Andrea Morales, personal finance expert, reveals the keys to saving at Christmas: "Separate the extra pay as soon as you collect it"

Gifts, lottery, decoration, dinners and reunions… Christmas It is a time of year full of excitement, traditions and moments to share. The streets are filled with lights, agendas are saturated with commitments and the atmosphere invites you to celebrate without looking too much at the calendar—or the bank account.

However, behind the Christmas charm also one of the most important consumption peaks of the year is concentrated. In just a few weeks, expenses accumulate that, in many cases, are not always planned in advance and can take their toll in January.

1. How to manage extra pay?

One of the big triggers for Christmas spending is extra pay, which many people continue to perceive as unexpected income. However, as Andrea Morales, personal finance expert at HelpMyCash, explains, that is precisely the first mistake: “treating extra pay as if it were a bonus, when in fact it is a part of the salary concentrated in a single income.” By not setting limits from the first moment, that money is quickly diluted in small daily expenses that seem harmless—impromptu dinners, last-minute purchases or quick details—but that, added together, end up evaporating it almost without us realizing it.

To avoid this, the key is not to juggle financial matters, but to introduce a small gesture of control. “Separating the extra pay as soon as you collect it and calmly deciding which part is intended for Christmas and which will serve to alleviate January” can make a difference, says the expert. Andrea sums it up with a simple idea: using part of that money to reduce expensive debt is not giving up Christmas, but “buy future peace of mind.”

2. Many expenses in a very short time

The problem is that Christmas concentrates many expenses in a very short time, which makes it difficult to maintain control. According to the data cited by Morales, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) places the average planned expense at 796 euros per personalmost half dedicated to gifts. Added to this are dinners and trips, forming a block of main expenses that absorbs most of the budget in just two or three weeks. “That is the breeding ground for a disordered budget,” warns the expert.

With this map in mind, prioritizing is no longer optional. The expert recommends securing the essentials first: “Well-planned key meals, inevitable trips and a small cushion for unforeseen events” and then focus on the important gifts, the ones that really make sense.

The margin to adjust the budget is usually in the accessory: “engagement gifts, urgent shipments, urgent shipping, expensive packaging, whim gourmet that is bought ‘just in case’ and then left over, or the accumulation of plans that chain together dinner, drinks and then ‘we’ll see’,” he explains.

3. Be a host without breaking the bank trying

Something similar happens when it comes to organizing lunches or dinners at home. Spending skyrockets, according to Andrea, when the menu takes control and “the budget obeys.” Thinking first about what you want to serve usually leads to an increasingly ambitious purchase, while “set a spending ceiling and build dinner around that numberwith a closed and sensible menu” helps maintain balance, explains Morales

Furthermore, the expert remembers that more dishes do not guarantee a better celebration and that sharing costs—drinks, desserts, contributions—is not looking bad, but rather sharing the load. “Whoever sets up the house already contributes; let others bring drinks or dessert It’s not about looking bad, it’s about distributing the load and, in the process, lowering the pressure on the host,” he adds.

4. Set a total budget for gifts

In the field of gifts, Andrea defends the usefulness of setting a budget, but warns of a common trap: that it is only theoretical. “A global limit works better than improvising amounts per person, because real spending is not decided at once: it is decided purchase by purchase, and that is where the excess sneaks in,” he explains.

The other great enemy is “commitment, which tends to push people to spend beyond what is reasonable or, worse, to finance purchases.” At this point, the expert believes that it is appropriate to introduce a clear rule: “if a gift requires going into debt, it stops being a detail and becomes a future problem.”

It is also not necessary—nor advisable—to give gifts to everyone. “It is usually the type of expense that generates the most resentment because it is bought without desire, in a hurry and to fulfill one’s needs,” explains Morales. Set limits before December, when there is still no pressure: “An invisible friend with a limit, a group gift at work, focusing gifts on children or making details shared by extended family usually work well, precisely because they replace improvisation with a simple rule,” he advises.

5. ‘Invisible’ expenses

“They areExpenses that don’t seem like Christmas, but they are, like coffees and meals out because we’re in a hurry, taxis because ‘there’s no time’, urgent deliveries to fix poor planning, packaging, small details that are bought every two days, the ‘now I’m at it’ at the supermarket,” explains Andrea Morales. And, although they don’t ruin you separately, they are the perfect mechanism to upset the plan.

The solution, rather than prohibiting them, is to recognize them: “reserve a specific item for that Christmas noise. When it does not exist, these expenses end up competing with gifts or dinners, and then comes the feeling that ‘I don’t know what I missed,'” he adds.

6. Arriving in December drowned

For those who arrive in December with water up to their necks, Andrea Morales believes that “The key is to accept the real budget without trying to disguise it. There is a possible Christmas with little margin, but it is not built by financing purchases or trying to support all social plans at the same time,” explains the HelpMyCash expert. “It is built by simplifying, fewer commitments, fewer dinners out, more plans at home, smaller and more meaningful gifts,” she clarifies.

“And, above all, changing the focus because Christmas is not a spending competition. When money is tight, what is usually remembered is not the price of the gift, but the time shared and the intention,” concludes Morales.