After dealing with higher prices for food, gas and other necessities this year, do you plan to cut back on spending on Christmas gifts and other holiday expenses?
I posed that question to shoppers at Orland Square mall in Orland Park this past weekend as the holiday shopping season kicked into high gear and in the face of retailers’ anticipation of increased sales. The response from shoppers was mixed.
Donesha Owens, from Chicago, who was looking at holiday pajamas at Macy’s Saturday, plans to sharply cut her holiday gift list. Last year, the 28-year-old social worker bought roughly 15 gifts. This year she’s buying one, she said.
“We’re actually doing a grab bag with my family where we each just purchase a gift for one person in our family,” she said.
But Worth resident Kristen Blum, 35, said the Christmas holiday season typically isn’t a time that she looks to scale back. This year will be no different, even though she has felt the squeeze due to inflation.
“Everything has been so negative with COVID,” said Blum, a pharmacy technician. “I feel like now that we’re starting to get back to normal, I don’t want to change my holiday giving plans.”
She bought roughly 20 gifts last year and plans to do likewise this year, she said.
Blum was shopping with her cousins, among them Amanda Coniceak, 35, who lives in Hometown with her husband and two children.
“The people I’m around the most are the ones I’m buying for, not everybody,” said Coniceak, a nursing assistant.
She and her husband decided to minimize giving even for their children, Coniceak said.
“With inflation, we’ve just decided that money can be spent more wisely,” she said.
Their priority has been on spending for activities and experiences that allow them to share time together as a family instead of spending money on material items, Coniceak shared.
“I think that’s something that COVID has taught us,” she said. “The experiences are more important and what we missed when we were caged inside.”
Family member and Burbank resident Anna Blum said due to inflation she’s being more cautious with her spending.
“I definitely have to be more aware of what I’m buying,” she said. “Normally I will just be like I want to get this for someone, and I’ll just get it, but now it’s how much is this thing. I have to be more mindful of how much I’m spending.”
She’s far from alone. Overall, consumer prices rose 7.7% in the Chicago metropolitan area in October from a year earlier, according to the latest report from the Labor Department. Energy prices jumped 21.4%, largely due to a 44.3% spike in utility gas service costs and a 24.1% jump in gasoline prices. Transportation costs rose 13.1%, food prices increased 9.3% and apparel prices rose 5.8%.
Besides dealing with inflation, Anna Blum said she has faced another challenge.
“I was out of work for about a month, so I’m still trying to build my savings back up after that, so that really also has been a big factor in how much I’m able to spend,” she said.
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Willie Mae, 65, who was shopping with her daughter, said she has no plans to cut back on her holiday gifts this year. The Monee resident said due to being shut in for so many months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she spent less and her savings benefited.
“We just want to enjoy this year,” she said.
She typically gives cash as gifts to her family so they can buy what they want, she said, noting “I’m giving them the same amount as I always do.”
But her daughter, Chevette Randle El, also of Monee, said she is cutting back “because the price of so many other essentials are extremely high right now. It’s a matter of prioritizing and putting things in perspective.”
Last year, the insurance broker and financial adviser bought roughly 40 to 45 gifts for family, friends and co-workers.
“This year I will probably be down to maybe six or seven, and it will be pretty much close family, immediate family,” said Randle El, 46.
The National Retail Federation earlier this month forecast holiday sales during November and December will grow between 6% and 8% from 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. Last year, holiday sales grew 13.5% over 2020 and totaled $889.3 billion, the federation said.
An estimated 166.3 million people planned to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, nearly 8 million more than last year, according to an annual survey released by the federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics earlier this month.
Oak Lawn resident Lionel Haro, among those out shopping with his family at Orland Square mall, plans to spend roughly the same on Christmas gifts as he did last year. But the 41-year-old commercial plumber won’t use credit cards. The family got out of debt about 18 months ago and Haro is thankful they did given that interest rates have increased. To stay on budget, they save ahead of time for purchases and pay with cash, he said.
For others looking to stay on budget, if using credit, they should do so wisely, said Randle El, who authored a self-published book, “What She Didn’t Learn in School: The Ultimate Financial Planning Guide for Women of Color.” Consumers can benefit from taking advantage of credit card travel or other rewards and cash back offers, but if you charge any items, make sure you pay off the card balance when billed to avoid paying any interest, she said.
Personal finance expert Kimberly Palmer at personal finance website NerdWallet offers these tips on how to save this season:
* Shop early and spread purchases throughout the holiday season. This can ease the impact on your budget and help you land the best deals. Also hold on to your receipts in case the price drops and you can exchange your purchase for the lower price.
* Leverage shopping tools. Apps and browser extensions such as ShopSavvy, Coupon Cabin and PayPal Honey make it easy to apply all available coupon codes to make sure you’re getting the lowest price.
* Take advantage of additional savings. Besides coupon codes, you can earn cash back on purchases through tools like Rakuten or Ibotta.
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown