As the Christmas day is approaches, many are preparing their wallets for the impending Boxing Day sales and deals. For many Britons, the primary weapon in the battle for Boxing Day deals won’t be their bank accounts or holiday bonuses, but their credit cards. With the average household debt in the UK, excluding mortgages, mounting £6,000 according to Money Charity’s findings in December, Britons are no strangers to racking up debt. Is the bloodlust Boxing Day sales worth much if it means Britons actually pay more out of pocket? Are there more avenues left to explore?

First, let’s clarify what the average household debt can mean to a Briton in terms of spending money. Do most Britons know the interest rate on the credit card’s they use? Banks motivate people to open new credit cards by waving an attractive 0% interest rate in front of their faces for a year, encouraging them to transfer balances from other debts onto a new card. It sounds ideal at first, but what most banks neglect to mention is the 0% interest rate often comes with a 3% fee to transfer your balance. While 3% doesn’t seem like much, if you took an average debt of £6,000, that’s £180 in fees added to a transfer, and that’s just for becoming a customer. The 0% interest rate only lasts for a year.

And do most Britons pay off their balance completely every month? Extra expenses this December including taking advantage of those Boxing Day sales, will mean that making the minimum payments this month – something which Britons may do each month without the added pressure of the holidays – will be difficult. So even while saving money on the sales, interest on credit accrues. Unless one is savvy enough to move balances to new cards with 0% promotional offers or remains vigilant enough in their finances to avoid these pitfalls, the interest can add up to outweigh the benefits of the savings made on Boxing Day sales.

According to Money.co.uk, interest rates of the major credit card providers after the promotional period ranges from 13-39%. So, assuming the £6,000 debt, like most debts, isn’t transferred from card to card when the promotional rate expires, a 19.1% interest rate on that debt means paying £2,924 in the end in just interest alone. Are Boxing Day deals worth the savings they provide if the end result is an interest payment to a bank that’s 48.8% of the original balance?

So what other options do Britons have, other than credit cards for upcoming Boxing Day? The Independent recently reported in November that the average credit card purchase rate is the highest it has been for 18 months, which means this is perhaps the worst time for Britons to take out a new credit card. Still, it’s short notice for many to work on a savings plan or consider taking out a personal loan to pay for the expenses of the holiday. And requesting a personal loan still involves the same middle man that credit cards do – the banks. Unsurprisingly, many may feel as though gaining more debt is inevitable.

But, after the dust settles from Boxing Day, credit cards may again wave the 0% free interest promotion in the faces of consumers in attempt to appease the anxiety of new debts. The smart choice remains to keep a close tab on those offers and your balance transfers, keeping in mind fees and the interest rate of your card once that promotion expires. Another option that’s relatively new is peer to peer lending. Peer to Peer Lending is a new method of loans that allows for a lower interest rate and more flexible options. For example, peer to peer lending network Zopa cite that a loan of £6,100 to pay off debts over five years has a 5.7% interest rate (according to their debt consolidation calculator), as opposed to the 13-39% average of credit cards. That means that paying off £6,100 over five years costs £116.69 per month with the option of setting your own monthly repayment and your own terms of repayment.

Whatever the weapon sitting in your arson for both Christmas and Boxing Day, it’s a good time for Britons to pay more attention not only to their holiday dinner schedules and Secret Santa obligations, but also their wallets.

Lola Olson is a personal finance writer