On average, we spend £530pp on Christmas, £218 of which goes on gifts. The temptation to buy now, pay later (and pay astronomical interest rates) is difficult to resist, but it doesn’t have to be like that.

Budget

List everything you need to buy: gifts, food, drink, clothes, transport, nights out, the lot. Cost each item and total it up, you now know how much your budget is. If your savings don’t match your budget, work out the overall shortfall, divide by 10 and this is the amount you should save every week from now until the big day. Do this and you won’t need resort to using your credit card.

Refresh

If 10 weeks isn’t long enough to save the required amount and you’re still facing a shortfall it’s time to refresh your list. Weed out things that you don’t need, scale down the allocated spend on each gift, give joint presents to couples (food is a fantastic gift, a delicious luxury will definitely be well-received and is likely to be cheaper than a gadget, gizmo or similar) and concentrate your spend on the important people in your life.

Revise

Refreshing your list will cut the costs, take another look and now cross check it with your finances. Do it again if you need to, there’s no point in making your own life debt-difficult.

Finally...

Be strong, ignore the advertising, stick to your guns, stay within budget and leave the credit cards at home when you go shopping.

If you’re already facing debt, check out the following websites for current advice.

citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/ Citizens Advice Bureau, capuk.org/ Christians Against Poverty, nationaldebtline.org/ The National Debtline, gov.uk/options-for-paying-off-your-debts/overview