By KAREN BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

URBANA, Ill. — The economy is not offering many glad tidings this holiday season, but there’s some simple advice from Midwest consumer experts to avoid becoming a Grinch: Do like Santa Claus and make a list, advises Evelyn Prasse.

The idea is to determine one’s budget, said the University of Illinois extension consumer and family economics educator at the Rockford extension center.

 “You need to know how much you can spend on holiday spending. And you also must know what you need to buy and who you need to buy gifts for,” she said.

But the most important part of using this stress saver is not to veer from the list by either overspending or adding more gifts than budgeted. Prasse pointed out families easily can overspend by forgetting that all those other holiday expenses and incidentals also include gift-wrapping, decorations, holiday food, special holiday clothing, phone calls, travel and donations.

In fact, Elizabeth Kiss with Purdue University extension has developed a worksheet with common holiday expenses, which is easily downloaded from www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-717-W.pdf

“There are so many things that families spend extra during the holidays. It’s so easy to lose track. That’s why we wanted to provide this list,’’ Kiss said.

And once the list is made and a budget determined, she explained the next step is to share this information with everyone in the family to avoid false expectations, hurt feelings and disappointment.

“This might be a difficult conversation, but do a sit-down as soon you know your limits,” she said.

How to pay for those items appearing on that Christmas list shouldn’t contribute to holiday stress. The extension service also warns people to carefully consider credit card use, by paying cash. Credit card users tend to spend twice as much as others.

One way to avoid credit card use is the “envelope method,” by which an envelope per person is prepared by placing money in each envelope. When the money is gone, the shopping stops.
There’s also the interest tied to those credit card payments that many shoppers do not consider when they make purchases. Those costs must be factored into one’s holiday budget, too, she added.
Suggestions call for cutting back on holiday extras such as dining out, entertainment and extra clothing, and redirecting that money among holiday gift purchases.

Another suggestion to reduce gift spending is thinking of alternative gift ideas, such as making handmade items or gifts from the kitchen, creating coupons or gift certificates to do chores, share talents or other appreciated tasks in which children could also participate.

As an alternative to shopping in retail chains, hit the local holiday bazaars and craft shows for locally made, handcrafted items.
“It’s important to remember that the holidays are a time of fun and fellowship,” Prasse said.