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Money At Christmas - Surviving The Festive Period Without A New

Article:

Money always seems to be tight. Every year at Christmas the

financial situation always seems to get worse. Increased

electricity and heating bills to pay, expensive party food to

purchase, presents to buy, travel costs to visit relatives, the

list seems to be endless, while finances are certainly not. It

is the season to be jolly, whilst trying to forget the long-term

costs which will emerge in the New Year.

What can be done to reduce the New Year financial hangover?

Firstly, ensure your incoming finances are being maximised.

If you are in work, is there any part time or freelance work

that you can do? Often jobs such as supermarket shelf stacking

can be made to fit in around other commitments, while websites

such as Dobiz ( http://www.dobiz.net ) have

started springing up to get freelancers and businesses together.

Selling on eBay or simply returning unwanted gifts can help

recover some of your own expenditure.

If you are not working, then obtaining a job is the most

important thing to do. Use the facilities that are available.

The Jobcentre can provide some help, but it is frequently better

to sign up with several agencies who specialise in your own area

of expertise. A quick geographically based Google search will

normally locate appropriate organisation in your area. As well

as using specialist agencies, it is always a good idea to sign

up to a couple of general agencies in order to get some form of

temporary work, as these can often provide short or long term

contracts to keep your finances above water, and they can be

given up without much of a period of notice and they look better

on a CV than a period without any work at all. If you need help

with CV's or interviews, then internet searches can provide many

sites that will be able to help, like Capita ( http://www.capitapd.co.uk )

or Jobseekersadvice ( http://www.jobseekersadvice.

com ).

Regardless of your employment situation, you also need to

maximise the money you have already. If you are using store

cards to make your purchases, don't. Unless you always pay off

the entire balance every month, you will be paying more than you

have to. Store cards usually have a very high rate of interest,

and you should be able to get a much better rate if you use a

credit card. If you are using a credit card to make most of your

purchases, what is the APR of that card, and could you get a

better rate? Many credit cards currently offer introductory 0%

transfer rates, and the increased competition to handle your

finances is leading to lower APRs all round. If you have a loan,

could you get a better deal? Are you getting the best return on

your investments? Comparison websites like Moneynet (

http:www.//moneynet.co.uk ) or Fool ( http://www.fool.co.uk ) are there

to enable you to check these details for free, quickly and

easily, in order to make your money work for you.

The next thing to do is to try to reduce your outgoings.

Budgeting is a good way to reduce costs. By highlighting how

much your regular incoming and outgoings are, it is often easy

to spot areas that can make huge differences. Most people find

that instead of having very little money to spend each month,

they are actually frittering away small amounts all the time.

This pattern of small spending rapidly mounts up, and can leave

little left over to spend on the things that you feel are really

worthwhile. Keeping a daily record of your spending is a simple

step to take but it can also show where important cuts can be

made.

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Other ways to reduce costs at Christmas include recycling last

year's decorations, only buying food that will be eaten, rather

than obtaining large quantities that will end up being thrown

away. Do most of your shopping online to save money on presents.

Due to the lower costs of running a shop online, the price of

goods can be considerably lower than in the High Street. Sites

such as Kelkoo ( http://www.Kelkoo.co.uk ) and

Pricerunner ( http://www.pricerunner.co.uk ) enable you to compare prices from various suppliers and find

the cheapest. Even if you prefer to buy on the High Street it

can still be worth going armed with prices from these sites as

many High Street shops will discount if they know they are

beaten on price.

If you don't win the lottery in the New Year and still feel that

things have got out of control then you need to seek advice from

one of the free advice organisations that are set up to help.

The National Debtline ( http://www.nationaldebtlin

e.co.uk ) and the Foundation for Credit Counselling ( http://www.cccs.co.uk ) are two

non-profit making charities that can help with guides and free

personal advice.

Regardless of whether you are trying not to shed those few extra

pounds, or recover from debt problems, a few small actions like

this can make a large difference to your New Year.

Disclaimer: All information contained in this article, is for

general information purposes only and should not be construed as

advice under the Financial Services Act 1986.

You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and

legal advice before entering into any binding contracts.

About the author:

Richard lives in Edinburgh, occasionally writing for the

personal finance blog Cashzilla, and listens

to music no one else likes.