Four Things That Can Break Your Holiday Budget

Are you planning to stick to your budget this year? Or will you just buy way too many presents for your kids, put it all on credit, and figure it out in January?

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A new survey found 78% of us have gone over-budget on Christmas before and the average person ends up spending $218 more than they planned to. 54% of us have re-gifted something to save money. Here are the top reasons we go over-budget:

Trying to buy someone the "perfect gift." 65% of people said they've overspent because they wanted a gift to be perfect.
Forgetting to include people on your list. So you end up buying extra presents you weren't planning to buy, 57%.
Buying things for yourself while you're shopping for other people. 49% of us have done it and ended up spending too much.
Overspending on small things, like cards, wrapping paper, and stocking stuffers, 25%. Or forgetting to factor stuff like that into your budget in the first place.

The survey also found 27% of us expect to pay off our holiday bills within a month. 14% say it'll take three months and 7% say it'll take at least six months to catch up.