Avoid Falling Into These 5 Autumn Debt Traps

Autumn is here! Such a lovely season that conjures up images of crunchy leaves, hot chocolates by the fire and pumpkins! With a new season, however, comes new opportunities to overspend. All of the cool autumn festivities can be so tempting, and it’s a good idea to be wise to the marketing that will be going on.

You can still have fun this autumn, but it’s not worth going into debt over. Here are 5 autumn debt traps to avoid this season: 

“Doing it for the Gram”

Hands up if you’ve ever been guilty of ‘doing it for the ‘gram’? (Our hands are in the air right now)! Most people live through their phones these days, and we all like to portray the image that we are having a great time. Even if we don’t want to admit it to ourselves, we like to look good for others – it’s completely normal.

Whilst this may be normal, don’t forget that you are only seeing other people’s highlight reel on their Instagram feed. Trying to keep up with or impress other people is not worth going into debt for. There are lots of fun things to do in the fall that won’t cost you much. Think to yourself: “Would I buy this if I wasn’t going to post about it on Instagram?” before making your purchase. 

Buying a New Car

A new season rolling in can have you tempted to make some changes around here – and you find yourself looking at the car dealerships.

Dealers often want to clear their lots for the new 2020 models that will be due in, so they’ll be pushing the hard sell. Some things to ask yourself before making this big decision:

• Do I really need a new car?
• If I do need a new car, could I find one second-hand?
• How much will this car depreciate by over time and is it worth it?
• Do I have the cash to pay for this now?

These are some important things to consider so that you don’t make a snap decision and end up regretting it later.

Not Planning Your Holiday Season Spending 

The holidays. Such an amazing, fun time of the year…that many of us end up going into debt for. Spoiler alert: the holidays happen on the same dates every year – you can totally prepare for these in advance.

Work out how long is it until each holiday from the time that you are reading this, and how much you want to spend on each one. Then work out how much you will need to save each week in order to pay for it.

There are lots of ways to save during the holidays especially if you’re already panicking that you’re starting a bit too late. Some money-saving ideas to try out this holiday season:

• If you are hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas, ask everyone to bring a dish or dessert, so that you aren’t paying for all of the food yourself
• Create a budget and stick to it. Don’t feel like what you are buying for others isn’t enough
• Arrange to do a Secret Santa with your family/friends
• Look for discounts on gifts and go to thrift stores and yard sales to see if you can find any brand-new items
• Agree with your family that there is no present buying for adults, only for the kids

After all, the holidays are about spending time with loved ones, not spending too much money and getting into debt over it.

Spending Too Much On Travel

In the holiday season, there’s a lot of traveling that goes on. If you have family who are spread out over the country, it’s hard not to spend a lot of money on travel.

If you want to travel home for the holidays, it may be best to just pick one e.g. Christmas, or perhaps look at the travel costs and see which one works out the cheapest. When it comes to the holidays, it’s easy to go a bit wild with the spending and get into the mindset of worrying about it afterward.

We want you to have fun during the holidays, but also make sure that you don’t have a little ball of worry growing in the pit of your stomach because you’re wondering how you’re going to pay for everything. Plan in advance, get the cheapest deals that you can, create a budget and stick to it, and don’t buy stuff just because you want to portray a certain image.

Your loved ones love you no matter what you spend your money on, so don’t worry about impressing anyone by trying to go all the fall festivities and trends. Happy holidays!