If you are facing a January spending crunch, you are not alone. On top of demands for school fees and last-minute uniform or stationery requirements, you might also have an unexpected cashflow hangover from unplanned festive season spending. A recent survey of festive season spending by global accountancy firm Deloitte found that gifts represent only one third of the average holiday spend. In fact, the bulk of spending over this period is related to sprucing up your wardrobe and your home, entertaining at home and socialising outside the home. “It is easy to underestimate how much these extras will add up to and play havoc with our New Year budgets,” says Richard Mukheibir, CEO of Cash Converters . These seven strategies from Mukheibir will help rescue you from this situation: Know your cash reserves: Can you still access any of the cash you received as a Christmas bonus? Do you have a rainy day account for emergency funds or other income due that you have forgotten about? ...

For all the time spent wishing the year-end holidays would come faster, consumers are also wishing there were more paydays between now and then, notes Richard Mukheibir, CEO of Cash Converters . “The best way to resolve this dilemma is to confront it,” he says. “Apply a two-step solution – establish your budget and shop smartly.” Even those who are number-phobic feel more relaxed after spending a short time allocating the cash they have available to different types of spend, he believes. “You will be much less stressed if you prevent too much money flying out of your pockets by remembering the basics of financial common sense,” he says. Make two lists – everything you need to spend and everything you want to spend, he suggests. The first list covers necessities such as your basic food budget, municipal bill and transport costs. The second list covers what you would like to spend on gifts, holidays, entertainment, decorations and new clothing. After adding these two totals tog...