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How to Manage Holiday Credit Spending
When the holiday music starts playing, people start spending. Retailers depend on it. But that doesn’t mean you have to blow out your budget on holiday gifts! Here are some tips to help you manage your holiday credit spending, so you don’t have huge balances to pay off later.
Choosing the gifts
- Set your spending limit BEFORE you begin the shopping process.
- Try as best you can to untangle emotional messages from your gift-giving before you head to the store. Do you typically feel the need to outdo your siblings in splurging on Mom? Do you have a new significant other you want to impress? Carefully considering such issues will allow you to do your holiday shopping with a more level head and leave you less vulnerable to marketing pressures in stores.
- Got a number of friends who might expect gifts? One option is a Secret Santa arrangement with an upper spending limit. (There’s even an online organizer for such gift exchanges: Elfster.) Another option is for everyone to give the gift of time, picking a day and spending it doing a fun event together.
- Charities frequently offer holiday gifts. With a charity gift, you can do some good — and get a tax deduction. You can send the person you are donating in honor of a card describing the gift. (See, for example, gift options from Mercy Corps.)
Doing the shopping
- Avoid shopping during peak hours or on weekends: you’ll be more likely to spend more amidst the excitement of crowds of shoppers. By the same token, try to get all your holiday shopping done well before December 24th.
- Keep an eye out for deals online. Many Web sites are devoted to cataloging the special deals offered on “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re looking online in advance, you’ll have a better time seeing a real bargain than if you’re already in the store.
- Go to your credit card’s or bank’s Web site and ask for an alert to be emailed or texted to you if your charges go over a certain set limit. If your holiday spending gets away from you, this will serve as a reminder to rein things in.
- If you truly don’t know what to get a person, go ahead and browse at a store you know they like — but take cash and leave your credit cards at home.
- Go cheap on the holiday cards. If you think a homemade card would be too awkward or goofy, stick to the 99-cent bin. Your recipient will remember what you wrote in the card far better than the card itself.
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