Dealing with Debt after Christmas

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Ah, November and December: the two months of the year (back to back, naturally) where we are
encouraged to eat hearty, shop ‘til we drop (for others!), and travel extensively to see friends and
family. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year … which means that January and the months
following the holidays are, to put it simply, not. So after the presents have been opened with care, the
tinsel has been taken down and the tree thrown out on the corner for the garbage men to collect, how
do you deal with post-Christmas debt? Here are a few tips to get you started:

Take a breath. The damage probably isn’t as bad as you think … and even if it is, there are still ways to
deal with the after Christmas carnage. You’ll have to total up all your bills in order to begin fixing your
finances (though, in the future, planning a holiday budget and then sticking to it will help you once the
holidays are over). Gather up the credit card bills or your statements and add it all up. Subtract any
money that you can afford to help pay for your spanking new debt, which will give you an idea of how
much you’ll need to pay it off.

Freeze! You’ll only make things worse if you keep spending after the holidays. This means that you’ll
have to stop using your credit card until you’ve paid off the debt: stick to your cash supplies, checks, or
use your debit card. Only spend the money you actually have!

Recalculate. Do a little financial shuffling and reconfigure your budget in a way to find some additional
funds that will help you out in the leaner times. This may mean that you may have to (temporarily)
cancel luxuries like cable or internet. Ask yourself: is internet a necessity? Can you check your email for
free at work or in a coffee shop (add up the mochas you buy versus your monthly cable bill to see if it’s
comparable). And do you really need to eat out once a week?

Schedule it! Select a date when you intend to pay off your holiday debt by figuring out how much you
can afford to make monthly payments toward it. Then you can figure out how long it will take. You
can help yourself when you receive unexpected money from time to time … put little windfalls toward
paying off your debt.

Motivate yourself. It doesn’t have to be all gloom and doom. Find yourself something pretty and shiny
– or even just a nice meal out with your sweetie – and allow yourself to buy it once your debt is paid off.
Just make sure that you have enough savings to cover it or that you pay in cash … the wondrous thing
that motivates you should not put you back into the clutches of debt.

Deal with your debt the smart way and avoid having to rely on using purchase order finance companies!