The holidays don’t need to be filled with added financial stress. With a little planning and strategy, viewers/listeners can enjoy the festivities and gift giving without feeling burdened by debt in the new year. Consumer financial advocate Courtney Alev joins the AZ Daily Mix to show/tell/discuss some smart and strategic tips to stay on top of holiday spending. For more information visit CreditKarma.com
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00:00 So the holidays don't need to be filled with financial stress. A little planning
00:04 and strategy goes a long way. It sure does. I got useful, I got some useful
00:08 tips on how to avoid overspending this holiday season from Courtney Alib with
00:13 Credit Karma. Good morning Courtney, how you doing? Doing great Brad. Well it's
00:21 that time of year where of course people are gonna get out there and do some
00:25 shopping. So how do we avoid over shopping during the holiday season? Yeah
00:32 you know we saw something really interesting in a recent Intuit Credit
00:36 Karma study which was that 24% of Americans wish the holidays were
00:41 canceled completely this year because of cost. So if that sounds like you I'm here
00:46 to tell you it does not need to be that way this year. The number one thing you
00:51 can do to avoid overspending is to be realistic about what you can afford to
00:56 spend. How do you do that? Take a look at what money you've got coming in, what's
01:01 going out, and see what's left over that you can put towards holiday spending. And
01:05 if it's not much or none at all, see if there's anywhere where you can cut back
01:10 on spending. Maybe take out meals to be able to make a little bit of cushion for
01:15 the holidays. But regardless of what you decide to set as your limit, it's
01:19 important that you stick to it. I like that. I like what you said. Look at my
01:25 budget, see what I could spend. Everybody's getting Starbucks cards.
01:28 That's it right there. Okay this is something that's very interesting and
01:33 that's of course traveling for the holidays and giving those gifts. But we
01:37 got to be smart about our travel shopping around don't we? Absolutely.
01:42 Traveling over the holidays is almost always expensive and it's only gonna get
01:46 more expensive from here on out. So if you're planning on traveling this
01:50 holiday season but have not yet booked flights, it would be a great time to
01:54 start doing your research. You could set up Google flight alerts so you can start
01:59 tracking the prices for your destinations and dates to see what you
02:02 could expect or if there's certain times that might be cheaper. You can also see
02:07 if there's certain days that you could be a little bit more flexible. Maybe
02:10 travel midweek instead of on the weekend to save money or do something totally
02:16 creative. One of my friends' family celebrates Thanksgiving where they all
02:20 get together in between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays so that everyone
02:25 saves a lot of money on very expensive holiday flights. Oh that's a
02:30 great idea. I might have to take you up on that because the next question is
02:35 very important. That is saving money while we are of course in the holidays
02:41 which is very important. Not even about holiday shopping, just saving money at
02:44 this time of year. Yeah the best thing you could do to be saving money is
02:49 making a plan. I know I've definitely in the past been running around on
02:53 Christmas Eve trying to find gifts for family and now is that really stressful?
02:56 You can often just end up spending a lot more money than you would have otherwise
03:00 and along with making a plan you want to make a list. Check it twice, keep checking
03:06 it, keep in your pocket, on your phone. That can really help you from that
03:09 impulse spending that so many of us are really guilty of especially over the
03:14 holidays. Oh yes. I know I am. I've definitely fallen victim to many
03:20 targeted ads. I need that ornament that looks just like my dog or anything that
03:25 you might have over the holidays and so making that list can help you not only
03:29 stay accountable to what you're willing to buy but you can also then much more
03:34 easily do your research. There's a lot of great discounts available at this time
03:38 of year and so you can take a few minutes to do your homework and find a
03:41 better deal. I like that. What other tips really quick are there for shoppers to
03:45 of course be smarter this year? A lot of us are online shopping this year from
03:51 the comfort of our couch in our pajamas and that is great because it's super
03:55 convenient but with and there's unlimited options but there's also
03:58 unlimited temptation so if you are doing online shopping this year make sure to
04:02 stay disciplined, keep that list in front of you and take advantage of deals like
04:06 Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I like that. Okay last one. What is one of the biggest
04:11 mistakes we do of course when we're shopping for the holidays? The biggest
04:17 mistake really comes down to not planning and not making that list. You
04:20 end up missing out on deals and spending potentially a lot more money than you
04:24 need to but another mistake people make is not talking to their friends, family
04:28 or loved ones about their financial stress and while it can be a taboo topic
04:33 if you are feeling stressed about the holidays you are not alone. We see that
04:38 22% of Americans think they can't even afford any gifts this year so if that's
04:43 you have a conversation with your family, share your limit what you're willing to
04:47 spend, maybe set a really small spending limit for family gifts or even be
04:52 creative and try to do free experiences. Talking about your finances can really
04:56 help you make better decisions together. Oh I like that. Yes I'm gonna have that
05:00 talk. We're just gonna go to the park.
05:04 There you go. Bring a picnic. I like it.
05:07 Courtney where can we find out more information about what we've been
05:10 talking about? You can download the Credit Karma app. No matter where you are
05:15 on your own individual personal financial journey we've got tools and
05:19 resources that can help you. I love it. Courtney thanks for joining us this
05:22 morning. Thank you.
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