IF YOU sustain a living from any geographical location on this planet, it is very likely that you would have noticed that the retailers have set the right mood and ambiance to encourage a shopping extravaganza in the next two months.

The decorations are up all over the malls with the big stores playing those soft enticing Christmas carols while they wait in ambush of the consumers behind the glossy tills. A large number of retailers do not really care about whose birthday Christmas is supposed to be, or what it signifies, as long as the “ching-ching” does not stop in their tills.

Many economies are encouraging consumers to spend as a means of recreating jobs lost in the meltdown and grow the economies. At household level it would be folly to resort to the uninhibited expenditure which got us into this problem anyway.

It is not just us in the developing world who are enticed to buy extravagantly during this time. The last time I was in the UK during this period, there was a ‘buy one and get one free’ and in some cases ‘buy two and get one free’ mass hysteria in the various areas I visited. I am not sure how many people have ended up with extra things they do not really need under the hypnosis of festive season shopping.

In South Africa the mantra is “shop and save”, which, I suspect, makes this the only country where you can actually save by spending!

The purpose of this article is not really to deny you the reader the pleasures of the festive season and the accompanying glad tidings but to enjoy it without losing the financial momentum you may have painstakingly built over the year. It is during this time of the year when most of us over-indulge, both physically and financially, leaving us in a cycle which may last the whole year.

If you are one of the people in the corporate world who were fortunate enough to receive an unexpected end of year bonus or related windfall, then my clarion call is not to let this disappear under a deluge of joyous expenditure. Park it in a secure investment account, ring-fenced with rules that make it difficult to easily access it. This is particularly relevant to consumers surviving at the edge without any particular savings or investment plan.

Since most of us are living in fairly open societies, it may be necessary to have a family meeting to discuss the plans for December and the New Year. Be realistic about the gifts, entertainment and holidays you can afford. If you do not want to be considered the emperor Nero of the house, you may want to allocate an agreed budget for spontaneous purchases.

When purchasing gifts, it is important to remember that a small gift with a special meaning to the recipient is worth a lot more than the amount of money you spent on it.

Many people in formal employment receive their salaries in early December and it could be as much as 45 days before you receive another salary. For some of us in the consulting field in a country like South Africa, it may even be worse. The country shuts down as early as the first week of December and key decision makers migrate to the beach and your wonderful business proposition may only be viewed by January 15 2011.

It is useful to procure double quantities of non-perishable groceries in December that will see you to the end of January. Most schools send out the full requirements of school supplies and sporting goods in December. Before you waltz away to “Joy to World”, stock up on your children’s New Year requirements now. The prices inevitably escalate with “back to school”campaigns in January so stop “being eaten with your eyes wide open like kapenta fish!”

Resist the temptation to incur new debts, particularly those which give you a payment holiday until April 2011. Motor vehicle and furniture retailers are guilty of dangling this carrot particularly here in South Africa. The offers sound like a genuine Father Christmas dispensing freebies accompanied by “ho, ho, hos” and “ha, ha, has”. These offers are responsible for keeping some consumers in a vicious cycle of debt. I have also received quite a number of offers to trade-in my vehicle, which still has quite a useful life span.

As parents, we have to train our children to refrain from being overly materialistic by guiding them to enjoy the finer things in life, like walking in the park to enjoy the wonderful gift of nature. Take them out to the sports field instead of heading to the mall all the time. Get them to play music, build things and develop their artistic instincts instead of the addiction of video games.

We can celebrate our Ubuntu with the extended fraternity we find ourselves in which includes our host communities and the broader Zimbabwean family.

The festive season should not be an occasion to put away our long term financial plans but to use the relaxed holiday mood to reflect on the plans and reinforce them. It should a time to reassess the milestones we have achieved and to revise our strategies.

Tafirenyika L. Makunike is a managing partner of Napachem cc (www.nepachem.co.za), an enterprise development and consulting company