Under Pressure: Many Americans spend more on holidays than they are comfortable with | The Numbers Racket

The holiday season comes with a lot of pressure. 

There’s the pressure of hosting dinner, finding the perfect gift, or even the pressure of looking your best for that trip to your relative’s house or those holiday card portraits. 

But this year, the holiday season looks a bit different. However, the pandemic hasn’t completely whisked away the pressures of the holidays. 

In fact, a survey of Americans conducted by Simple Dollar, a personal finance website, last month found that more than 22 percent of Americans said they feel pressure to spend more money on gifts than they are comfortable with. 

While 22 percent is around half of the percentage who said the same in a 2018 survey (40 percent), the data shows that Americans have had to rethink their strategies this holiday season, choosing online shopping and virtual visits, but are still feeling the pressure amid a global pandemic. 

Fifty-eight percent of respondents who felt pressure were women, making them 10 percent more likely to feel spending pressure than men. 

Simple Dollar surveyed 796 people across the country to find out that 68 percent of women say they or another female is primarily responsible for their household’s holiday shopping – yikes, that’s a lot of pressure! 

Another survey conducted in October by The Simple Dollar found that 90 percent of Americans plan to spend less or about the same as last year on the 2020 holiday season. 

Of those who plan to spend more  on the holidays this year, 60 percent say they will spend with cash, not credit cards or other forms of debt.