Cash Strapped Brits Worried About Christmas

As Christmas draws in, every day people's struggles have been highlighted.

Head of personal finance, David Kuo from money website Fool, believes that large numbers of people across the country that are simply living "from hand to mouth" will struggle to put any money aside in time for Christmas.

The continuing squeeze on finances being caused as a result of the credit crunch is behind such difficulty in the run-up to Christmas, Mr Kuo said, arguing that this increased expenditure on everyday household bills has stopped people from saving any of their hard earned cash for Christmas.

Rising costs associated with energy bills, motoring, mortgage payments and insurance, as well as food price inflation, has meant that peoples everyday outgoings have risen and disposable income left at the end of each month has fallen away. Therefore, it is increasingly difficult to plan ahead for events such as Christmas where expenditure increases, as there is less ability to put money to one side each month, Mr Kuo said.

To help plan finances over the Christmas period may be to take out a low rate personal loan, which could help you budget over a longer period of time.

And it is budgeting for the festive season that Mr Kuo suggests for those that are in a situation where they have not been putting money aside each month. "Although the right thing to do, is to put money to one side, it becomes very difficult to do so, as so many people are just living from hand to mouth at the moment. What people need to do between now and Christmas is budget in some ways," he said. Mr Kuo added that it may be wise for individuals to try and find the money they think they will spend on Christmas presents from somewhere. By budgeting successfully, large amounts of debt spread over a number of different credit cards, for example, may be avoided.

Research from a number of building societies has shown that rather than take on these these tips for a successful Christmas, people have decided to cut back their level of spending over the festive season.

Research made by Birmingham Midshires found that some 78 per cent of Brits will be making steps to make this an affordable Christmas. Overall, budgets for Christmas have fallen by 102 pounds, with Britons planning on forking out just over 600 pounds this year on their celebrations. It has been noted that only 11% of people plan to spend on their plastic this season. which has dropped according to reasearch - down from 41 per cent of people in 2006.

It seems, however, that it is not just Christmas that is a concern for individuals. Recent research from Close Investments suggested that the majority of people are concerned about the country suffering from recession during the winter months.