Americans plan to watch their holiday spending

11.24.08
By Sarah Beldo

Does it feel like the credit crunch has put a lump of coal in your stocking?

For many people, the answer seems to be yes - at least, if planned spending for the holidays is any indication.

According to a new poll by the Conference Board, American consumers are planning to spend an average of $53 less on Christmas presents this year than they did in 2007.

The findings reveal that households will lay out around $418 for gifts in 2008, compared with the $471 they intended to spend for this purpose last year.

"Consumers are in a cost-conscious mood heading into the holiday season and they intend to
spend less this year than last year on gifts," commented Lynn Franco of the Conference Board
Consumer Research Center.

If you are like many people, your attitude toward spending may have changed in the past few months, as more news reports warned of lay-offs, foreclosures and challenges obtaining credit.

In fact, you may have already begun creating a budget for your Christmas spending and researching sales and discounts, so you can get more bang for your buck.

This is an excellent approach for those who want to begin January without too much credit card debt, according to consumer advocate Adam Levin.

He told ABC-15 News that the current shopping climate is "a buyer's market" which allow deal-hungry consumers to have "more leverage this year than they've had in decades."

However, he cautioned consumers from charging their credit card to the max, even if they encounter a number of deals that seem too good to resist.

One of the factors that affects your credit score is your debt-to-credit ratio. The lower the ratio between how much you have borrowed and how much you are authorized to borrow, the better your chance of boosting your score.

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This year, many people are cutting back on Christmas spending