Fall 2025 - Minimizing Holiday Debt

By Twandra Lomax-Brown, Family & Consumer Educator, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Richmond City

As the holiday season is rapidly approaching, stores are advertising earlier and earlier each year. Even in September stores are erecting decorated trees and hanging wreaths to entice consumers to spend, spend, and spend. Don’t let the holiday hoopla lead you to making spontaneous spending choices, just to lift your spirits. The best way to plan for holiday spending is to prepare a budget and stick to it. Review last year’s spending and decide where you can cut back in spending this year. Make a list of the holiday purchases you plan to spend money on this year. Consider all of your major spending categories: gifts, wrapping paper, cards, postage, entertaining, meals/food and travel, then estimate how much you can afford to spend in each category.

Think about payment options, cash, credit, debit, check or money you have saved or budgeted to spend for the holiday. In the past decade, consumers’ preferred payment methods have shifted substantially. Many shoppers shy away from credit cards and instead transitioned to debit cards and cash – opting to purchase gifts with money they already had in their bank accounts to help them budget instead of relying on credit to fund holiday purchases. If affordable, consider layaway as an option to make purchases. Comparison shop and look for sales.

Minimizing holiday spending tips:

• Prepare a budget

• Include all purchases in your budget (gifts, food, entertaining, travel, cards, postage, etc.)

• Think about the best payment option

• Keep in mind, the lack of budgeting may cause you to incur holiday debt

• Comparison shop, use coupons or other discounts

• Consider making homemade treats and items as gifts

• Stick to your budget

• Don’t let temptation cause you to overspend! Remember, there are 364 more days in the year!

Want to read more news from SCDHC? Check out our Fall 2025 Newsletter.