A survey of 1000 Britons by OnePoll for icount reveals that people will be spending an average of £470 on Christmas this year, this includes expenses such as gifts, decorations, food and travel.
When looking into spending, the survey suggested that respondents would be buying gifts for an average of 8 recipients. Worth just under £40 each. When asked about specific purchases, responders expect to spend an average of £311 on presents, £116 on food, £75 on alcohol and £45 on decorations.
Nearly one in four (23%) will be putting the cost of Christmas (nearly £500) on a credit card.
Respondents were also asked about how they intend to fund Christmas this year. Although the majority of respondents have specific savings in place, 11.50% were planning to fund part of their Christmas spending with savings while 20.30% are not intending to fund Christmas with any savings.
Commenting, icount managing director Samuel Mond said: "the people we surveyed are setting aside around 30% of one month's income to pay for Christmas. There are few who can afford to do this so either saving or getting into debt is inevitable for most. Those who plan ahead need to save roughly £40 per month. Those who put the holiday on plastic will pay considerably more. Using credit is a choice many are forced to make because they can't make ends meet in any month of the year. Christmas, funded by credit, really could be a major factor in problem debt - partly because people see it as spending that is essential to family happiness".
Those who have saved, and are intending to save, will be putting aside an average of £497 to spend on Christmas. However, the respondents who are not planning on using savings will be relying on their monthly wage (73.40%), budgeting (23.15%) and 22.66% will be using a credit card.
The results reveal that over 20% of Brits expect to get into debt in order to fund Christmas. 6.20% say that they will very likely get into debt and 15.10% say that they will possibly get into debt.
