JANUARY 4TH, 2006

Well the Christmas bang has been and gone but the New Year sales are apparently kicking in. According to recent figures provided by a Direct Line Survey UK consumers have held back there pennies to aid grabbing a bargain in the sales.

This news comes after figures recently provided by SPSL suggest that spending was up 3.6% higher on the same period during Christmas 2004. Direct Line suggest that people have even held back money to spend in the sales with estimations of £5.5 billion to be spent on treats such as clothes and desirable electricals.

This I find quite disturbing at a time when there have been price hikes for gas, electricity and water. There are even more price hikes yet to come during 2006 so should we really be spending so much?

Is society treating themselves on more plastic and loans?

Evidence seems to suggest so and it could prove costly in the long run.

The current announcements from Direct Line etc could be ways of injecting some good publicity onto the sales to encourage spending but I still feel that there is a fair amount of the 'buy now, regret later' policy going on.

Better to be setting off on a good financial footing in 2006 by not spending I suggest. A money diet could be a better option as your new year resolution.

It could well be a better option in a year where we could start to feel the pinch in our homes as further price hikes take grip. Then household budgets could be stretched especially when we are looking to pay back money which we owe.