As the bills roll in, an online voucher code and money saving website has looked into whether families overspent on Christmas and whether they regretted it now. They found 47% of people regretted spending so much at Christmas, however 57% said they would do it again next year to keep their families happy.
As many people are hit with bills from their Christmas spending, online voucher code and money saving website My Voucher Codes investigated to find out if people had overspent this Christmas and whether they regretted doing so. They surveyed 2,700 people in the UK aged over 18 and asked: “Did you overspend on Christmas 2016?”. The results showed:
- 35% had overspent
- 38% had kept to their budget
- 27% had spent under their budget
The result matched the sentiment prior to Christmas, when My Voucher Codes surveyed 2,300 UK residents and asked, ‘How has your Christmas spending changed this year?’ 55% stated that their spending had not changed. The average UK family was set to spend over £800 on Christmas last year.
How has your Christmas spending changed this year?
- It hasn’t – 55%
- I’m trying to save money wherever I can – 28%
- I’m waiting for the sales – 8%
- I’m buying less to offset price increases – 6%
- I haven’t thought about Christmas shopping – 2%
- I’m increasing my spending – 1%
Investigating further, they then asked those taking part if they had any regret;47% of people admitted that they regretted spending so much for Christmas. Interestingly out of those who did regret their spending habits, 57% of people said they would still spend the same again, if not more, this year.
The survey also revealed the reasoning for some people behind why they spend so much and why they will do the same next year:
“I like spending money on my family at Christmas, I love to see the smiles on their faces when they open their gifts and enjoy the celebrations. Our whole family gets together to celebrate, something we don’t do that often so we want it to be special.”
“I work hard and save for Christmas so I can provide them with what I missed out on when I was a child.”
“I do regret overspending at Christmas when January comes around and I have no money, but that is a distant memory come next Christmas and I spend, spend, spend again, but it is what it is.”
Speaking about the results, General Manager of My Voucher CodesChris Reilly said:
“Our research shows most people are good at sticking to a set budget, however many do overspend at Christmas. When the bills start coming in in January, it’s easy for the regrets to set in about how much you spent. Interestingly, that doesn’t seem to deter people from spending as much, or more, next Christmas. It would appear that for many parents, the joy of their children at Christmas is one of the main reasons for spending. Parents feel pressure to achieve the perfect Christmas.”
He added:
“It’s good news for retailers as well, despite dire financial forecasts it seems consumer confidence was at an all-time high as sale records were beaten over the Christmas period. Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well as many Christmas sales starting early in December can all be attributed to the increases. It seems people were happy to hit the shops, spend their hard earned money and will most likely do the same again this year.”