Although not much, if they know how to spend, workers can still have a full Tet holiday.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan (30 years old, Nam Dinh) said that although she has 3 days off before Tet, she will not wait until right before Tet to buy things. The female worker said that she will go shopping for Tet from December 15 to get good prices and not have to wait.
“My whole family usually goes to the supermarket to buy things from mid-December. At this time, goods are not scarce and there are many promotions. The number of shoppers is not too crowded so we don’t have to wait long,” said Ms. Thuan.
Ms. Thuan always lists the items and the quantity of items to buy in advance to avoid wasting money by buying too much. The female worker also prioritizes buying at large shopping malls or grocery stores to get good prices and receive additional discounts... thus saving a lot of money.
As for lucky money, Ms. Thuan will give 50,000 VND to the children in the family, and 30,000 VND to those with distant relationships. According to Ms. Thuan, 50,000 VND in her hometown is currently the common amount, so no one complains.
For homemade dishes like banh chung, gio cha, pickled onions, etc., the female worker and her husband spend time and effort making them instead of buying them.
Last year, the total Tet bonus of Ms. Thuan and her husband was 9.5 million VND, still having 4 million VND left over to spend on other expenses after Tet.
Mr. Pham Van Duyet (42 years old, Thai Binh) shared that the company has announced the 2025 Tet bonus, each person will receive a basic salary of 4,750,000 VND plus Tet gifts. With this amount of money, Mr. Duyet is still confident in shopping for Tet.
“Tet is only more expensive than usual in terms of lucky money, home decoration and food and drink. If you spend wisely, don’t buy too much and choose moderate things, a basic monthly salary is still enough,” Duyet said.
For Tet travel, Duyet and his family will use motorbikes, and only hire taxis when traveling far. As for Tet gifts from both parents, according to the male worker, they only need traditional gifts with an amount of money of their choice. Parents understand the situation and never criticize their children.
A month before Tet, Duyet and his family went hunting for promotions at e-commerce platforms and large supermarkets. This helped Duyet save a lot of money from discount codes, and at the same time choose many beautiful and satisfactory items.
The male worker said that he had registered to open a credit card in the middle of the year to enjoy the incentives when shopping. Accordingly, if shopping at the supermarket, he would get a 2% refund, and if shopping at e-commerce platforms, he would get a refund of up to 10%.
Regarding Tet clothes, the whole family will buy each person a new set, taking advantage of old, still beautiful sets to celebrate Tet. Duyet also agrees with the idea of giving lucky money from 30,000 - 50,000 VND, with priority given to children and grandchildren in the family and clan.
