I have a confession to make before I continue with this blog post. I awoke this morning with an unsettling sense of foreboding. Credit Card bill looming large 🙁 It’s not because of overindulging in sweets during Diwali; rather, it’s because of going beyond with expenses during this year’s celebration.

Festivals are part of life in our country. There is a wide range of festivals celebrated in India, each honouring a different religion, event, or social norm. The lengthy and extensive shopping list that comes with festival preparations can easily throw off your regular monthly budget. We shouldn’t worry about the costs associated with celebrating, though, because those occasions are what bring vibrancy and excitement into our otherwise dull daily lives.

We don’t want to miss out on the joy and good fortune that festivals bring. In our zeal, we rush out and blow our entire monthly spending limit on unnecessary gifts, furniture, jewellery, and other items. We soon realise the strain the festival has placed on our finances. This year I have fallen in this category 🙁 I am now dreading seeing my credit card statement.

This will resonate with many. During the festival season, it’s all too common to spend more than one can afford. One day of splurging can come back to bother you when you find yourself very short on money.

What’s done can’t be undone. But what we can do is learn from our mistakes. Sharing my 5 mistakes that can help in checking the festival budget and ensure that we don’t overspend.

1. No Budgeting

During festival season, the word “budget” is usually the last thing any of us want to hear. However, a budget may prevent us from throwing away hard-earned cash.

With the attractive displays and offers, whenever you enter a store, it’s easy to get carried away with the spending. In order to keep your spending under control throughout the festivity, it is essential to create a budget in advance. Having a set spending plan in place will help you avoid unnecessary expenditures and save money.

2. No shopping list

All of our Diwali preparations start weeks in advance. As a result of our excitement, we often go shopping for days on end, spending all of our money on unnecessary stuff.

To shop without a list is to buy without considering whether you need the item. Festivals may get pricey if you buy a lot of food, drinks, and souvenirs. Furthermore, once you start spending your hard-earned money in this way on celebrations, you won’t be able to stop. Of course, we’ll go over budget if we go shopping before we’ve settled on exactly what we need.

If you want to limit your holiday spending, make a list of what you need before heading out to the store. To a certain extent, it can assist you in maintaining a reasonable budget for the holiday season.

3. Not Shopping Smartly

I made a big-ticket purchase just before the Diwali offers started and my credit card company came with attractive offers. This could have saved me some money and earned extra reward points and not to say a good deal from the company.

The ‘SALE’ season coincides with the Diwali festivities. During this period, nearly every business offers attractive discounts and bargains.

Have a look at these great offers and do some comparison shopping before you buy anything. Credit card purchases also qualify for cash-back incentives from many retailers. Using a credit card instead of cash can help you save money. It could aid you in keeping your holiday spending in check. Therefore, before commencing to make purchases during festive seasons, seek for additional deals and cashback offers.

4. Recycling and reusing

Diwali is about lights, colours, and diyas. Clay lamps, or mitti-ka-diyas, have one distinguishing feature: they can be reused. Many Diwali decorations can be recycled and reused with a little ingenuity and creativity. Diyas can be repainted and decorated again to be reused next year.

5. Home Decorations

Every time we have a holiday or a special event, we decorate our homes and buildings. To give our homes a new look, we buy new curtains, cushion covers, rugs, and a few other things. The cost of celebrations is often inflated by the need to buy new accoutrements for each event.

Use gorgeous old sarees to make your own drapes and recycle other materials around the house to make new cushion covers, curtains, and other decorative accoutrements instead of buying them every time a holiday rolls around. DIY projects extend beyond functional objects to the realm of the ornamental as well. Simply moving the furniture around may radically transform the aesthetic of your home.

Takeaway: During festival season, it’s all too common to spend more than one can afford. Having a budget in place will help you avoid unnecessary expenditures and save money. Sharing my 5 mistakes that if avoided can help us in checking the festival budget and ensure we don’t overspend.

Let us celebrate Diwali in a manner that we fondly remember, and not as the moment we maxed out our credit card buying useless/unavoidable things.