Spending Too Much During the Holidays: How to Avoid it This Year… and For Good

This year, holiday spending is expected to increase anywhere from three (according Standard & Poor’s) to four and a half percent (according to Ernst & Young). A four percent increase would bring sales from the holiday shopping season ( a period of only one month)  to nearly $475 billion.

Though this is a smaller rise in spending than occurred in both 2005 (5.8 percent increase) and 2006 (4.9 percent), you still need to be careful about spending too much of your own hard-earned cash this year.

Nearly one-third of Americans say they feel worse off financially this year, according to a national survey by America’s Research Group. Add to that the yearly holiday spending burden -- the average American will spend over $800 on holiday gifts this year, according to the National Retail Federation -- and you could be in a real financial pinch come January. Not a great way to start the new year.

Whether because of tempting advertising gimmicks and marketing tricks, or just getting caught up in the holiday spirit, consumers tend to go over their holiday spending budgets by an average of 15 percent to 30 percent, according to the International Mass Retail Association.

There are two main reasons why people overspend around the holidays,” says Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training at Sedona Training Associates. “First off there is the feeling of obligation to give to people we would not give to the rest of the year -- and to over-give to those we care about. The other is simply getting caught up in the societal and media-driven lust that is generated to support the consumer machine that is intentionally generated around the holidays.”

The end result is that after the gifts have been given, many consumers are left facing major credit card bills -- and they haven’t even finished  paying off their holiday debt from 2006.

How to Avoid Over-Spending this Holiday Season

This can be the year that you don’t go into debt over your holiday gifts. Taking control of your spending is well within your reach when you use The Sedona Method.

The Method works by teaching you how to easily let go of the emotional factors driving you to overspend. Perhaps you feel you must spend money to prove to someone that you love him or her. Or you are trying to create the “perfect” holiday by buying material items. When you release these false assumptions, you enjoy the holiday in a way that you never have before -- free of lust.

When you simply let go of your feelings of lust and obligation -- and then follow your intuitive knowingness as opposed to reacting and allowing your feelings to push you around -- you will be in total control of your spending, and you’ll enjoy the deeper meaning of the holidays,” Dwoskin says.

The Sedona Method is, in fact, an excellent gift for your friends and family who also have a habit of over-spending. As soon as you apply these principles, you will be able to release the urge to buy more than you should -- and you won’t feel disappointed by it. You will feel content and at peace, and there’s no greater gift than that.

Finally, you can use these practical tips to support The Sedona Method, and make spending too much at the holidays a distant memory.

• Make a budget and stay within it. Be sure to include other holiday expenses (like food, decorations, greeting cards, new clothes, etc.) into your overall budget.



• Pay off your credit card debts as soon as possible (within a month or two) to avoid costly interest charges.



• Consider using a “Christmas Account” for next year. This can be as simple as stowing away some cash in an envelope or as organized as setting up automatic deposits of funds into a bank account that you’ll use for gifts next year.

For more information on the easy to learn Sedona Method, visit our web site at www.sedona.com