Don't Burst Your Budget on Diwali
In the spirit of Diwali, it’s reasonable to spend a little more than what you planned for. After all, Diwali comes once in a year and is beyond doubt the most awaited festival, if one is to go by the market statistics. The happiness levels and the market, both soar during the Diwali week. But blowing your budget to unfairly high levels might have serious repercussions later. Spending more than what you can afford may make you happy during the festivals, but afterwards it will come to haunt you. Once the festivity dies off, you are bound to realize that some unreasonable expenses could have been easily avoided without compromising on the quality of the celebrations. One might argue that the market, the economy and the companies would benefit if people spend more than what they can afford. This may appear true superficially. But, the reality is otherwise. Once you spend much more than what you can afford your purchasing potential drops by a huge margin in the upcoming months. So, you might resort to serious cost cutting measures which is not good for the economy, the market and the companies which sell products. Your productivity might also suffer when you have bad dreams about the rising debt. And, loss of productivity is loss to the economy, in simple economics. What is the way out? Well, in simple terms, if you have the cash, you have every right to enjoy yourself as you please. Go shopping, and fulfil your long unfulfilled desires. Go for electric decoration because it may be used next year too. Gifts should be chosen on parameters like their usefulness to the person concerned, quality and perishability. Fragile gifts may look attractive, but they go to the bin after a few days. Even if you have to spend a bit more to buy a useful gift, do not hesitate. Alternative options, which are more economical, should be explored wherever possible. Look for cash discounts, if available. For assured gifts try to buy products that offer the assured gift as an item of your need so you do not have to buy it again. Believe it or not, you can easily cut down 15% of your expenditure if you shop cleverly. Monetary gifts might always not make someone happy. Try socialising on the festival. For instance, these days one hardly get to know about one’s neighbours. What you can do is this - each member of the housing society can contribute a stipulated amount which could be used to organise a memorable evening with delicious dinner, musical or dance performance by a celebrity. Also, various games could be organised with attractive prizes. What remains after years is memories, and on the memory part a social night scores above routine, mundane gifts like sweets, etc. If you are planning to purchase some products on EMI make sure that the EMI does not strain your monthly budget too much. After all, a product should be a source of enjoyment and not a reason for uninvited stress. Just a sweet greeting card, or a phone call is enough for showing some that you care. Spend money where required. There are situations where you need to return a favour in kind. Use Diwali as an opportunity for it. Select a nice gift, and deliver to the concerned person’s house. Since it’s a Diwali gift, the person is bound to accept it. This is an extremely brilliant way to return favours. Celebrate the festival with fervour, vigour and great pomp and show. But, just make sure that your budget can afford the celebrations. So, burst crackers and not your budget this Diwali. Happy Diwali!
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