HEY BIG SPENDER...GET REAL
Every year millions overspend on Christmas and get into serious debt.
Martin Flynn takes some tips from BBC TV’s ‘Mr
Money’ Alvin Hall on how to enjoy Christmas without bankrupting ourselves
By the end of 2004, personal debt in this country will stand at over a trillion
pounds (that’s a thousand million) and this figure is increasing by
£1 million every four minutes. Around 161 plastic transactions take
place every second in the UK, and every year many of us get further in debt
in that vast consumer orgy known as Christmas. Over 50 per cent of people
in Britain fail to save any money and many of us will retire in poverty, that’s
if we live that long.
Last year a study from Crusaid found that people living with HIV are much
worse off financially than the rest of the population.
Many people, diagnosed HIV positive in the early days of the epidemic, stopped
work, cashed in pensions and blew all their money because they thought they
were going to die.
Ten years ago along came antiretroviral therapy which, though not a cure for
HIV, at least kept the virus at bay. By which time thousands who thought they
would die soon were faced with an even more worrying problem: how to live
and survive with HIV and Aids.
Thousands of us are living on low incomes or poverty-line state benefits and
for many a bit of retail therapy seems to bring some cheer.
Former British HIV Association (BHIVA) chairman, respected clinician and all
round funny-man Professor Brian Gazzard, of London’s Chelsea and Westminster
Hospital, declared recently:
“If you take your HIV medication there is no reason that you can’t
live to a ripe old age.”
But Professor Gazzard also confessed that when he pricked his finger with
a needle full of blood many years ago, he immediately went out and spent thousands
of pounds on art using his VISA card.
So let’s see how we can rationalise our spending this winter. In his
new book ‘What not to spend’ BBC TV’s Alvin Hall gives practical
advice on how to cope with the festive season of excess without becoming mean
and miserable like Mr Scrooge.
Alvin says: “Christmas is probably the most problematic spending period
in the year, both in terms of the amount spent and in terms of how emotionally
driven people are.
“If someone’s going to lose control of their spending completely,
it’s going to be at Christmas. People feel that they have to buy someone’s
love or spend a huge amount of money to show how much they love someone.
“But what counts is getting someone what they want or need. Christmas
is an important day but life does go on afterwards, so stick to a reasonable
budget so you’re not in trouble come January.
“Remember, you don’t have to spend a zillion pounds. By just carefully
planning your Christmas spending you can have a great time.”
Alvin’s Christmas Budget Guide:
• A month before Christmas, work out how much extra spending you can
get away with at Christmas - that is how much of your money you can spend,
not how much debt you can run up.
• Write your shopping list. Decide what you will buy each person and
what you’re going to spend on everything else like food, drink, decorations
etc.
• Add up the total and see how closely this fits with what you can spend.
• Squeeze the total amount on your list as much as you can. Think about
how much food and drink was left over after Christmas last year. Do you really
need to spend as much this year?
• If kids are demanding expensive presents, explain that Santa is rather
poor this year or use it as an exercise about coping with money.
• Once you feel you’ve squeezed the cost of the list as much as
you can, work out how you save in the meantime.
• Try and limit the number of times you go out to the pub, club, for
dinner or to the cinema. It’s often much more fun, and better value,
to organise a dinner at home for friends or family one night and go to their
house on other days over the holidays.
• Think about items you want to buy in the near future and, rather than
buying them, ask for them for Christmas instead. This will save you money
and them the hassle of guessing what you want.
Tips for a cheaper Christmas
• Don’t assume high street shops will be the cheapest for gifts.
Websites like www.pricerunner.co.uk compare the cost of goods for sale over
the internet.
• Make it personal - think about what each friend or family member wants,
not what you want to give them. If you travel abroad during the year, buy
unusual and elegant presents very cheaply in local foreign markets and save
them for Christmas prezzies.
• Agree a spending limit with your family or close friends and suggest
a maximum amount to spend.
• If you’re hosting Christmas for a lot of family or friends,
suggest asking them to bring some of the food or drink.
•Don’t feel you have to buy every family member or friend a present.
It really is the thought that counts.
• After Christmas, sit down and work out how much it cost. Put it aside
for next year.
• Remember; the best winter sales usually start just after Christmas
and you can get stuff for half the price just a few days later.
• Visit family or friends for Christmas or even organise a cheap trip
abroad for New Year using budget airlines. It’s often much more fun
to spend New Year in Madrid or Barcelona than die of boredom in front of the
telly or down the local.
Finally, remember you’re supposed to be having fun. Christmas is a stressful
time, particularly if you’re living with a disease like HIV, so try
and relax, take it easy with the booze and be good to yourself. You deserve
it.
‘What not to spend’ by Alvin Hall is published by Hodder &
Stoughton, priced £14.99.
