Solving your holiday spending challenges may be as simple as looking in your old wallet, the cash jar and even the mirror. According to consumer saving expert Andrea Woroch, we need to make a plan every holiday season and resolve to avoid traps that cause overspending.
“One of the holiday spending traps is not considering those unexpected and hidden holiday costs that creep up,” Woroch told California Life. “Those are the ones that are going to cause you to spend more than you planned to. So you want to factor that into your expenses. And then also another big trap is you’re out shopping and you end up buying something for yourself or you end buying something extra because you saw a special deal at 15 percent off or limited time offer, those retail trends cause you to overspend, so one way to limit that is just by shopping with cash and leaving your credit cards at home.” 
Woroch points out that Coinstar, the convenient coins-for-cash kiosks that are popular at banks and grocery stores across California, now have a partner in cashing-in. And it all revolves around those unused gift cards we all seem to have stashed away.
“I read a survey that said 37 percent of Americans who received gift cards last holiday season, still haven’t used them,” Woroch said. “So take any gift cards you haven’t used or partially used, and look at the bright yellow Coinstar exchange kiosk at your local grocery store. It makes exchanging gift cards for cash convenient and really easy.”
California Life’s Brent Weber spoke to Woroch to get her tips on a better approach to holiday savings. Just click on the video below to see his story and be sure to watch California Life on your local station or online!