Posts Tagged ‘avoid debt’

‘Tis the Season

It’s that time of year again: the debt season. This is the time of year when a lot of people throw caution out the window and spend too much, sometimes what they don’t have, just to look good. To do it, they fall into vicious cycles using online payday loans irresponsibly – just to get through the end of the year.

Does that sound like you? Are you still paying off last year’s holiday shopping spree and worried about what to do about this year’s shopping spree? Never fear, because if you follow these suggestions to keeping your holiday shopping in check, you will not only save money but also create lasting good will with your family and friends.

Create a Gift List

Before you can decide how much money you are going to spend, you need to figure out who should be on your list. The list can be immediate or extended family, friends, co workers, anyone you’re close with. Or, it could just be immediate family like your spouse, kids, and the parentals. Whoever you put on your list, you must make sure that you can afford to give them gifts without breaking your budget. Reduce if necessary, and continue to refine your list as you work out your budget.

Create a Budget

When you have your list done, the next step is to figure out how much you can spend on each person. Say you have 10 people on your list that you want to buy gifts for, and these are the final 10 after shaving your list down from 40. Let’s reasonably assume that you have enough cash to spend on each person, making your gift budget $ 200 for the season. The assumption here is that you will not be whipping out your credit card this season to buy more than you can afford. You cannot use what you have not earned, right?

Food and Decorations, If You Please

If you have your gift budget carefully planned but do not have your food and decorations budget in order, your budget will be ruined in no time, leaving you with higher credit card and loan debts to pay off later. As decorations aren’t consumable and can last several years if well managed, the only reason to buy more would be lights not working, or if your pets or children had at them. We have had the same stockings since my oldest was born almost 14 years ago, and they have held up extremely well.

Focus on the Feast

Your feast should be planned out, right down to the last little ingredient of the pecan pie. What type of feast do you want? Can you afford this feast without the use of online payday loans and credit cards? For the most part, if you live within your means through the year, and have a bit left over consistently, you could spend an extra $ 50 to $ 100 for the holiday occasion. If your food budget is normally $ 200 for two weeks, you may be able to bump that up to $ 300 for one payday, with a nice feast for an extra 0 without overspending.

Give Up the Guilt

One reason that many people overspend on gifts is that they feel pressured to do so out of guilt and duty. In this society, money and expensive gifts have been linked to the amount of love you hold for someone—the more you spend on a gift, the more you love the receiver of that gift. Yes, commericialism has something to do with it. Have you ever seen the jewelry commercials where they purport, “When you love enough to give the very best?” What’s implied here is that the money you spend is somehow connected to how much you love someone. This really should be turned around to say that if you love enough, you will save a lot of money as a legacy for your children.

What people realyl want is time with you, regardless of what you spent on them. Give up the notion that you must overspend to show people how much you love them. Instead, come up with creative gift giving ideas, such as printing out coupons for a free housecleaning or a night out—something that shows you care by volunteering your time for them. This means more than money, and you don’t need to feel guilty.

Skip Plastic and Use Cash

A great way to keep your holiday shopping under control is to use cash instead of plastic, which also applies to a debit card. Though debit cards can help minimizing your spending, cash is still king. When you are using a card, you do not realize how much you are spending without a concrete and visual reminder. As you are shopping, you do not have this visual reminder of how much you are spending. If you have a wad of cash in your wallet, however, you can instantly know how much you are spending by how much lighter your wallet feels after each purchase. In the event that you run out, online payday loans are an option – just tread carefully.

Think People First

As you create debt each holiday season – which may include online payday loans – you begin to shift the priorities in your life. Instead of focusing on your family and friends, you get into a “make money” mindset that shifts your focus to money and work. Eventually you will wake up and wonder what happened to your relationships, and wished you’d have placed people over money and material crap. While having money and wealth makes life easier, it still doesn’t take the place of human relationships. Nurture these first and make them a priority this holiday season. Happy holidays!

Possibly the main reason for the prevalence of credit card debt is the complete social acceptance of the use of plastic money. They cards offer ease and convenience to people that want to make purchases without using cash. Nowadays you don’t even need to sign a piece of water to purchase hundreds of pounds worth of products.

Some people have as many as 15 credit cards and that is where the real problem lies. With multiple cards, it is very easy to run up multiple debts, in a very short period of time so that it is possible that you can soon be drowning in debt from your credit cards let alone all the other sources of credit at your disposal.

You need to get a grip of your credit card usage if you are using your card all of the time to pay for “everything” the chances are you are heading for a serious financial problems. Another option is to take the credit card debt from your higher interest cards and transfer it to one with a low interest rate.

After you have cleared away the debts on one of your cards make sure to destroy it. Start the process by focusing on the credit card with the high interest rate and then move down from there.

When you draw out money every week, make sure to not use any other money from your credit cards. This way you cannot spend more than you have coming into the bank.

Payments that cannot be made in cash should be made by cheque, if that is not possible then you can use your credit card as a last resort, but you should have the money in the bank ready for payment.

If you pay the credit card company right away, when you receive the bill, then you will be less likely to have further debts that month because you have already spent that money. In a way, this is a personal debt management plan.

Using cash whenever possible will reduce your reliance on credit card use and help to stop your increasing debts.