Avoiding Slipping Into Debt Over the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year- but don’t let it become the most expensive.

The holidays can be a festive time of year! It’s a period where we take a step back from our hectic professional lives in order to spend a little more time with our loved ones. We celebrate, enjoy ourselves, and give gifts to one another.

But, as many of us know, this can also result in the festive season being extremely costly. Increasing numbers of people are finding themselves slipping into serious debt in order to keep up with societal expectations. So, it’s extremely important that you avoid doing this! Here are a few steps that you can take to avoid slipping into debt this holiday season.

Contents

Change, Discipline, Gratification

When you think about your spending during the holiday season, consider these points:

Change is hard

The reason that people don’t diet, don’t exercise, and don’t resolve bad personal relationships is that change is hard. As a result, we don’t really, truly change and grow unless we’re in real pain. When we’re at that point, the pain of change is less severe than that pain of not changing.

Make the decision to change- don’t overspend this year!

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Discipline and time

With discipline and time, I think most people can accumulate far more wealth than they think is possible. But growing wealth requires change- which is precisely why most people don’t make the effort. The changes I’m suggesting involves an old friend:

Delayed gratification

Some decisions are relatively small:

Dropping a subscription music service and just listening to the free version (Pandora, for example).
Making coffee at home two days a week, which means that you stop by Starbucks less often.
Buying more generic products when you go to the grocery store and Target. (I’m not going generic on salad dressing, however).

Since these are smaller decisions, the amount of gratification you’re delaying is small. You don’t mind listening the commercials on Pandora (I certainly don’t- I just turned down the sound), and the coffee at home isn’t bad.

So, what do I get?

OK- so what do I get out of all this delayed gratification? You save money and avoid debt- which can give you peace of mind.

Here are some more practical strategies to avoid debt during the holidays.

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Under Pressure

Many of us feel that if someone gives us a gift, we have to give them something of equal value back in return. This can be problematic- if someone has a bigger budget than you, they are likely to spend more on your gift.

If you feel that you have to give something back of equal value, you may end up exceeding your budget and suffering financially in the long run. Instead, release yourself from this societal pressure. Nobody should give to receive!

Stick to It

Prepare a budget before you start purchasing anything Christmas related.

Whether that’s decorations, food, or presents, a budget will help you to avoid overspending. Make sure that your disposable income makes your budget possible, because this strategy will help you to avoid overspending. You can learn more about this in the Inforgraphy below from PrepaidCards123.

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