Christmas countdown: budget special

By DAVID BUDWORTH
Updated: 19:00 EST, 3 December 2000

In the famous festive hit, Seventies glam-rockers Wizzard wished it could be Christmas everyday - but it's a good job it isn't. It would be bad news for our bank balances as well as our waistlines.

In all the excitement spending can easily get out of control and getting into debt over the Christmas period is all too easy.

Without wishing to sound like a Scrooge, if you don't want to become another debt statistic this Christmas you need to take control of your spending.

To help you work out your festive finances This Is Money has designed an easy to use Christmas calculator. To be taken there quicker than Santa shifts his sleigh click here and go to Christmas Budget calculator.

When you're drawing up your budget be realistic - you are going to spend more on the high street than at any other time of year.

All it takes is the whiff of a mince pie to send most of us into a festive frenzy of excess and overspending. The high street is twice as busy in the Christmas rush, with stores selling toys, music, books and jewellery among the biggest gainers. But food and drink are also high on our shopping lists in the run up to the big day. Take everything into account when you're working out your Christmas spending.

Christmas is supposed to be the season of goodwill to all men - but children get spoiled the most when it comes to presents. The electronic interactive dog Poo-chi or the feline version Meow-Chi are expected to be among the most popular gifts this year. Compared to some previous children Christmas favourites these are priced quite reasonably at a little over £20 each.

Money not spent on presents will be spent at the supermarket on food and drink. The UK is expected to devour more than 10 million turkeys, 25 million Christmas puddings and 300 tonnes of Stilton. And we'll wash it down with 35 million bottles of wine.

Cash machines will be working overtime as we fund our festive excesses. Christmas Eve was the busiest day, last year, for cash withdrawals from the nationwide network of Link hole-in-the-wall cash machines. More than £178m was withdrawn in one day as people took out money to tide them over the Christmas holiday.

Plastic cards are the other popular way of splashing out over Christmas. We spend three times as much as usual on our plastic during the festive period and spending is expected to scale new heights in the run up to Christmas this year.

Nearly £7,000 a second will be spent by shoppers flashing their plastic this Christmas, according to figures from the Credit Card Research Group (CCRG). Credit card spending will total £8.57bn in December, while spending on debit cards will reach £9.12bn.

Don't underestimate how much you're going to spend and keep your spending within your limits and you'll have a very happy Christmas.