Martin Lewis said parents should sacrifice an expensive Christmas to avoid getting into debt.
“Christmas is one day. Do not ruin your lives for Christmas,” the money saving expert told viewers of his new ITV programme The Martin Lewis Money Show Live.
A woman in the audience told Mr Lewis she was worried about buying presents for her family along with food, drink and the other trappings of a festive period during the cost of living crisis.
He replied: “You know you’re not going to be able to spend like you want to.”
Turning to viewers, he continued: “People have a perfect Christmas in their mind and then work towards achieving it.”
He said this is a bad idea that risked landing a family in debt.
“Decide how much you are going to spend on Christmas this year and stick to it,” he said, adding that it would be better to go without presents or a grand Christmas dinner in order to avoid debt.
“Christmas is one day, we don’t want you to be indebted in the New Year,” he said.
Mr Lewis’s new programme focused on how families could save money as Christmas approaches in what is certain to have been a difficult year for many.
Ahead of the airing on Tuesday evening, he issued a warning to shoppers hoping to pick up on heavily discounted items on Black Friday, an annual consumer event derived from the post-Thanksgiving US tradition.
“This is my Black Friday memo...” he wrote on Twitter, alongside an image of a post-it note marked with the advice: “If you were going to buy it anyway and it’s half price, you’ve saved 50 per cent.
“If you weren’t going to buy it, but do because it’s half price you’ve wasted 100 per cent.”
