The whole month of December typically ends up being a month of excess. We become less militant about sticking to our diets, we take our foot off the gas in work, and we spend a lot more than we do at other times of the year.
Whether it is choosing the perfect gifts for loved ones, paying for the excessive Christmas feasts, or attending all of the Christmas parties and get togethers organised by all of your friends, family and acquaintances, it all adds up.
So when January comes along, the decorations have come down, and we begin to return to normality, we’re often left with bulging stomachs and bare wallets. Therefore, saving money becomes a bigger necessity in January than at any other time of the year. Here are some tips to help you trim your post holiday spending.
Promotional Offers
January can be a tough time for businesses just as much as consumers. After the heavy period of spending in the run up to the festivities, consumers tend to rein in their spending in the New Year as they wait for their January payday. To help keep sales coming in, businesses offer promotions, discounts and other deals to try to entice customers into spending money. Businesses in every sector take part in running such promotions, including massive markdowns on furniture from companies like DFS, huge 75% discounts from Boots and even the entertaining sector with special promotions from Sky Vegas.
So if you are looking to make a purchase, January might be the right time to do it as you may find discounts that are bigger than at any other time of the year
Make Use of Leftovers
No matter how hard we try, we nearly always end up buying more food than we need during Christmas. The shops are typically closed for just a day, but we still somehow think we need eight bottles of milk and 14 kg of vegetables to see us through.
Jokes about eating turkey sandwiches for weeks permeate British culture in the days after Christmas as people ponder the ways to make use of the rest of their Christmas birds. Whilst funny, the truth behind these jokes can save you a lot of money.
We typically have a lot left over in the final week of December, and even into January. So making use of this, by filling your freezer and being smart with your food choices, can help you save big in the post-party season.
Put Off the Parties Until January
This one requires a little bit of planning before hand, but it can really pay off. If you can delay some of your meetings with friends and family until January, you can cut your restaurant spending in half.
Restaurants everywhere see a big dip in sales during January as people cut their spending. This means many run promotional offers as enticing as 50% off your bill. So if you can hold out meeting loved ones for a couple of weeks, you could cut your restaurant bills in half.
Don’t Buy What You Don’t Need
Whilst so far this article has advocated taking advantage of the savings that are available in the January sales, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of buying stuff that you don’t need.
Coat at 30% off? Coffee maker with 20% off? New sofa for just £14 per week? They all sound like great offers, but it’s not a saving if you didn’t plan to spend the money in the first place. The key to making the most out of the January sales is to buy only the things that you wanted and needed in the first place. Otherwise, that saving of 20% is actually a cost of 100%.
Plan for Next Year
If you are feeling the pinch this year, treat it as a motivator to get prepared for next year. Spend some time throughout 2020 putting money aside so that you have savings ready for when Christmas comes around again.
Calculate what you will need to spend on food, gifts, and events, and then divide that number by 10 (one for each month of February – November). Then, when December creeps up on you next year, you’ll be ready to pay for whatever is thrown at you and you’ll have a more comfortable New Year.
