To ask do you put Christmas on a credit card or use a loan?honestly??

[jalepenopopper]

Just that really, having a discussion with my dh after watching a programme where the family take out a loan each Christmas and pay it off all year. He thought it was crazy, I said it's more common than he thinks! I think more people do than they admit. So...do you?

It's sad that some people think it's necessary to do this in order to have a 'good' Christmas. It's supposed to be about family, not about how much you spend on presents and decorations etc.

I’m lucky not to have to save for Christmas but we don’t go crazy. I can’t say what I would or wouldn’t do if money was tight but I’m pretty sure if it was, I’d only be buying for my child and not putting myself into debt for other people/relatives.

@ginghamstarfish

It's sad that some people think it's necessary to do this in order to have a 'good' Christmas. It's supposed to be about family, not about how much you spend on presents and decorations etc.

It's not sad that some people have to use loans in order to have any Christmas. Far too many on bleating on about overspending when they obviously have no idea what it's like to struggle.

@ginghamstarfish we don't all have family though! After losses we now have tiny Christmases so I want to splash out and spoil my dd.

No I just buy with debit card and don't go over the top, plan a budget and stick to it. That way no debts or stuff to pay back

I buy everything on a credit card but pay it off on full every month. Credit card == debt.

I wouldn't get a loan for Christmas. We only spend what we can afford. I've been skint before and didn't get loans then either.

According to my budget spreadsheet, we put away a certain amount each month for Christmas, birthdays etc. In reality, we have been paying that amount monthly but to our credit card, to pay off the previous year's spending.

After a tricky couple of years, we are in a bit of a credit card rut and have run out of interest-free options so we are also having to pay a whack of interest each month. It's not ideal but hopefully we can make some inroads this year into paying it off as things are more stable.

This Christmas, however, has mostly been courtesy of the credit card so it will be a while yet before the spreadsheet tells the true picture!

@MorningStarling

I have done in the past but eventually worked out that spending one year's money paying off last Christmas meant I had nothing for this year and the cycle repeated. To get out of this cycle I just decided to tell the kids there'd be no presents one year because Santa decided they'd been naughty, that way I started the year with a clean slate and could save for the next Christmas rather than pay off the previous one.

It's sad that you let your children believe they were too naughty to celebrate Christmas rather than explain to them your financial position and maybe access a toy drive or food bank to ensure they received a gift.

No, I stick to what I can afford.

Nope

Not usually, but I just got a new credit card this year (needed a Mastercard for Amazon) and it has 23 months interest free purchase on it, so I am admittedly going a little crazy with it and going about 10-20% more than usual, and planning to pay it off over the next 2/3 months, especially since Feb and March don't have any council tax

No.
I start buying for Christmas early September so it's spread out

We save every month throughout the year for Xmas. Usually a few 100 on the cards, but we pay them off in jan.

I’m a pleb and I don’t.

I would never get a loan for Christmas.