It’s the end of the year, and with it comes numerous financial temptations.

For those in the corporate world, you most likely would be awarded some form of holiday incentive for being an amazing staff.

Most companies these days have developed a culture of incentivizing staff members outside of their earned salaries, particularly at a period like this which marks the end of the business year. During this period, a Christmas bonus is almost certain.

Christmas bonuses almost always create an illusion of excess.

You are used to receiving a certain amount monthly, but with the payment of a Christmas bonus, it suddenly feels like you have way more.

As mentioned earlier this is an illusion and should be treated as such. As easily as the bonus was awarded is how easily it could vanish.

So to say you need to be savvy with this stipend would be putting it mildly.

There is a list of things to do when you first get your Christmas bonus. See list here.

However, there are things you also shouldn’t do when you get your Christmas bonus, things to generally avoid.

Below is a list of five of these don’ts.

Spending it all at once: The temptation to use all of your Christmas bonus to purchase that desired item is one that many have fallen victim to, but barring an emergency, it is wise to hold off on that purchase and determine first if there are more urgent or profitable ways you can utilize said bonus.

If not then go ahead, it is your bonus after all, but as a general rule of thumb you want to avoid spending it all at once.

Spending randomly: As mentioned earlier, a bonus creates an illusion of excess. All of a sudden you have more financial leeway and this can cause you to spend randomly.

You start buying items you don’t need, eating at places that really give you no real value for their ridiculous prices, subscribing to platforms you know you wouldn’t frequent, buying more than you need just in case, rather than buying what you had budgeted for.

Random spending is one of the easiest ways to run through your finances.

Investing it all on parties: It is the season to be jolly.

Parties and events are the best way to embody this spirit. While it is fine to go for one or a few parties, it would be financially unadvisable to party at the detriment of your finances.

The idea is to always put yourself in a position to scale, and scaling can be challenging when you use your potential investment funds to party non-stop. The key here is to moderate not to be dull.

Spending compulsively: As bad as spending randomly is, spending compulsively is even worse. Spending compulsively doesn’t just run the risk of squandering your bonus, it could also eat into your salary budget.

This is a significant tip because the Christmas holiday brings with it numerous financial impulses, and compulsive purchases are easy to rationalize when it’s just your bonus at stake.

So try not to spend compulsively, no matter how necessary that purchase may seem, first create a budget and determine where to go from there.

Taking on other people’s responsibilities: This is definitely the season to be charitable, and while it is admirable to give to a noble cause, you must also be able to discern between giving alms and taking on other people’s financial responsibilities.

As much as you want to be kind, you don’t want to be baited into handling someone else’s responsibilities simply because your bank account looks a little fuller.