Photo: 123RF
Forty-four percent of New Zealanders plan to spend less over the holidays, a new survey by Westpac shows.
Just 16 percent plan to spend more, and the rest plan to spend the same as last year.
With Christmas around the corner, shoppers like Ben were feeling the pressure.
"We're trying to reduce where we can," he said. "[We're] not going away, we're staying at home. Just being less extravagant with kids' toys and presents."
He said other living costs took priority.
"For us, it's mainly been mortgage rate rises," Ben said. "It's costing us about $12,000 more a year."
John had similar concerns.
"Mortgage rates, [there's] more money going out," he said.
"Rather than multiple presents for the children, it's just one or two decent presents. There'll be less under the tree."
Wilga said her family planned to skip the Christmas ham.
"Everything's so expensive," she said. "Christmas lunch is just ordinary now because there's too many of us."
Johnathan said his paycheck was not going as far as it used to.
"I'm not a present-buying kind of guy, but definitely with food ... maybe going to Countdown instead of Farro," he said, referring to the high-end grocery chain in Auckland.
"Inflation has been around 8 percent, I think I'm probably in the majority of people who only got a 2 percent pay rise [this year], so that's a cost of living increase."
Maia was cutting down on her expenses to save more for gifts.
"I'm just in between jobs at the moment, finished university and about to start a job, so I'm not really floating in a sea of money," she said.
"Less going out to see friends, or going for alternatives rather than going out for a drink or coffee."
Tom said his family saved on presents by doing a gift exchange.
"We do a Kris Kringle in my family, I think if there's eight people you [can] do a Kris Kringle or a Secret Santa you just buy one gift per person," he said.
Westpac consumer banking and wealth acting general manager Helen Ryder encouraged people to be mindful with their money.
"We've got a lot of customers who are really thinking about their holiday spending and making some quite sensible decisions around it," she said.
"But we found there was a segment of customers who didn't have a plan yet."
She said there were plenty of ways to cut costs without sacrificing the joy of Christmas.
"Decorations really stood out ... reusing those is really good and quite a sustainable option," she said.
"If you're hosting, getting people to bring some food with them so you don't have one person bearing the brunt of that."
Ryder said it was okay to take the celebrations down a notch.
"It's just about having a plan and potentially involving your family," she said.
"Having a conversation about what sort of gifts you're going to buy, how much you're going to spend, just to get everybody on the same page."
She said Christmas was about spending time with family, not money.
