According to YouGov’s UK Household Economic Activity Tracker (HEAT), nearly 30% of those polled felt that their financial situation got worse last month, while 43% worry that their situation will get worse in the next 12 months.

Almost a third said that they had less cash to spend last month than in November.

High-earners and 18-34 year-olds felt particularly felt the squeeze on cash available for spending, with nearly a third (32%) and a quarter (25%) respectively reporting a decrease in available cash in December.

Stephen Harmston, head of SixthSense at YouGov, said: “Perhaps we should not be that surprised that households feel a little less economically confident following the Chancellor’s rather bleak pessimistic budget at the start of December.

“Christmas spending did not lead to an improvement in how people see their financial situation – if anything it made them more cash-strapped and wary going into 2013.”

The YouGov HEAT index now been below 100 for 30 straight months falling back to 94.5 in December from 95.8 in the previous month.

However, the index is still six points up from where it was in December 2011.

The festive period also saw an increased number of people looking at paying back their credit card debts.

When asked what they would spend windfall on, 77% said they would use it to pay off some of their unsecured debts.

45% would save it for emergencies and 42% would save it spend it when they needed it.

Dominic White, Chief European Economist at ASR, said: “Many households are pessimistic about what will happen over the coming year and most want to pay down debts as they fear things will only get worse during 2013.

“The most significant movement is the steep decline in people wanting to make major purchases going into the New Year.

“If this one-month fall turns into a longer-term trend then retailers and the Government will be concerned.”