When the fall season arrives, its inevitable that retailers will have their Halloween and Christmas/end-of-year holiday merchandise and decorations on display. Sadly, these displays seem to appear earlier and earlier with each passing year. But retailers know that it does pique our interest; it gets us thinking until we finally breakdown to buy some holiday nick-knacks we clearly don’t need.
But something different is happening this year. Across Canada, consumers are noticing sales with deeper price cuts. Economic analysts are calling this deflation. Basically, there are a lot of great deals out there and it’s easy to over-spend. The good news is that economists expect this trend to stick around for a little while. That means that if you start your holiday budget now, you could possibly see it stretched as special sales continue for the next couple of months.
So, here are three things you can do to start planning your holiday shopping to ensure you don’t over-spend:
- Make a list of who you’re buying for, i.e. “just family”, “family and friends”, “just friends”, etc.
- Review your current budget to determine if you need to move things around to have a little extra for gifts, decorations, special food/drinks for parties/get-togethers
- Set your holiday budget and review the sales. Be sure to be dedicated to your plan. If you have any money left over, consider contributing it to your RRSP.
