Many Canadians still paying off last year’s holiday debt. How to stay on budget this season

globalnews.ca:

Gift-giving season is just around the corner, but one quarter of Canadians still haven’t paid off their holiday spending debt from last year, a recent survey has found.

Half of Canadians (51 per cent) who holiday shopped in 2022 incurred credit card debt, NerdWallet’s annual survey published last week revealed. One in four, or 25 per cent, still have not paid off those funds.

The findings of the survey, which was conducted between Oct. 3 – 5, 2023 among 1,021 Canadian adults ages 18 and older, come as Canada’s cost of living continues to soar, causing some to adjust their budgeting plans for this year.

Nearly 80 per cent of Canadians said in an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News in October that inflation and rising interest rates have had a “significant” impact on their holiday budgets. A “softening” labour market in Canada, as shown in the country’s latest job report released last week, is also part of this effect.

While three in 10 Canadians (29 per cent) said they intend to spend less on gifts this coming holiday season than they did last year, roughly half (49 per cent) said they’ll spend about the same, the Ipsos poll found.

Meanwhile, NerdWallet’s recent survey found that nearly half of Canadians who plan to purchase gifts this holiday season (48 per cent) have a strict budget for the amount they will spend. Thirty-five per cent of holiday shoppers plan to shell out less per person this year compared to years past, the results showed.

“I can’t say that I’m all that surprised by these numbers. Canadians have been feeling the pinch in their wallets for many months now,” NerdWallet spokesperson Shannon Terrell told Global News.

“It’s not just inflation. We’ve been dealing with increased cost of living.