How to avoid financial stress during the holiday season

abcnews.go.com:

The holidays are meant to be a time of celebration with family and friends

NEW YORK — The holidays are meant to be a time of celebration with family and friends. But they can also bring pressure to spend money on gifts, gatherings and plane tickets home, exacerbated by brand emails, social media influencers and family expectations.

With credit card debt rising and prices for many items still high due to inflation, overspending during the holiday season can add to the financial stress many Americans are already experiencing, said Dr. Marketa Wills, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association.

“The idea that one is on the hook for buying gifts for all their friends and families adds an enormous amount of stress on someone trying to have a perfect holiday," Wills said.

But there are ways to get through the holidays without spending more than you can afford. From setting expectations with your family to making a budget to gifting experiences rather than things, here are expert recommendations to avoid financial stress this holiday season:

To avoid overspending on gifts for family and friends, set a specific goal, said Matt Watson, CEO of Origin, a financial planning app. Ask yourself what your spending limit is before you start shopping.

“People get into ‘justification mode’ where you have a general sense of what you want to spend but then you see this really nice thing and all of the sudden you’ve done that a few times and you spend twice as much as you thought you might,” Watson said.

Watson also recommends that you include in your budget calculations how much you’ll pay for taxes and shipping.

In many families, the holidays mean going all out with gift-giving. But this can quickly become