For shoppers who are still trying to complete their Christmas gift list, one organization has come up with a guide for your budget.
The National Retail Foundation predicts the average spending per person this holiday is $967, up 3% from 2016 and more than 20% over the past two years.
The personal finance website WalletHub site calculated the maximum holiday budgets for 570 U.S. cities. Analyst Jill Gonzalez tells us what Athenians should spend.
“Athens ranked 548 out of 570 cities, the recommended budget there is just over $280,” Gonzalez said. “To compare that to other places in the state, Atlanta ranked 365 with a holiday budget of around $570; Roswell actually had the highest recommended budget at over $1100.”
She has advice on budget-friendly gift ideas.
“So there are still a lot of good experiences that you can give people as gifts, a lot of great DIY crafts to do, and now that’s easier than ever with access to YouTube and free tutorials on how to make things around the holiday season. Food gifts are another great way to stay in budget."
If you’d like to avoid still paying for Christmas gifts past Valentine’s Day 2018, Gonzalez says you can use a holiday budget estimator by visiting Wallethub.com to determine how much you should spend.
“You would just need to input that monthly income, your savings, that debt-to-income ratio will be figured out for you and that’s how you can see exactly what your recommended holiday budget should be.”
Naperville, Illinois was number one on the list with the highest holiday budget a $2,831. At number 570 on the list, Flint, Michigan had the lowest at $69.
WalletHub estimates Americans are on track to end 2017 with more than $60 billion in credit card debt.
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