How many of us are still paying off debt from the last holiday season? If this is you, here are five tips for avoiding debt from now until New Years.
- Get a Seasonal Job
Seasonal jobs might be as simple as wrapping presents at your local store. Amazon is hiring. Turbo Tax is hiring at-home workers for tax season. Basically any store with extended hours needs extra workers. Try applying for jobs where you like to shop . . .get a discount for your troubles.
- Open up a small, fee free savings account
Open up a Capital One 360 account and deposit your Holiday budget in this account. Link you rewards credit card to this account and to debitize and shop until you drop . . .or at least until your balance drops. Debitize will tell you when you get low on funds. At that point, make more money or stop spending.
- Try White Elephant exchanges instead of traditional gift exchanges
Instead of buying dozens of small gifts for your friends and co-workers, set a budget (usually under $20) and spend your time picking out a unique gift. Finding out what everyone ended up brining is a lot of fun . . .and pretty easy on your budget.
- Use your hands and mind instead of your wallets to make gifts
Almost everyone loves getting something homemade and thoughtful as a gift. My mom spends a weekend making chex mix, fudge, and the BEST sugar cookies and gives her treats to our friends and family. My extended family even sends Pecans to my mom for “payment” for her snacks.
Most people just like thoughtfulness around the holidays. Getting a homemade gift can be much better than getting something expensive from a store.
- Make Technology Your Ally
Use extensions for shopping and price discounts. Compare prices with apps. Read Reviews on different goods and different sales. Take an amazon scanning app with you wherever you go and make sure that item isn’t cheaper somewhere else. Do your research about the best time to buy items.
All in all. You should be in a better position after the holidays than before. Your wallet and your well-being will thank you. Rational holiday shoppers stick to these five rules.
Stay Rational.
-B&T