People in Manitoba, Saskatchewan overspent the most during the holidays: poll

For Manitobans who went over their budget this holiday season, a new poll shows you are not alone.

According to the 2023 RBC Post-Holiday Spending and Saving Insights Poll, people in Manitoba and Saskatchewan led the country in overspending over the holidays.

The numbers show that 38 per cent of Canadians went over their budget this holiday season by an average of $580. However, when looking at Manitoba and Saskatchewan specifically, these numbers were even higher.

RBC is reporting that 47 per cent of people in these two provinces overspent on the holidays by an average of $727.

As for paying for these holiday expenses, more than half of those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan said it was hard to cover the costs of holiday gifts, with 31 per cent saying it will take until April or longer to get their finances back on track. Seventy per cent of those in these two provinces said they felt the impact of inflation on their holiday spending.

A total of 2,000 Canadian adults completed an online survey from Jan. 3 to 5. The results of the poll are accurate within plus-minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Credibility intervals will be wider for smaller population subsets.