It’s once again that special time of year. The Melbourne Cup has been run. The weather is warming up and the first cricket test has kicked off. Christmas tunes are playing in supermarkets & shops everywhere. Happy days!
There is a real shift in mood. Christmas is just around the corner!
Excitement and anticipation builds for the festive season.
And rightly so. For many Australians, it is that one final big busy push and then…….BREAK. Ahhhhhhh – relax and recover. Two weeks of holidays. The anticipation of this is almost overwhelming.
But this is where lots of people come unstuck.
They use Christmas as an excuse. “It only happens once a year” they say. “I have worked hard for this.”
They talk themselves into an “excess” mindset.
Excess presents for the kids. Excess food and alcohol on the table. Buying stuff that isn’t really needed but is done anyway.
Visiting the shops yesterday, you can almost feel the hurt in the retail sector. Christmas sales are starting earlier and earlier. Sales with 20% off everything. But wait, buy 2 and get 30% off! Our natural reaction is to buy an extra one for someone else.
Essentially what the retailers are trying to do is leverage off a particular time of year to change our behaviour.
The moment we start thinking in this way you are in dangerous territory. It isn’t then about the gift to suit a particular person. We are now buying extra stuff and then finding someone that it suits.
Easily spending money that we otherwise wouldn’t have allocated. Many budgets have fallen over because we got caught in the moment of buying excess stuff.
We are not saying don’t buy presents.
Just ask yourself, what are you actually buying? Are you buying a gift? Or are you buying what the gift does? The excitement of giving a thoughtful gift that will actually be appreciated and used long into the New Year.
Let this emotion guide our decision rather than the brain snapping sale.
Because one hangover is enough after Christmas Day.
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