Today Is The Time To Start Planning For Next Christmas
Posted on January 5, 2009
Each year millions of people experience the joy and remorse of the holiday season. Too often, the joy of giving is tempered by the remorse of having to face the bills in the dead of winter. This could not have been more evident than the event I witnessed while standing in the checkout line at a popular retail store. I was third in line behind two women who obviously knew each other. As the first one was checking out, she turned to the one behind her and said, “I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to spend so much this Christmas, but here I am again, running up my credit card bill buying presents to make other people happy for a day or two.”“Yeah,” replied the lady second in line. “I feel the same way. Look at all this stuff. I planned to limit myself to $1,000 this year, but I had spent that and more two weeks ago and still had several people left to buy for. I’ve probably got close to that much in this buggy. I’m going to have to do the same thing you’re doing; put it on my credit card and hope I can get it paid off by next Christmas.”
“Why do we do this every year,” the first woman asked?
“I don’t know about you, but I get so much joy out of seeing the look on the faces of my children and friends when they open their presents. I guess I just get a little carried away,” the second woman replied.
As I listened to this conversation, I couldn’t help but wonder how many times this same scenario plays out all across the country each holiday season. Holiday giving has become so commercialized. Many retailers do half or more of their annual sales in the final two months of the year. Holiday spending has become such an annual ritual that anyone who doesn’t overspend is considered a “Scrooge.”
I was lying in bed thinking about the conversation between the women in the checkout line when I recalled a similar conversation I had overheard last January while having lunch at a local eatery. Two men were in the booth behind me were talking about the credit card statements they had just received. Their holiday gift purchases had showed up on the accounts and were much higher than expected. I won’t mention the choice words they said they initially had for their wives, whom they blamed for the excess spending. Eventually they laughed about how they had gone through the statements line by line and discovered that both of them had put more on the accounts than their wives, but that didn’t change the remorse they were feeling about being deeper in debt.
As my thoughts drifted back and forth between these conversations, I again wondered how often scenarios similar to these play out each year. It’s one thing to overspend when business is booming and jobs are plentiful, but it’s totally different when the economy is in the tank, businesses are cutting employees and the future is uncertain. The deep recession we are in is causing people to reduce spending and be more frugal, but with a little planning you can still experience the joy of giving without going in debt.
Here’s a tip! With credit cards came an age of instant gratification. Before their introduction, people had to plan for purchases instead of simply swiping the card and worrying about how to pay for them later. In those days, folks relied on layaway to make larger purchases and Christmas accounts to save for holiday giving; techniques little used today. These methods kept people out of debt and taught them the value of delayed gratification, something totally foreign to most of today’s youth.
In the current economic climate, it may not be a bad idea to return to some of the methods our grandparents used to avoid going in debt. Starting to plan for the holiday season today is not only a good way to avoid after-Christmas remorse, it gives you time to put some thought into what you will give friends and family next year. A thoughtfully selected $25 gift can often bring more joy than a quickly chosen $100 one.
There are always great after Christmas sales, especially on more expensive items. If you plan to make a major purchase for that special someone, why not ask the store if you can layaway the item and still take advantage of the sale price. In today’s business climate, I’ll bet you can find many that will accommodate your request. By using layaway, you can pay for the item over the coming months, without interest, and have it available for next Christmas without going in debt.
The best way to plan for holiday giving is still the Christmas account. Your bank may not offer it under that name, but a Christmas account is nothing more than a savings account you will pay into throughout the year so you will have cash to pay for gifts next year instead of going in debt. First, you need to decide how much you will spend next year. Divide this amount by the number of paychecks you will receive between now and the time you will need the money. If your bank doesn’t offer a Christmas account, set up a simple passbook savings account and deposit the amount you will need from each paycheck. Your employer might even do this for you through a payroll deduction if you ask.
These are just a couple of the simple money management techniques our parents and grandparents used to avoid debt and they work just as well today as they did 50 – 75 years ago.
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thanks for the advice. I do always buy threw out the year. I was so thankful I had done that this year. My Dad of 46 years just showed up in 2008 and has a larger family than we was used to. I had things in the closet that I could use that yes maybe was recycled, but never used. Things I had gotten threw out the year. Then pick things from my MaryKay business for family and friends if needed. Hope that helps. It sure helped us this year.Make this a blessed year.
Glenda Smathers