Cheap New Year's Eve: how to prepare for the holiday and not go broke

New Year's holidays traditionally become a period of increased spending for Russians: gifts to relatives and friends, a festive table, home decorations and entertainment require significant financial investments. However, proper planning and a few simple techniques will help to celebrate the New Year vividly and memorably, without emptying the family budget. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

What can you really save on when preparing for the New Year?

You should start preparing in advance, not in the last days of December. It is more profitable to purchase Christmas decorations and artificial fir trees in November, before prices reach peak values. At the end of the month, the difference can be up to 30-40% of the cost in the New Year's Eve week.

Products with a long shelf life should also be purchased ahead of time. These include:

• Canned food and groceries

• Frozen semi-finished products and meat delicacies

• Snacks and sweets

• Nuts and dried fruits

It is also advisable to purchase meat and delicacies for the festive table in advance in order to avoid New Year's rush and rising prices. This will save a significant amount on the main dishes of the feast.

Online shopping is often cheaper than traditional shopping. Online stores offer promo codes, promotions, and cashback systems — according to user estimates, you can save about 2,500 rubles per month. In addition, you will not have to spend money on gasoline or travel on public transport.​

Handmade gifts are another way to cut costs without losing quality. You can draw your own coupons for cooking dinner, serving breakfast in bed or relaxing massage. Home decor is also easy to make with your own hands: cut paper snowflakes, glue garlands of colored paper or create stretch marks with drawings.

How to make a New Year's budget and not go into negative territory

Cost planning is the first and most important step towards making reasonable savings. Experts recommend starting with an analysis of the current financial situation: evaluate income, savings, and regular mandatory expenses.

Create a detailed spreadsheet in Excel or another convenient format. In it, specify:

1. Dates of receipt of funds in December and January

2. Amounts of mandatory payments: housing and communal services, loans, rent, tuition fees

3. Planned spending on gifts, food, decorations, and entertainment

4. Contingency fund for unforeseen expenses

Such a table is more convenient than a regular list, as it allows you to change the cost of items, calculate different options and keep track of the total amount. For example, out of 40,000 rubles, allocate 15 for gifts, 8 for food and drinks, 4 for decor and 13 for entertainment.

Be sure to put 10-15% of the total budget into the reserve fund. It is useful in sudden situations: a broken garland, the need to buy an additional gift or urgently order a taxi.

Make shopping lists for each expense category and stick to them. First of all, decide on a festive menu — this will help you not to buy too much when going to the supermarket. For gifts, write the names of everyone you are going to give them to, and assign a price range.

Financial mistakes before the New Year that are best avoided

Impulsive purchases are one of the main problems of the pre—holiday period. In a hurry and a desire to please everyone close to them, people become less vigilant in making responsible decisions and do not control their own wallets so carefully.

Fictitious discounts are a common practice of many stores during the New Year season. Sellers set inflated prices and then announce sales. Don't be fooled and always check the original cost of the product on special websites.

Holidays are a great opportunity for scammers. Phishing attacks can seriously damage finances. The main types of deception:

• Fake online stores with tempting prices where the goods will never be delivered

• Fake Charities with made-up stories about people in distress

• Fraudulent auctions with non-existent goods

• Electronic postcards and coupons with links to phishing sites

Using public Wi-Fi networks at airports and train stations for online shopping or logging into a banking app can be risky. Hackers have easy access to such networks and can infect devices with malicious software.

Buying low-quality gadgets in pursuit of savings may end up costing more. It is better to purchase one high-quality item than several cheap analogues that will quickly fail.

Making loans for holiday expenses is another common mistake. If the budget does not allow you to make the desired purchases, it is better to reconsider your plans than to borrow at high interest rates.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.