People in Ireland will spend an average of €600 on presents, food and decorations this Christmas, according to a survey by the Irish League of Credit Unions.
This includes an average of €180 on Santa presents.
Meanwhile, just over half of people say they're struggling to pay heating costs.
The average festive spend of €600 has gone up only by ten euro since this time last year.
But, nearly 30% of people are feeling better about their financial situation in the run up to Christmas this year, compared to only a quarter of people last year.
Provincial Christmas spend broke down as Dublin at €608, rest of Leinster as €611 while Munster sits at €592. Ulster will spend on average €590 while Connacht came in at the cheapest with €578.
There is a gender gap though - 32% of men are happier about their finances, compared to 27% of women.
Three-quarters of people find the overall cost of running their home much harder over the Christmas period. On average, it will take consumers eight and a half weeks to recover from festive over-spending.
71% of us think Irish people spend too much money around this time but 60% said there's nothing better than a proper Irish Christmas.
Dr. Niamh Hourigan Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College Cork spoke to Jonathan Healy today about the spending who said that this has been a feature of Irish spending habits since the Celtic Tiger.
"Family is a huge part of the Irish value system... and I think that's a big part of where the pressure comes from":
Meanwhile, retailers can look forward to their best Christmas trading period in seven years, according to a survey by Savills Ireland.
The research says 28,000 new jobs were generated in Ireland this year - and that this figure is expected to rise to over 40 thousand in 2015.
The demand for prime retail space has continued to strengthen in the last few months, resulting in full occupancy of Dublin's main shopping thoroughfares of Grafton and Henry Street.
Dr John McCartney, Economist and Director of Research at Savills Ireland, said there's been even better employment growth outside Dublin, although this will take time to filter through to rental increases in retail.
