Not Made Of Money

Now that your holiday shopping is almost done (hopefully, anyway) you may find yourself buried in holiday debt. Don’t feel like you’re alone; many people get a little carried away as they shop for Christmas presents. Then, add the cost of those presents to the other typical holiday expenses like decorations for your home, fancy family dinners, and even travel to visit distant relations. No wonder you spent more money than you add.

Rather than beat yourself up over your mountain of holiday debt, it’s time to make a plan to get out from under it. With a determined plan, you can begin to dig your way out and ensure that you never have to face holiday debt again.

Determine exactly how much holiday debt you have. I know that finding this number can be scary, but you have to do it. Drag out all your receipts and credit card statements. Add everything up so you know exactly how much debt you’re looking at.

Decide how long you can take to pay it off. Do you want to pay it off in a few months? Maybe you just want to have all of your holiday debt vanquished by the time summer arrives. In either case, you need to have a clear target date in mind as you plan to pay off your debt.

Set a monthly payment goal. The easiest way to set your goal is to divide your total holiday debt amount by the number of months you plan to take to pay it off. If you prefer to work with smaller goals, set weekly payment goals. The key here is simply to have a target in mind.

Determine how you’re going to make your payment goals. Are you going to cut back on your expenses by skipping little luxuries like Starbucks? Maybe you’d rather take a part-time job for a while to pull in the necessary cash to pay off your holiday debt. The choice is yours, but you need to take action to make sure that you’re making (or exceeding) the payment goals you’ve set.

Start planning for next year’s holiday spending. Once you’ve paid off your holiday debt, don’t make the mistake of forgetting to plan for next year. You should take the time to draw up a budget for next year’s holiday spending and start working your way towards saving that money before the frenzy starts all over again.

• How to Get Through the Holiday Season without Incurring More Debt
• Easy Ways to Earn Extra Cash for the Holidays

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