How to handle financial anxiety ahead of the holiday season

Between travel, gifts and seasonal sales, it will be tempting to stretch your budget

Anonymous human hand holding the handles of many colorful bags, indicating holiday shopping
28% of holiday shoppers still have not paid off the gifts they purchased for their loved ones last year, said a NerdWallet spending report
(Image credit: Burak Karademir / Getty Images)

The holiday season can invite a lot of reasons to spend. There are flights to book, gifts to buy, special outfits for parties, extra food for visitors and the temptation of seasonal sales. To partake in the festivities, many people may end up stretching their budget — whether or not they can actually afford it.

"Even as credit card debt tops $1.14 trillion, holiday shoppers expect to spend, on average, $1,778, up 8% compared to last year," said CNBC, citing Deloitte's holiday retail survey. These spending plans are in place even though an estimated "28% of holiday shoppers still have not paid off the gifts they purchased for their loved ones last year," according to another holiday spending report by NerdWallet.

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Becca Stanek, The Week US

Becca Stanek has worked as an editor and writer in the personal finance space since 2017. She previously served as a deputy editor and later a managing editor overseeing investing and savings content at LendingTree and as an editor at the financial startup SmartAsset, where she focused on retirement- and financial-adviser-related content. Before that, Becca was a staff writer at The Week, primarily contributing to Speed Reads.