holidays « DebtGoal

Posts Tagged ‘holidays’

Tie Your Celebration to a Debt Milestone

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

There are numerous holidays, events, and other reasons to celebrate throughout the year. But for someone in debt, mobilizing multiple areas of your life towards debt reduction efforts will quickly accelerate you into better financial health.

To maximize the value of each event, tie it to a debt milestone. Better yet, set your debt milestones to correspond with holidays and other festive events in your schedule and use those moments to savor the small victories in your quest towards debt elimination. You can even combine party themes, using events to simultaneously celebrate the achievement of one goal and the initiation of the next step.

Use events to mention in passing to friends and family of your achievement. In short, get your social scene involved in your completed milestone. They can serve as valuable coaches, in big and small ways, as you move on to the next step in your debt plan.

Review your debt plan and adjust it for new financial circumstances. Make the first thing you do the morning after the celebration be to sit down and review the debt plan on paper. Don’t have a debt plan in place yet? Use this time to write down, formulate, and commit to a debt elimination plan, no matter how basic or complex. This is an excellent moment in which to go over any changes in your job status, salary, housing or other income/debt information and make necessary adjustments to your debt reduction schedule. Receive a bonus or salary increase at work? Experience new reduced transportation costs because of declining gas prices? Revise upwards the amount you contribute each month in debt reduction payments. Input these new realities into your debt plan and reap the rewards of debt elimination faster than anticipated.

Raj Patel writes for DebtGoal.com, a do-it-yourself system for getting out of debt and lowering your interest costs. DebtGoal.com incorporates all of the techniques discussed in this post and can help users understand and get visibility to and manage their debt finances.

Tags: celebrations, cost savings, debt, debt celebration, debt elimination, debt milestone, Debt Paydown, debt plan, debt plan revision, debt reduction, debt savings, events, holidays, parties
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Holidays on the Cheap

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

With so much focus this season on saving while shopping for presents, one can easily forget how holiday events themselves can entail significant costs aside from any wrapped gifts. J.D. at Get Rich Slowly provides some excellent advice on Christmas frugality. Two of his best tips are:

1. Hold the family gathering after December 25th. The full range of supplies for the any celebration is heavily discounted.

2. Focus on family traditions, not the gifts. Kids enjoy consistent traditions and relaxation with family as much or more so than expensive presents with fleeting value.

Other great ideas for holidays on the cheap include:

Sharing meal preparation with your guests to help even out the costs of food and supplies
Building a family history
Playing board games that you already have access to
Watching and playing sports
Sharing family stories and telling jokes
Burning CDs of holiday music for enjoyment the next couple of weeks
Playing in the snow, hitting the beach, swinging by the park, or hiking – depending on location and weather conditions
Building and enjoying a fire in the fireplace
Singing carols

There are many more options than these that make the holidays fun, enjoyable for everyone, and all at little or no cost. Brainstorm a list of your own and you can easily fill several days with memorable experiences.

Tags: budget, cheap, cheap Christmas, cheap holidays, Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Day activities, Christmas dinner, family, family traditions, frugal, holiday, holiday activities, holidays, Xmas
Posted in Saving, Spending | 3 Comments »

The 2nd Carnival of Everything Credit

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

The second edition of the blog carnival at CreditShout.com Carnival of Everything Credit has been released. Topics discussed range from keeping one’s credit cards healthy to paying off debt to strategies for controlling one’s spending. Michael Geoffrey makes the salient point that if one suddenly receives a bundle of money, they should apply it towards paying down credit card debt instead of investing it. This is excellent advice.

Tags: blog carnivals, Credit cards, credit score, debt, Debt Management, Debt Paydown, financial emergency, frugality, holidays, mortgage, mortgage crisis, Savings, Spending
Posted in Credit Card, Debt Management, Emergency Savings, Marriage, Paying Down Debt, Saving, Spending, Uncategorized, mortgage | No Comments »

Better Than Yet Another Moose Sweater…

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

The rituals of gifting during the holidays go back deep in history. Everyone feels an obligation to give something to someone, so if the topic comes up this year, consider asking for a contribution towards paying down outstanding debt. Such a gift will hands-down beat a moose sweater, candy cane socks, or yet another indiscernible contribution towards the tie collection.

