Holidays are often an exciting time of the year.  However, the holidays can also represent added stress due to holiday spending.   Many individuals, families and households neglect budgeting for holiday spending.  To assist individuals in understanding and responding to financial stress resulting from holiday expenses, the Quicksand Area Family & Consumer Sciences Extension Agents hosted The Quicksand Area Holiday Road Show- Managing Holiday Expenses: How to Reduce Spending to Decrease Financial Stress program for participants in the 8 county area and for those that watched the program on their local cable network. Participants also learned during this program inexpensive ways to decorate, how to create hand-made items for gift-giving and how to make holiday foods on a budget. A total of 256 consumers participated in the workshops with an approximate of 88,000 other individuals watching the video on two local cable networks.  
Participants were surveyed following the class with the following results:

• 85% indicated they had identified money management or cost-saving strategies for their families
• 80% of participants increased their confidence in handling money issues or specific financial matters
• 92% of participants identified at least one specific saving or wealth-related goal for their family and plan to take action steps toward implementing at least one financial management strategy presented during this program

A three-month follow-up survey was sent out to all participants with the following results:

• 76% stating they have implemented at least one strategy to reduce expenses or manage money during the holidays
• 65% actually created a holiday budget
• 88% made at least one recipe from the program
• 79% made a gift or decoration to use during the holiday
• 8% of the participants made items to sell for extra income

Some comments made from Letcher County attendees were:

“l learned how to make a budget and stay with it”

“Gives instruction on how to make items so I can make them for gifts and save money”

“I enjoy the fellowship with all the homemakers and look forward to attending each year.  I am open to learning new things and new ideas on how to be a better manager of homemaking skills, finances, etc.”