Christmas savings

Energy price hikes and rapidly rising inflation are eating into our back pockets and this undoubtedly affects many of us when it comes to the end-of-year celebrations this Christmas. This report reveals the expected 2022 Christmas spending and saving behaviours of 2,000 people across the UK. 

September was revealed as the most popular month to start saving for Christmas, followed by January. If you're planning on saving up to fund Christmas next year, compare the best savings accounts here.

Key findings

• September was revealed as the most popular month to start saving for Christmas, followed by January.

• Households with three children are more likely to start saving in January, while those with fewer children are more likely to start saving in September.

• Those aged between 18 and 24 are three times less likely to save for Christmas than those over 54.

• Just under half of the responders have reduced their Christmas budget this year.

• 33% of women reported they are worried about how Christmas will affect their finances this year, compared to a quarter of men.

• Households with children were more likely to be worried about how Christmas will affect their finances in 2022 than those without.

• One in five people expect to fund this Chritsmas using credit cards.  

• Around 23% of credit card users expect to still be paying off credit card debt six months after Christmas.

• Almost 30% of credit card users expect to spend over £1,000 on their credit cards this Christmas. 

• The most common Christmas budget in the UK is between £301 and £500.

• Households with four or more children were more likely to report expected spending of £1,000 or more. 

How much money is the UK looking to spend this Christmas?

Throughout the UK, the most common amount consumers are expected to spend on Christmas is between £301 and £500, with over 30% of respondents reporting they spend this across presents, food and drink, activities, and decorations. The least likely budget for Christmas this year was £1-£100, seeing just 6.5% of responders vote for this. Closely following this, only 6.9% voted they would spend over £1,000. 

When looking back to Christmas last year, most responders (28.70%) also reported they were most likely to spend between £301 and £500 1.6% less than the 30.30% this year. There was a 7.3% increase in people spending between £101-300 and a 3.95% reduction in people spending between £501-£800. This suggests several people are reducing their spending this year.

This year 35.1% of responders reported they are looking to spend over £500, and just 6.9% reported they were looking to spend over £1,000. Compared to last year's budgets, 44.7% were spending over £500 and 9.65% were spending over £1,000, showing that the number of people spending in these brackets has decreased.

When reporting on their expected Christmas budget, the majority of respondents reported that they were looking to spend between £301 and £500 this year (30.30%). 18-24-year-olds were the only age group to break this trend, with 34.99% opting for the lesser £101 - £300 bracket. 45-54-year-olds were the most likely to spend over £1,000 with 32.76% opting for this bracket.

Households with no children also showed a preference for spending less than those with children. 35.04% without children voted for the £101 - £300 brackets, whereas households with 1 or more children consistently reported they were more likely to spend between £301 and £500 (32.57%, 32.64%, 23.94% for 1, 2 and 3 children respectively), except for those with 4 or more children, who reported they were more likely to spend over £1,000 (26.09%).

From what month does the UK start saving for Christmas?

Just over one in five respondents start saving in September (20.05%), followed by January which is when 14.45% of respondents begin saving for Christmas.  

Only 14.40% of respondents do not save at all for Christmas. This appears to be largely made up of those over the age of 45. Almost 30% of respondents over 54 reported that they do not save for Christmas, compared to just 10.5% of 18-24 year-olds. 

Wales was the only country in the UK whose majority (17.59%) begin saving in January. Northern Ireland had the largest proportion of respondents who don’t save for Christmas at 17.31% while England had the lowest, at 14.04%.

A majority of households with three children opted to save from January (21.13%) suggesting they like to save for a longer period of time. Surprisingly, however, households with four or more children were more likely to opt for September (23.19%).

How has the UK changed their budget for Christmas in 2022?

Across all demographics (excluding those over 54) respondents voted in a majority for having reduced their Christmas budget this year. This is true for males and females, all countries in the UK, and all households with children. Just under half (49.70%) of all respondents lowered their spending this year, with just 14.95% stating they had increased their Christmas budget.

What are the UK’s feelings towards Christmas 2022?

Just under 30% of responders reported they were worried about how Christmas will affect their finances this year. A further 28.15% reported that they had started saving earlier than usual and almost 18% suggested they would spend less money on Christmas this year. Only 22.85% reported that they would plan Christmas as they always do. 

Just over 27% of men reported that they were more likely to plan for Christmas as they always do, whereas women were more likely to report that they were worried about how Christmas will affect their finances this year. In fact, 33% of females (around 1 in 3) responded that they were worried about their Christmas finances, compared to just 24.89% of males (around 1 in 4).

Households without children also reported they were less likely to be worried about how Christmas will affect their finances in 2022 at 26.34%. Households with children consistently reported that they were worried about their finances this year, with 2 in 5 households (40.14%) with 3 children reporting being worried.

How does the UK plan to finance Christmas this year?

When asked how they would finance their Christmas’ this year, just under 45% of respondents are planning on spending a little each month, 38.65% will use their savings, and 21.1% will use a credit card. This is equivalent to 1 in 5 people funding their Christmas with credit cards this year. 38.65% reported they were relying on savings and 5.3% reported they were using loans to pay for their Christmas spending. Just 10.05% of responders said they had not thought about how they would fund their Christmas this year. 

When do credit card users think they will pay off their Christmas balance?

Of the 21.1% of respondents planning to use their credit card to fund their Christmas spending this year, 48.82% expect it will take them between one and six months to pay this spending off. This suggests almost one  in 10 people will be paying off Christmas credit card debt at the start of next year. 

And although 27.96% of credit card users expect to pay off their debt within 1 month after Christmas, 6.16% expect it to take over a year to pay off. 

What balance do credit card users expect to have on their credit card after Christmas?

Of the 21.10% of responders reporting they will spend on credit cards this Christmas, 37.20% suggested they would spend less than £500. Just under one third suggested they would spend between £501 and £1,000, with the remaining responders suggesting they would spend over £1,000 on their credit cards.