Debt Management

I don't want to come off sounding like Scrooge, but I've made a vow to myself to make debt management a top priority this holiday season. My first step is to not charge a single gift to a credit card. I've been through too many Christmas spending sprees that end in a horrible January hangover, when I wake up face down in the carpet, surrounded by bills.

This year, everything will be paid for in cash, whether in the good old cold form or electronically. An effective debt management plan is my gift to the family.

This year's going to be different.

I'm setting a budget and I'm sticking to it.

Seriously.

Yeah, sure ... I'll still be out there shopping on Christmas Eve, as always, but when the money runs out, I'm done. There will be plenty of techie toys under the tree, to be sure, but the only thing piling up at ranchero indebto will be the snow outside.

It won't be a bunch of bills.

I'm dead serious about cleaning up my existing debts. And I know that I can't make debt management one of my New Year's resolutions without addressing one of the prime causes: overspending at Christmas.

So that big flat screen LCD television? It's just not in the cards this year.

The surround sound system? Not yet.

If your debt situation is out of hand, you may want to look into doing something about it, too. Peace of Mind is right up there with Peace on Earth. I know from experience that having a mountain of debt hanging over my head just doesn't put me in the holiday state of mind.

Au Contraire, as my little pal likes to say.