What to Do When Your Christmas Fund is Running Low

The festive period can be such an expensive time. Even when you don’t spend a lot of money on people, you can end up with a lot of people to buy for. First, there are your closest family and friends. Then there’s your work Secret Santa, distant relatives – and maybe your child’s teacher too! And on top of all the gifts, you’ve got to pay for the food and decorations. Even when you think you’ve budgeted correctly, you can end up accidentally running out of cash.

 

If you’ve run into a bit of a Christmas money emergency, here are some of the things you can do.

What to Do When Your Christmas Fund is Running Low

Image from frankieleon

 

Pay for It Later

 

If you want to buy slightly more expensive presents for some of your giftees, you don’t have to pay for them right away. You can get store credit and deferred payment schemes so that you can settle the amount in installments. Instead of having an extremely expensive December, you can spread the cost out over the next few months.

 

Some stores will allow you not to pay anything for a few months, and others won’t have any interest on the payments. It can be a good way to help out your credit score, but remember you have to pay up eventually. Don’t do it if you’re not sure when you’ll have the money to settle up.

 

Borrow Some Money

 

When you don’t have enough of your own money, borrowing some of someone else’s is sometimes an option. Different people will have varying feelings about borrowing money from family and friends. You might feel completely comfortable asking for a little cash from your parents. And they might be confident (or not bothered) about you paying it back. But borrowing from friends can sometimes be a bit more complicated.

 

If you want to leave personal relationships out of it, you can consider taking out a loan. Evolution Loans can help you out if you have bad credit. Think carefully before you take out a loan to ensure you’ll be able to pay it back.

 

Return Some Purchases

 

You’re halfway through your Christmas shopping, and you’ve run out of cash. What do you do? One option is to return some of the items you’ve bought and start again. If you take some of the gifts back, you can take another look at how much cash you have and do a proper budget. This time, allocate a set amount to each person and don’t let yourself go over it. You might have found the perfect gift for someone, but is it worth it if you can’t get anything for anyone else?

 

Make Some Gifts

 

If you don’t want to take back anything you’ve bought so far, you could also make some presents. Buying some supplies could be much cheaper than getting a ready-made gift.

 

You could make something crafty, like a candle or a photo frame. Or you could get into the kitchen and start cooking or baking, making some preserves or cookies.

 

Don’t panic if you’re struggling with Christmas costs. You can always cut back and have a leaner Christmas. It’s not all about the gifts and food, after all!

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