Holiday Frazzle Dazzle Week
It's the last week before Christmas. Of course the malls are jammed. You are trying to stick to a budget, armed with your prepared list, but you have more people to get gifts for that you forgot about, and friends and co-workers give you something when you weren't planning on giving them anything. Your list keeps growing and planning goes out the window. As intended, store specials are very enticing and you get sucked in.
To make matters worse, you’ve been invited to several parties with family or friends and have nothing to wear!
First problem: How can you keep your budget and planning in tact and still buy what you need to buy?
It's too late to set up a lay-away program so you need to get creative. Do your gifts have to come from the mall and must you buy something now? The answers to each question is "no".
Every year a close friend of mine spends an afternoon making baked, sugar-coated pecans. She buys the pecans, a roll of cellophane, ribbon and some bowls from a Dollar Store. The cost of each gift is of course time, and less than $10 each.
You can give a gift certificate dated after January 1st which will allow you to buy the item at a really discounted price. Or you can offer your services, like babysitting, cleaning out a garden, or cooking a meal that will happen in the future and in the process you will spread out your costs.
Obviously, planning for the holidays should be done well in advance, and lay-a-way programs have made a comeback this year, but it's too late for that now, so your credit card becomes the main fall-back solution.
Your most important planning will have to happen after the holidays. If your credit card debt is more than you anticipated, take some proactive steps. Create a calendar with a clearly stated goal at the top and tape it onto your refrigerator, front and center.
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