Christmas costs parents, research shows

Parents risk falling into debt as a result of the Christmas period, as new research has revealed that they are spending more than is affordable on entertaining their children at this time.

Studies by internet bank Egg have found that, on average, £40 each day will be spent in this manner, on activities such as going out for lunch – which will affect 60 per cent of families – going to the cinema – a concern for 52 per cent – or buying DVDs – with 42 per cent stating this will occur.

This will amount to a total cost of nearly £540 for two weeks of Christmas and spokeswoman for the company Vanessa Wood noted that by “being smart”, the costs of the festive season can be spread.

Using credit cards with a good cash-back rate was suggested as a possible solution.

Earlier this year, the ClearCash Prepaid MasterCard was launched, which offers consumers a free BudgetMaster tool that is integrated into icounts.

This enables shoppers to work out each month how much they want to budget for essential expenditure and ensure they do not overspend.

Operations director Samuel Mond noted that the card has been “a huge help to many shopping at this time of year. Most are now using it as an alternative to a bank account – they can categorise where and how they want to spend the money in their icount.”

Consumers with ClearCash are able to manage exactly what goes in and comes out without the worry of going into an overdraft and incurring charges, which as Samuel Mond agrees, “is the last thing anyone wants during the most expensive shopping period of the year”.

By Sarah Adie