The holidays have come and gone but the results of holiday shopping season are now evident. Many people have unwanted gifts they’d like to return, which can lead to more shopping plus frustration.
I went over to UPS Tuesday, it was the fourth time I’d been to there, to return an item and spent an hour waiting in line and calling Amazon because of miscommunication between UPS and Amazon.
Amazon sent my items in three different packages. For the return, they gave me one order number. That freaked out the UPS employees. I finally received a refund after calling Amazon from the UPS office.
To see how consumers have handled the holiday shopping season so far, as well as to gauge people’s financial expectations for the new year, WalletHub, a personal finance website, conducted a post-holiday shopping survey.
Survey results
- Financial hope ahead: Sixty-four percent of Americans think 2026 will be better for their finances than 2025.
- Prices changed plans: More than two in three people say inflation affected their holiday spending more than they expected.
- New costs to worry about: Nearly three in four Americans fear upcoming health care cost increases more than their holiday shopping debt.
- Spending regret: Forty-eight percent of Americans say they spent too much during the holidays.
- Back to budgeting: Nearly three in five people plan to follow a strict budget to make up for holiday spending.
- Holiday regrets: Fifty-six percent of people wish they’d budgeted better for the holidays.
Continuing to budget year-round is better than adopting a tight budget after the holidays, and taking steps to also improve your credit, protect your identity, and reassess your financial products is best, John Kiernan, an editor WalletHub, said in a statement about the survey.
