a present, like cleaning someone's house, cleaning their car, baking them a cake ... something simple."
Money-saving tips for Christmas:
-Consumer New Zealand found Christmas clubs were the best way to plan ahead and save money in comparison with savings accounts, hampers and pre-paid savings cards. The only drawback with the Christmas clubs was coping with the end-of-year shopping frenzy.
-Offer a service such as cleaning the house, rather than buying a gift.
-Plan ahead by drawing up a full budget which includes your regular expenses.
And if you do get into debt?
-Set a big goal then break it into a series of smaller, achievable goals.
-Put the plan for reaching your goal down on paper, then try to spend less than your set targets.
-Pay more than the minimum. Charges on credit cards should be paid back in a timely fashion to avoid interest charges.