Here’s three options on how to ask for the debt contribution:

1. “Though any present would be thoughtful during these tight times, I really need to focus on paying down some of my current financial obligations, so if you are thinking of giving me something, please make it a contribution towards my debt elimination fund. It doesn’t matter how small or large your donation is – it would be highly appreciated.”

2. “The economy has made things really tight right now, so the best gift I could receive would be a monetary contribution towards my personal debt relief fund. Thank you for all of the support – financial and otherwise. Here’s to a debt-free 2009!”

3. “The holidays are all about coming together and supporting one another – and celebrating relationships in the process. I’ve made a major decision in my life to quickly eliminate all of my existing financial obligations as soon as possible, and so I ask that you consider giving me a monetary contribution towards helping me get out of debt instead of a traditional present. The joys of becoming debt-free and leading such a lifestyle will greatly outweigh the fun of a new sweater or music album, and will ultimately make my relationships that matter – those of friends and family – much stronger.”

Here’s three avenues for asking for the contribution:

1. Email to friends and family. Write and send an email to friends and family providing an update on your life and best wishes for a great holiday season. Then conclude with your new suggested present of a contribution.

2. Insert into holiday cards. If you have a habit of sending out cards to friends and family, include a short personal note that asks that all gifts this year instead be contributions towards getting out of debt.

3. Mention during a phone call. Work into your conversation during a phone call to friends and family your desire for a contribution towards eliminating your personal debt instead of traditional gifts. This can be highly effective given the solemnity that you can display while asking. Mention that normal presents are always appreciated, but that the current economic conditions make personal financial health jump to the top of your wish list.

Tags: Christmas, debt, debt contribution, debt elimination, Debt Paydown, debt-free, holidays
Posted in Paying Down Debt | No Comments »

6 Reasons to Skip Retail Store Credit Cards

Friday, December 19th, 2008

This time of year holiday spending is in full swing. But in this economy, saving money while shopping is all the rage. Retailers, looking to boost disappointing sales figures in the post-Thanksgiving period, are promoting their in-store credit cards aggressively to drive revenues under the guise of saving you money. Unfortunately, retail store cards are not worth the plunge, in spite of their offers. Here’s 6 reasons why.

1. They fatten your wallet — with unnecessary plastic. Simplicity in one’s finances can be a secret weapon to improving one’s debt status because getting organized is that much easier. Adding credit cards to the mix that only work at one store doesn’t makes sense.

2. The offers are only a one-time deal. Part of the strategy of many retail stores is to get you to take on their card for the long-term while the only real benefit of the card is a one-time discount of 10-15% with just your first purchase in the store.

3. You’re encouraged to spend more. Those who shop in a retail store with a retail store card in their name spend more on average. This makes those who struggle with finances less likely to improve their situation. Furthermore, the temptation to spend more greatly outweighs any improvement in your debt-to-credit limit ratio since most of them have low limits anyways.

4. Opening the card can cause your credit score to decline. To issue you the card, the store pulls your credit report. While having your report examined once will not necessarily decimate your credit score, those who have their credit report called up frequently for other applications, ranging from loans to other credit cards to employment documents, means the negative impact is compounded.

5. Very high interest rates. Many of the retail store cards carry interest rates significantly worse than those on your general purpose plastic.

6. The terms of retail store credit cards have already merited congressional inquiry. At least Senator Schumer of New York has done formal research into retail store credit card marketing practices and interest rates, concluding they are a danger to consumers. In his survey only 4 of 23 retail store cards offered interest rates lower than 20%.

Raj Patel writes for DebtGoal.com, a do-it-yourself system for getting out of debt and lowering your interest costs. DebtGoal.com incorporates all of the techniques discussed in this post and can help users understand and get visibility to and manage their debt finances.

Tags: Credit cards, holiday shopping, Holiday Spending, holidays, retail store credit cards, retail stores, spending habits
Posted in Credit Card, Debt Management, Saving, Spending | 8 Comments »