Christmas is a time of expensive gifts, over-indulgence, parties, get-togethers and festive decorations. It marks the start of the holiday season, with many offices closing for two weeks and schools closing for six weeks. During this time, it’s easy to forget about your budget and splurge. Wondering how you’ll ever get your budget back on track after you’ve had a holiday blowout? Here we take a look at seven ways you can recover from overspending.

1. Stop Feeling Guilty

Before we delve into the other tips on the list, it’s important that you first of all stop feeling guilty. Christmas came and it went. You spent too much on presents, you went to too many parties, you served expensive food for Christmas dinner, and then you topped it all off with a holiday you knew you couldn’t afford. It’s done now and you can’t go back. You can, however, vow to do better next year.

Instead of feeling guilty, channel your energy into writing down where you spent over your usual budget. Make note of all the little unaccounted costs – like a case for the iPad you purchased, shipping fees, extended warranties, gift wrap, checked baggage charges and holiday WiFi – and total it all up. You can then set yourself a realistic goal of spending less next time around. Learn from your budget mistakes, don’t stew on them!

2. Know where you are financially

As hard as it may be to look closely at your bank account, it’s important you do so you can figure out exactly where you are financially. You want to make sure you can at least make the minimum repayments on your credit cards and pay your usual monthly bills, like rent and utility. If you can’t, you may need a cash advancement to help you get back on track. If you do take this approach, be sure to incorporate paying back this loan into a revised budget.

3. Set new financial goals

Whatever you want to accomplish financially now that the holidays are over, write it down. Ask yourself questions like:

• Do I want to build my emergency fund back up?
• Do I want to pay off my credit cards?
• Do I want to save the amount I spent this holiday in a seperate account so that next year it doesn’t eat into my budget?

Seeing exactly what you want to get accomplished will help you get there. For example, if your goal is to replenish your emergency fund, make it a priority.

4. Challenge yourself to a ‘no-spend’ month

In the months following the holiday season, everyone is tightening the purse strings. It’s the perfect time to set yourself a ‘no-spend’ challenge. What this involves is that anything that isn’t bills or necessities like groceries or gas gets put on the backburner until the challenge is over. Once the challenge is over you might be surprised to find you didn’t really need that unnecessary purchase you thought you did. How long your challenge goes for is up to you, but we recommend at least one month.

5. Eat from your pantry

Like the ‘no-spend’ challenge, using what you have in your home instead of spending money on what you don’t need can save you heaps. Start with holiday leftovers, and then move onto your fridge, freezer and pantry. Check out Pinterest for recipe ideas or simply Google the ingredients you have on hand to get ideas. You’ll be amazed by what you can throw together without going to the supermarket.

6. Apply the snowball effect

The snowball effect is a great approach to use to pay off multiple debts from your summer fun. It taps into the psychological power of motivation and the sense of accomplishment that paying off a debt gives.

To apply the snowball effect, choose one credit card to pay extra towards, while paying the minimum balances on everything else. Once you pay off the first debt, you then move onto the next card on the list. Continue to snowball payments until they’re all fully paid off. A good idea is to start with the smallest debt balance or the card with the highest interest rate.

7. Earn some extra money

Sometimes it’s not enough to just reduce your spending after the holidays. Sometimes you need to increase your income as well. Take online surveys that pay cash, become a virtual assistant, become an Uber driver in you spare time, or even sell unwanted gifts and items from around your home.

Continuing the holiday fun

The holidays are fun, and with some careful planning the festivities can continue throughout the year. Set yourself up financially for the next holiday season and say goodbye to post-holiday blues. The more preparation you put in, the more you’ll be rewarded. To help you get back on track so you can stay on track, apply for a cash advancement from SRG Finance.