Financial Stress During the Holidays
The holiday season often brings financial challenges that can make us feel stressed and anxious. Read this blog to learn some financial strategies to alleviate some of that stress during the holidays.
Understanding Financial Stress:
Financial stress can be a significant concern for many of us as the holidays near. Expenses such as travel, gift giving, social gatherings, or hosting family can add up, and it often feels impossible to get through these next few months without credit card debt. This can cause us to feel anxious, but can also contribute to the pressure and expectation we put on ourselves to spend more than we are comfortable with. We often feel like these expenses are non-negotiable, and therefore start to have feelings of dread, trouble sleeping, or begin isolating/avoiding social engagements.
Recognizing Signs of Financial Stress:
If you are wondering about whether financial stress is causing you anxiety, ask yourself some of these questions: Am I feeling stressed about holiday gatherings? Am I wondering how to purchase gifts for all my loved ones? Am I losing sleep going over the expenses in my head? Am I avoiding looking at my bank account or credit card balance? Am I procrastinating these purchases to avoid financial discussions? If these are ringing true, you may want to consider some strategies to alleviate this stress.
Effective Strategies:
Set financial goals prior to the holiday: As soon as the summer comes to an end, begin thinking about your holiday plans. Try setting some goals to reach by the holidays so you have money set aside for a gift budget or travel expenses. Speak with your partner or family about what the financial goals are this holiday.
Create a reasonable budget: Start an excel sheet with various categories of your expenses. Some suggested categories are gifts, travel, hosting expenses, social engagements, and decorations. Try to make this budget as detailed as possible to avoid surprise expenses. Make sure to set reasonable and realistic budgets for each category. If you love holiday decorations, give yourself a bigger budget, but try to pull back in another category to even it all out.
Prioritize spending: Try to choose a few categories that you want to prioritize. If you have limited travel expenses, focus on gift giving this year. If you have steep travel expenses, maybe skip out on the decorations this year. Remind yourself that you can give meaningful gifts without an excessive price tag.
Explore low-cost alternatives: Try to find ways to cut costs that don't impact the overall experience. Create your own gift for loved ones, or make the party you host a potluck so your individual costs are lower. Take advantage of sales such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday if you want to purchase something more expensive. Usually, people find personal or DIY gifts much more meaningful anyway, so it’s a win-win!
Track Expenses: Try to check in with your budget frequently throughout the holidays. We can tend to avoid looking at our bank account until the holidays are over, but this often causes significantly higher levels of anxiety when you do see the expenses. Download an app on your phone like Mint or YNAB so the budget is accessible and easy to adjust.
The looming expenses of the holiday season may feel intimidating, but with these tools, you will be able to enjoy your time with loved ones, without the worry of getting into serious credit card debt. Remember, quality time with friends and family is the focal point of holidays, so try to enjoy the present moment, and know that a cost-effective gift is often more meaningful than an expensive material item.
Written by: Piper Benjamin