January is often the month when family budget planners face the spending of the holiday season, and 18% of respondents in a survey conducted by the Citadele Bank said that this year they spent more than they had planned for gifts and celebrations, while 38% said that they stuck to their holiday budget. 41% of respondents said that they had no real budget and spent what was necessary for the holiday. 4% said that they didn’t celebrate the holiday at all, so there were no additional costs.
“Much income toward the end of the year is used to prepare for Christmas and New Year’s, and the pre-holiday shopping fever is often a challenge for family budgets,” says the director of the Citadele Sector of Private Person and SME, Dace Priede. “To avoid unpleasant surprises and excessive frugality in January, people have to balance their income and spending, specifying the holiday budget in a timely way, also using payment cards or Internet banking for holiday purchases so as to easily track and control spending. In this survey, 42% of respondents said that they used payment cards more than cash in purchasing gifts for loved ones, while 13% only used payment cards.”
Asked about gifts that they bought, 43% of respondents said that they presented sweets, 37% chose cosmetics, 32% opted for toys or table games, and 18% decided on books. Comparatively few people (11%) presented money as gifts. Household equipment was presented by 14% of respondents, with others presenting gift cards (15%), jewellery (11%), beauty procedures (8%) and trips (3%). 9% of respondents said that they did not give any presents to anyone.
The Citadele survey on holiday budgets was conducted by Snapshots.lv from January 5-13, 2015, surveying 705 residents of Latvia aged 15 to 74.