How to have fun this summer without burning yourself out financially

“Don’t write the year off and leave yourself with a mess to clean up in January.”

The holidays can bring a lot of joy and fun but also a lot of financial pressure. The temptation to spend is present all year ’round but during the holiday season, the endless sales, celebrations and the desire to splurge on loved ones makes it harder to resist. 

I tend to fall into the trap of overspending in December, leaving me with niggling money guilt in the New Year. It’s not just the gifting aspect of Christmas that triggers my overspending but also the social activities, where my FOMO leads me to spend beyond my means to keep up with friends in very different financial situations to me. 

For more content like this, browse through our Life section.

It’s something I’m actively trying to work on, by adding personal finance gurus to my FYP, podcasts and reading lists. Author of Good with Money, Emma Edwards, is a self-proclaimed ‘former hot mess’ turned financial behaviour expert. She understands how difficult it can be to change spending habits, especially in the holidays when we’re somehow always out shopping. 

“We’re exhausted from the year, which can mean we drop the ball on our healthy money habits or lose sight of our financial priorities,” she tells me. “The silly season can put us onto what I call a ‘spending runway‘, where one purchase leads to another and another, fuelled by Christmas and holiday shopping”. Below, Emma shares some practical advice on how to manage your spending habits so you don’t financially burn yourself out this summer. 

Fashion Journal: Hey Emma! How can we spend consciously during the holiday while still enjoying ourselves?

Emma Edwards: If you know you tend to get spendy during the silly season, don’t put pressure on yourself to ‘fix it’ all in one hit. We’re too hard on ourselves with money habits and we can be very black and white with it – we’re either ‘good’ or we’re ‘bad’ with our spending, but that’s not the case at all. 

My advice would be to begin with awareness. Knowing we overspend isn’t enough insight or reason to change. When you find yourself overspending, look at what else is going on around that time. Are there any patterns, what is it you’re spending on and what emotions are present? By simply noticing what’s happening with your spending, you’re more informed about your behaviour. This is what’s going to help you change in the long run – and that can be a project for 2025!

What advice would you give your ‘former hot mess’ self when it comes to budgeting?

My advice would be: Don’t write the year off and leave yourself with a mess to clean up in January. The silly season can put us onto what I call a ‘spending runway’ – where one purchase leads to another and another, fuelled by Christmas and holiday shopping. When we’re on a spending runway, momentum keeps us spending, and it’s really easy to think, ‘Ughh, I’ve stuffed it now, I’ll just avoid this and deal with it in the new year.’ 

Psychologically, deferring responsibility for the dent in your bank account or credit card until the next year creates even more permission to keep spending, which can make the problem worse. If you find yourself thinking, ‘Oh well, I’ll fix this in January’, pause and take a breath, and remember that first tip about awareness. 

How can we navigate the gift-giving process without overspending? 

Planning ahead is a really big one. Just like when you go to the grocery store without a list or a budget, you’re going to end up with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make sense, a receipt longer than your arm and a dent in your bank account if you don’t have a good plan. 

Be strategic with what you’re buying, who for, and where. If you have a tendency to buy things for yourself while shopping for others (been there!), consider how you could change your gift-shopping approach to give yourself the best chance of staying in control. 

Instead of browsing the shops or websites and getting tempted, make a list of the gifts you need to buy, shop online and place all your online orders in one go, moving down the list until you’re done. Making it more of a process that you tick off can keep you more focused on the task at hand. 

If perhaps you’re overspending on the gifts themselves, the same process can help but again, be strategic and plan how much you want to spend. Set your gift budget aside and keep it separate from the rest of your money so you’re less tempted to keep spending.

One thing I struggle with during the holiday season is celebrating with friends who are in different financial situations as me. What’s your advice on this?

This is a really tough one, especially as we get more advanced in our careers and salary gaps [between friends] can widen significantly. A lot of the time, we simply don’t understand other’s financial situations and priorities. But we’re all guilty of making assumptions based on the information we have available. 

That might be a friend wanting to go to an expensive restaurant and assuming someone else can afford it too, or even one person assuming someone else is better off than them, because of their job title or where they live. 

The age-old money taboo is a big contributing factor to why we find money conversations so difficult  but working on being more open about your finances can really help in these relationships. Find one or two friends you trust and try being honest not just about your financial situation but your financial values, priorities and goals. The New Year is a great time to try this out because you can open the conversation around goals for the year and invite others to be involved and share their financial goals too. 

The financial information contained in this article is general and doesn’t take into account your personal financial objectives, situation, or needs. It’s important to do your own research and consider getting in touch with a professional adviser to access specific information tailored to your own unique situation.

For more money saving tips, listen to the You’re in Good Company podcast here.