19/11/27
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How To Keep Your Sanity This Record-Breaking Holiday Season

Here are our six tips to avoid going broke and keep your sanity this Holiday Season.

  

 

 

 

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Read:

 Keep your sanity this holiday season

Glossary

  • sanity – reasonable and rational behaviour
  • savvy – the ability to make good judgements
  • gourmet – very high quality
  • trap – a situation from which it is difficult or impossible to escape
  • purchase – to buy; the action of buying something
  • accrue – to gradually increase in amount over a period of time
  • ceiling – an official upper limit that cannot be broken
  • to rack up – to get a large number or amount of something
  • frenzy – a state of uncontrolled activity or emotion
  • lure – the quality or power that something or someone has that makes it/them attractive
  • to go astray – (of a plan or action) to go wrong
  • to skip –  to not do something that you usually do or that you should do
  • bulky – large
  • receipt –  a piece of paper that you get in a shop when you buy something
  • frugal – economical in expenditure; saving wisely

Discuss:

  • Do you sometimes realize you`ve fallen for the marketing tricks?
  • When you see a discounted product, do you google its regular price?
  • Does finding an amazing bargain make you happy?
  • Do you set a spending ceiling when you start Christmas shopping?
  • Do you feel sometimes you`ve got caught up in the holiday frenzy?
  • Do you agree with the statement that overspending is a big reason most people will never become millionaires, or billionaires?
  • How do you feel about shops where returns aren’t permitted? Do you skip them?
  •  Do you believe special occasions like Christmas or Easter have become too consumeristic?
  • Are children becoming consumerists earlier?
  • Would it be difficult for you to change your spending habits?

 

 

Practice Makes Perfect

Match the sentence halves. You can go to: Keep your sanity this holiday season to check your answers.

  1. Retailers are rolling out new pricing and tricks to encourage more spending, but

 

 a)      paying the full retail price on gift items.

 
  1. Whether you’re heading to the electronics store,

 

 b)      do that 20 or 30 times and all of a sudden, you have racked up some serious credit card debt.

 
  1. Get the latest coupon codes, coupons and other discounts for online and offline purchases at the last minute. You can hopefully escape the trap of

 

 c)      the lure of huge discounts.

 
  1.  $10 or $20 extra may not seem like a big deal. But

 

 d)      with a little shopping savvy, you can stretch your dollars and find the best gifts for the money.

 
  1. It’s too easy to get caught up in

 

 e)       you add the shipping costs.
  1. The deal you see posted may not be so great once

 

 f)       a gourmet food store or your favorite big-box store, use shopping apps.

 

 

ANSWERS: 1d); 2f); 3a); 4b); 5c); 6e)

 

Practise using the new words and answer the following questions:

  • Did you use to skip school when you were young?
  • Do you consider yourself a frugal person?
  • Do you always ask for/keep receipts?
  • What`s your latest purchase?
  • Do you consider yourself a gourmet?
  • Have you ever felt you`ve walked into a marketing trap?

 





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