Pick a card, any card. Rakuten, Etsy, and of course Amazon… It’s easy to get excited and overspend during the holiday shopping season. The way credit is marketed to us, it’s hard to resist the “buy now, pay later” message.

But credit cards are not always fun and games. Without a plan, shopping until our credit cards are maxxed out does not justify the debt hangover that inevitably comes in January.

Although the pandemic threw us all a curve ball, I hope that we were able to maintain the four walls in 2020. Not everyone was, and Congress is about as useful as an inflatable dartboard.

So don’t rely on Uncle Sam. We owe it to ourselves to have a plan. (And an emergency fund, but that’s for another day.)

Budget, budget, budget

Having a solid spending plan all year long is the best defense against overspending. It’s not as though Christmas moves around. It’s always the 25th day of December. So it should be simple to plan ahead. Simple, not necessarily easy… until our budgeting habits get engrained!

So a Christmas Club could help. How simple would it be to set aside the same amount every pay day into a separate savings account all year long? Simple, but again maybe not easy. To gain any benefit, we have to give something else up. Set up your 2021 Christmas Club this week to start planning ahead for next Christmas.

Understanding that we will always experience pain, either the pain of learning to budget and save for future purchases, or the pain of regret after the bills start to roll in. That’s the January credit card hangover.

If we can be disciplined, we can forgo the formality of a Christmas Club payment. But know thyself.

If a personal spending plan (i.e., a budget) is something you plan to tackle in the New Year, reach out to me. I have been “nerding out” with spreadsheet budgets since 2009. I can help you craft a personal budget that works for you, and I can help you stay on track.

Have a Happy New Year celebration this Thursday night and be safe!