You might want to think twice before spending a lot of money on those Boxing Day sales in the future.
A recent poll by MNP and Ipsos Reid says 27% of British Columbians are already feeling regret about how much money they spent over the holidays.
To make matters worse, 19% of responders say they are losing sleep due to the over-spending.
If the reality of the situation is always this consistent, then why do people put themselves in this position, to begin with?
“Many of us start to judge relationships by how much we spend on somebody and maybe we have children and want to evenly spend on each and it just leads to constant buying and before you know it, you’ve overspent,” says Leah Drewcock, Prince George-based Licensed Insolvency Trustee at MNP.
Commercialization and social media are also having an impact.
“People show the best parts of themselves on social media for example, and everyone is showing what they received for Christmas and what they have given and they’re telling all of the good stuff but nobody is sharing on their social media accounts they have received their credit card bill and they don’t know what to do with it.”
“A lot of it too is the number of social functions that were invited to and all the charities that are asking us to give and we forget how to say no and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it doesn’t make you a Scrooge to say no to some things. If you know in advance what your budget is for and you’ve picked those events or charities that you want to go to and support.”
The survey also states Millenials and Gen X’ers are more likely than Baby Boomers to feel regret and anxiety over this time of year.
Drewcock says there is a simple reason for this.
“Credit cards and other types of credit are so readily available for millennials and Gen X’ers more than the boomers, the boomers would have had more difficulty in obtaining their first credit card and its a lot easier for those generations to let it get out of hand.”
According to the poll, 33% of British Columbians plan to get their finances on track after making it one of their New Year’s Resolutions.
Atlantic Canadians(34%) are the most likely to have felt anxiety over the arrival of their arrival of their holiday-spending bills while BC ranks in the middle of the pack at 27%.
Albertans (37%) are the most likely to feel regret over how much money they spent over the holidays out of all the provinces.
(Files from Brendan Pawliw with MYPRINCEGEORGENOW)
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