Dollars and Sense: I’m done with Christmas being a financial slog. What can I do different this year?
Sunday, 1 March 2026
Senior business reporter Rob Stock answers your money questions. Got a question for Sunday magazine? Email it to sundaymagazine@stuff.co.nz
QUESTION: I’m done with Christmas being a financial slog. What can I do to avoid that this year?
ANSWER: February is the peak month for digestion of Christmas debt.
Total credit card balances tend to peak at about $200 million higher as a result of Christmas spending, and fall back a little in the following months as people improve their finances. That’s the visible bit of Christmas debt. Heaven knows what spike there is in finance company, bank overdraft and buy now pay later debt.
Can families do things better? Of course. Many of them. Little things can help. You can make little savings by replacing used wrapping paper and broken decorations when stores are flogging off unused stock at bargain prices, and stick them at the back of a cupboard. (FYI: I hate buying wrapping paper, so savings make me happy). I also tend to buy presents throughout the year, as I stumble across things I think people will like, which is a form of spreading the cost throughout the year. Some people make it presents only for the little ones.
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A key tool in families’ Christmas pre-planning is saving. People set up savings accounts for Christmas at their banks, but there are often things that come up during the year that interrupt savings.
Some companies have Christmas club/account/services into which people “save”. Often they are designed to make it hard for people to give in to temptation, and spend what they have saved before Christmas.
But be warned: These range from excellent to depressing, so go in with your eyes wide open, and be sure to read the terms and conditions.
Woolworths and New World/Pak‘nSave Christmas clubs have what must be the best savings “interest rates” on the market. Money saved into these PIN-protected card-based clubs can be spent at a discount of 5% at Woolworths, and 6.5% to 3.5% at New World/Pak‘nSave (depending on what month money is saved). So if your Christmas shop costs $300 at Woolworths, you’d pay $285.
At New World/Pak‘nSave, you can spend your Christmas Club any time, but you only get the discount when spending after December 1.
Woolworths goes a step further. Money saved into its Christmas club can’t be spent except in December and January. It gets locked up in between.
Of course, companies operate Christmas clubs for a reason. They lock savers into spending the money with them. Savers can’t shop around for better prices elsewhere.
Unity Credit Union has a 1.8% Christmas Saver. It uses a stick mechanism for encouraging people to leave the money in until Christmas: a $10 fee for withdrawals in all months except November, December and January.
Mad Butcher’s Christmas Club has an “activation” period so people can only spend the money they have “saved” in December and January. I don’t like its $40 fee to close an account, though. That’s an example of the T&Cs you need to be aware of.
And then there’s Chrisco. It has catalogues for people to browse through.
It sells “hampers” of food and drink, and individual items (toys, electronics, etc). Buyers pre-paying for them over 36 weeks. These get delivered in November to mid-December.
The trouble is Chrisco shoppers overpay. Take Chrisco’s Barker’s hamper of 15 items of food and drink. It costs $3.32-a-week in 36 payments. That adds up to $119.60. You can buy the items today in Woolworths for $83.33. Some Chrisco hampers are truly vast. Its Kiwi Festive Feast costs $1253.20 paid for in 36 weekly payments of $34.81.
There’s a rich people tendency to scoff at Chrisco. But remember, it is hard being poor. Having money put beyond reach (including of other family members) guarantees a Christmas without debt. That said, I don’t love it.
- Sunday Magazine