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Women blow the Christmas budget with `top-up' gifts

Simon Ward
by Lovemoney Staff Simon Ward on 03 December 2011  |  Comments 6 comments

A new survey says that nearly half of women admit to spending more than they planned to on Christmas presents.

Women blow the Christmas budget with `top-up' gifts

A new survey claims nearly half of women blow their Christmas shopping budget. National Savings & Investments found that a third of women splash out on last minute ‘top-up’ gifts, in addition to presents they’d already planned to purchase.

Only two-fifths of men surveyed admitted overspending and most said they finish their shopping well before Christmas. A fifth of the men surveyed said they had bought their presents months in advance and within budget. And only a quarter of men said they bought top-up presents.

Despite the current squeeze on our pockets, two-fifths of the women surveyed said that price wasn’t an issue when it comes to Christmas presents. Women spent an average of £50 more than men.

Unsurprisingly, nearly 40% of the women surveyed admitted that they felt frustrated or guilty about their Christmas spending when January rolled around.

It's easy to avoid falling into the trap of overspending. Make sure you avoid these Christmas rip-offs, and don't do your spending on these terrible cards. You can also save money of your gifts by reading our Frugal Gift blog every weekday in December!

More: Get a 0% credit card | Cut the cost of shopping for Christmas gifts | Beware this phishing scam at Christmas

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Comments (6)

  • connie
    Love rating 0
    connie said

    So a third of women overspend and two fifths of men overspend. I'm not great at maths but isn't two fifths more than a third??

    Report on 04 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 600
    Mike10613 said

    @Connie, a third of women buy top up gifts compared to 1/4 of men; it's confusing but you have to compare like with like. Women are shopaholics by nature; but I'm grateful for all the shopping they have done for me over the years! I have some to do today and I'm not looking forward to it!

    Report on 04 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Cheshire Cat
    Love rating 8
    Cheshire Cat said

    Very difficult to compare like with like when the writing is deliberately biased, obfuscated and even misogynist.

    So 'nearly half' of all women admit to spending more than they planned. No percentage is given for this so shall we assume 47%? Compared with the two-fifths (which would be 40%) of men who admit overspending. Now just because the women have spent more than they PLANNED, doesn't mean they've spend more than they can AFFORD. 40% of men ADMIT overspending - so the true figure could be more. But again, are these men spending more than they planned, or more than they can afford?

    There is so much wrong with this article it's untrue, it is simply perpetuating the male view that women are unthinking shopaholics, especially at Christmas, but without any reasoned argument or properly presented descriptive statistics.

    Pull your socks up Simon Ward and lovemoney - you can do better than this.

    And Mike - your comments are no better. Are you really that patronising and misogynist or do you just think it's funny to be provocative and controversial?

    Report on 04 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Simon Ward
    Love rating 5
    Simon Ward said

    @Cheshire Cat

    I don't think reporting the results of a pretty lighthearted survey makes me a misogynist.

    Report on 05 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Cheshire Cat
    Love rating 8
    Cheshire Cat said

    @Simon Ward

    I never accused you of being misogynist - I said the writing was. Possibly.

    I'm glad you are not disputing that the piece was biased, obfuscated nor lacking reasoned argument and properly presented stats.

    If the original research was poorly presented, maybe don't report on it, or, make your attitude towards it and its shortcomings quite clear for your readers.

    Report on 05 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Laura Nuttall
    Love rating 0
    Laura Nuttall said

    Hi Simon, interesting to read this. Although women may spend more, they do try and save more in the process! My client MadBid.com's (http://uk.madbid.com) recent survey revealed that women are actually use money-saving techniques – for example twice as many women (34%) as men are using saved loyalty points this year - as well as choosing not to buy on credit pay and planning ahead to find the best deals and avoid the last-minute rush! More interesting stats here http://bit.ly/v6RBxj

    Report on 12 December 2011  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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