Holiday Debt versues Holiday Tradition

Black Friday are two words that convey an image of long lines, overflowing shopping carts, hoards of shoppers and a three inch stack of advertisements in the Thanksgiving day newspaper. Fortunately for retailers those words convey images of big dollar signs, but unfortunately, some shoppers who end up with a lot of Christmas debt in their quest for the perfect Christmas holiday. So the big question is, what can we do as the consumer to decrease our individual debt, and enjoy a less stressful, more of the old school traditional, Christmas holiday?
When I was young Christmas was a magical time of year, maybe because I was just a kid without responsibility’s or a care in the world. But now as an adult with a child, I see this holiday very differently. Such as, the financial side, but I also want my son to experience Christmas as I did as a kid without going overboard. So each holiday we drag the decorations out of the attic. We put up the lights and hang ornaments on the tree with Christmas music creating the holiday spirit. But before a single ornament is hung the stress of the holiday shopping season has already started on that day after the thanksgiving feast. Maybe we should all take a page out of Santa’s book by making a list and checking it twice or three times, and make the best financial choice for our holiday budget.
As my son is counting down the days until the holiday school break and freedom, I am counting my pennies. As kids we never noticed the stress that our parents were dealing with during this festive time of year, and when the sun came up on Christmas morning, we would rush to see all the shiny wrapped presents Santa left for us. Therefore, as kids we would see and feel all of the joy and excitement, b...

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...ving expenses. Giving that, when we are in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and we have those sought after items in our shopping carts, we rarely stop to think of the consequences of using credit cards.
In the end, Christmas is not about money it is about lasting memories. We can all do our part to avoid the holiday spending frenzy by making our gift giving list, checking it twice, finding the lowest prices and most of all, sticking to a budget. To this end, hopefully this will help us to be prepared for the next holiday season by using some of the options mentioned such as starting a Christmas club or a savings account, using layaway, and making that gift list, and then sticking with it. The moral of the story is to plan ahead to avoid financial hardship in the new year. This means planning ahead, because December 25th is the same day every year.