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Presents and socialising cause most financial concern for people in Birmingham over Christmas

Personal Account provider thinkmoney recently carried out some research* to find out about festive spending habits all over the UK.

For example, the research found that in and around Birmingham, 60% of respondents cited the cost of Christmas presents and socialising as a source of concern.

Of course, Christmas is an unusual time: these costs are clearly much higher for most of us than they are at other times of the year. Some costs, however, are with us all year round.

For example, people in Birmingham were more worried about the cost of gas and electricity for their homes over Christmas (44%) than the general UK population (35%). They were also concerned about the cost of putting food on the table (31% - slightly more than the national average of 30%).

Despite being worried about the cost of festive gifts, 71% of people in the Birmingham area said that this is inevitably their biggest expense over Christmas. This is higher than the national average (67%).

On the whole, it appears people in Birmingham have a good attitude towards their Christmas spending, with nearly half (49%) saying they live within their means at all times. In fact, they seem to have a better attitude than the rest of the UK - around the country, just 43% said this.   

Some, however, are clearly tempted to go a bit overboard when it comes to festive spending. For example, 16% feel like they 'have' to spend a minimum amount on gifts (even if they can't strictly afford it) and 10% adopt a 'spend now, pay later' kind of attitude. These are both higher than the national averages (14% and 8% respectively).

If you take this into account, maybe it's no wonder that 30% of couples in Birmingham tend to argue more over Christmas - compared with 21% across the UK.

Ian Williams of thinkmoney had this advice: "Rather than how much you spend over the festive season, what really matters is whether you can afford it. Everyone wants to have fun at Christmas time, but it's not worth getting yourself into financial difficulty.

"If you find you're unprepared every time Christmas rolls around, it'll definitely help to get a budget in place for next year - like the 30% of respondents in Birmingham whose budgeting habits mean Christmas spending isn't a problem."

 

* Opinion Matters surveyed 1,478 UK adults between 24th and 31st October 2012.