It seems Christmas fever melted the scrooge in us all a little too much this December as news confirms we actually spent more this year than we did in December 2008!

Barclaycard have confirmed that during the last 12 shopping days of 2009, consumers spent £4 million pounds more on credit cards than they did the previous year.  Now for a nation heavily in debt, that is some weighty use of plastic!  And it seems even the turkey didn’t stop us from shopping –  32 transactions a second were made on Christmas Day itself!

And if this is the activity which took place before Jan 1st, I can only guess how much people will have spent during the January sales.

After such careful spending all year round, how can such sensible plans fall so easily apart?  In just a few days, the debt can easily creep up, and I doubt those purchases which were clear “must haves” in the sale, will seem so essential when the bills come in.

So, I think it’s time to fess up and face the music.  If you’ve spent this Christmas and New Year, please let us know here how over budget you went, how you paid and what was your breaking point?  And if you didn’t fall victim to the spending fever this Christmas, share your tricks here so others can learn how to curb the habit only 340 something days to go! 😉