Five things you can do now to avoid post-holiday blues How to Budget Online Holiday Spending

Online shopping has made the holidays considerably easier to manage in recent years. No longer do shoppers have to elbow their way through massive crowds in shopping centers, wait in seemingly mile-line long lines to check out, and inch through enormous parking lot logjams at a snail’s pace. Instead, it takes far less time to click away on one site after another, loading up carts and checking out in about as much time as it takes to make a cup of coffee. With so many benefits, is there really a downside to online shopping? How to Budget Online Holiday Spending
Absolutely. How to Budget Online Holiday Spending
The ease of online shopping comes with a serious drawback – overspending. Internet-based stores can blast shoppers with an avalanche of unavoidable ads, special deals, and deep discounts to entice customers to spend more than they might have at a brick and mortar store. Special discount codes, digital timers, and tempting recommendations attract shoppers and lure them down the spending rabbit hole.
Overspending can blow your budget, increase your debt load, and make you miserable after the holidays as you figure out how to pay for everything. Instead, use the following tips to help keep your purchases on target and within your budget: How to Budget Online Holiday Spending

1. Create a budget for holiday gift purchases. Do this by finding out exactly how much cash you can spend without going into debt or hurting your ability to pay your monthly expenses.
2. Spread out your holiday dollars among the people on your shopping list. If it’s $5 per person, stick to that target without going over.
3. Identify what you want to buy for each person and make a list. A list doesn’t have to be complex. Grab a simple piece of paper and a pen and write down who gets what:
   1. Jane – book
   2. Bob – movie
   3. Jill – box of tea
   4. Barry – home baked cookies
4. Go to a website that has the items you’re looking for. If while shopping you find something more expensive you think a person on your list might like, avoid it and find something that matches your list. Reminder – stick to your budget.
5. Don’t click on anything other than what you intend to buy. Websites are littered with special deals and interesting items to get you to spend more. Don’t fall for it! Buy what you went to the site to get and move on. Reminder – stick to your budget.

If you use a credit card to do your online shopping, don’t make the mistake of blowing your budget just because you have the available credit. Your budget gives you’re the maximum amount of money you can spend without hurting you financially. Here’s a spending trick to try – think of debt as pain. The more debt you have, the more pain you’ll feel trying to pay it off. How to Budget Online Holiday Spending
When you do your shopping for the holidays, use the five simple tips above to avoid overspending. It will give those on your shopping list the gifts they’ll love while keeping a healthier bank account for yourself.
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How to Budget Online Holiday Spending

How to Budget Online Holiday Spending How to Budget Online Holiday Spending How to Budget Online Holiday Spending How to Budget Online Holiday SpendingHow to Budget Online Holiday Spending