Christmas is that time of the year when it can be very tempting to splurge here and there. For many people, this is considered a joyful season. However, the time that was supposed to be happy can quickly turn into a major of stress that is, unless you are intentional and careful with handling your finances.

When planning your Christmas budget, it always makes perfect sense that you also consider how much other people usually spend. As for the average baseline of the amount you should spend on Christmas, most financial experts recommend calculating 1% of your yearly income for you to get a number that will leave a serious dent in your wallet.

If you noticed, with every year that passes by, the focus on the consumption of the holiday season seems to get bigger than the last. Nonstop ads and grandiose displays in stores pressure consumers to spend so much more than what they can actually afford. This leaves most people carrying the unfortunate heavy burden of their credit card debt once the New Year comes.

But the 2020 Christmas holiday season looked a little bit different than usual. Instead of going to the malls to visit Santa or go on a shopping spree in department stores, a lot of changes happened. Most of you have probably spent more time with your family and loved ones and exchanged gifts that you ordered online.

Due to the events that shocked the world in 2020, a lot of people have experienced some unexpected changes in income, employment, and even their health, the holiday budget has become their top priority.

For you to figure out how much you should really spend on Christmas, below are the 13 most common spending habits that can serve as your guide when planning your budget:

1. About 71% of the holiday shoppers planned using their credit card to get funds for their holiday expenses.
2. The holiday retail sales during the months of November and December in 2019 grew up to $730.2 billion.
3. In 2019, the non-store sales during the holiday season grew by up to 14.6%.
4. The holiday spending sales in 2019 in the United States reached more than $1 trillion.
5. There were around 48 million Americans who were still paying off their credit card debts from their expenditures back in the 2018 holiday even in 2019.
6. The average income in American households is approximately $69,000.
7. The individual Americans have planned spending an average of $942 for gifts in 2019.
8. The holiday retail sales in 2019 came in at a whopping amount of $1.007 trillion dollars, which is a significant increase of 4.5% compared to that in 2018.
9. The holiday travelers have an average expenditure of 14% more for each trip in 2019 compared to the past few years.
10. The cost of holiday trip averaged out to $4,056 for each trip in 2019 for people who are travelling in the United States.
11. Paying for experiences like in dining in restaurants made up for more than a quarter of the 2019 holiday spending.
12. 59% of all beverage and food spending occurred in restaurants.
13. Americans spent $227.26 on buying non-holiday gifts like decorations.