How to spend your holiday season wisely
25 October 2023
5
min read
Shoppers are likely to rein in pre-Christmas spending in 2023, aiming for better value and festive season deals. See 6 tips to help keep your festive season spending under control.
A cost-of-living crunch means many Australians may seek to tighten Christmas spending in 2023.
The Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan predict Australian shoppers will spend $66.8 billion between 14 November and 24 December.¹ The figure is just 0.1% up on 2022.
Food is likely to make up most of the spending at $26.7 billion. But rising supply prices are likely to be largely behind the 2.4% rise in spending on food over last year.
Compared to 2022, spending on hospitality, household goods and clothing is likely to go down.
Australians are also feeling concerned about festive season spending. The Pureprofile 2023 Christmas Report² shows almost two in three Australians expect to spend less this festive season. It found:
- 65% of Australians are looking to spend less this Christmas
- 42% of Australians are expecting to buy fewer gifts
- 60% of Australians expect to avoid travel to cut back on discretionary spending
- 38% of Australians are concerned about financial pressures in December 2023.
Here are 6 tips to help you limit end-of-year costs this year
Boost your festive finances by selling items you no longer want online, in a garage sale, or at a local buy-swap-sell. Cashing in on items like clothes, books, jewellery, furniture, or sporting equipment can make way for the new.
The items you no longer want could also be just the gift someone else is looking for this Christmas, so it’s a win-win.
Lists are great guard rails to help keep you on track.
Make a list for presents and how much you want to spend per person.
A list for entertainment, including food and drinks, may also be helpful to keep a check on spending.
Making lists and budgets aren’t particularly effective if you don’t keep an eye on the money going out.
Keeping track of your festive spending is the best way to avoid going over your holiday season budget.
Use an app, write it down, or keep track through your online banking.
Festive season debt may linger long enough to impact you throughout 2024. So, be careful with your credit card at Christmas.
Reserve Bank of Australia statistics³ show there was around $40 billion outstanding in retail payments on credit and charge cards in Australia at June 2023.
It’s easier than ever to shop online. But make sure you check delivery fees and how you might avoid them. One way is to choose Click and Collect options that mean no delivery fees.
You can also make sure you avoid any nasty currency exchange surprises by knowing where you’re buying your item from when you add to cart.
Shop the sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are in November. Or, if you want to get in very early, the days after Christmas are also generally full of sales. This might be a chance for you to get a jump start on upcoming birthdays or even next Christmas. And it might be so much easier if you’ve stuck to your 2023 festive-season budget.
We’re here to help
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1. Media Release, Roy Morgan, 9 October 2023, Pre-Christmas spending forecast to tread water as uncertainty looms for discretionary retailers, at roymorgan.com
2. Media Release, The Research Society, 19 October 2023, Australia’s festive cutback: concerns about extra financial demands this Christmas mean curtailed spending, at researchsociety.com.au
3. Statistical release, Reserve Bank of Australia, 8 August 2023, Retail payments June 2023, at rba.gov.au
4. You can find out more about financial advice options at qsuper.qld.gov.au/advice or by calling us on 1300 360 750. Employees in the Australian Retirement Trust group provide advice to members and employers as representatives of QInvest Limited (ABN 35 063 511 580, AFSL 238274) that is wholly owned by the Trustee as an asset of Australian Retirement Trust. QInvest Limited is a separate legal entity responsible for the financial services it provides. Eligibility conditions apply. Refer to the Financial Services Guide at qsuper.qld.gov.au/guides for more information. The Trustee has established a panel of accredited external financial advisers who are not employees of the Australian Retirement Trust group. The Trustee is not responsible for the advice provided by these advisers and does not receive or pay any referral fees. These advisers will explain to you how their advice fees are determined.