January 2019 Blog …

Change for the better

It’s a fair bet that you’ve eaten more food and drunk more alcohol than usual over the last few weeks.

And it’s a racing certainty that you’ve spent more than you bargained for on Christmas.

The statistics on Christmas spending are staggering. Depending which survey you read, the total cost of the Big Day could be anything from £750 to £1,500 for every adult in the UK. And over the course of your life, that could add up to around £50,000 each that we’re forking out on presents, food and drink, Christmas parties, etc.

Bad enough that we spend a fortune on the “nice” things, but I was struck by one recent study which showed how much we quite literally throw away. Research suggests the average household will spend about £11.60 on Brussels Sprouts (only for most of them to be scraped off the plate and put in the bin at the end of the meal).

Then there’s the £101 average cost of over indulging and losing your new mobile phone – or falling asleep on the last bus and having to get a taxi home.

As if that’s not enough, there’s the damage all that food and drink does to your waistline. The British Heart Foundation reckons Brits will put on almost 20million stones in total over the festive period – the equivalent of almost 10,000 double-decker buses.

That’s the light-hearted look at the cost of Christmas, but the financial pressure can be no laughing matter. It’s estimated that more than 11million adults could still be paying off this year’s festive bills by the time Rudolph leads the sleighs out again next year.

While we can’t do anything about your festive intake of food or alcohol, your credit union can ease the financial stress that took the shine off Santa’s visit for thousands of families across the UK.

We can provide an ethical, affordable loan to help you pay off the bills quicker and avoid crippling interest charges.

But perhaps even more relevant in the long term, we can help you plan your festive spending better and prepare earlier for those bills.

By opening a Christmas savings account, you can start to put money aside – NOW – for the big day. Putting away as little as £15 each week will give you more than £700 in the Christmas Kitty by the time the serious spending starts for Santa 2019.

More important still, it will get you into the habit of saving regularly – and in advance – which can be a huge bonus when it comes to getting your finances back on track.

Christmas should be a happy, family occasion, but all too often the burden of debt weighs far too heavily on the shoulders of struggling mums and dads for them to enjoy the festivities.

Why not open your eyes to the NHS Credit Union and see how we can help?

You can find out more about our loans here …and get all the details of our Christmas Savings Account here.

Maureen Paterson,

Interim Chief Executive Officer & Head of Finance, NHS Credit Union