UNITED STATES—It is the most wonderful time of the year, yes, I’m referring to Thanksgiving and Christmas where the spending reaches an all-time high for many families. For starters, I wish I could explain WHY people give and donate more during this time of year compared to the other ten months, but whenever you can help others, especially those who are less fortunate, that is a good thing.
However, with the holidays fast upon us, it is quite easy to start to spend and get carried away with it in the process. What do I mean? Your mood is so great, you don’t start to consider what you spent or have spent until the money is long gone. How can you counter such? You have to take a deep breath and pause before you hand over that credit card, debit card or cash.
Now I didn’t mention check because who is actually using a check to purchase items at retailers. Gift cards I don’t consider because it is free money given to you. It is not like you can utilize that money to turn into cash to pay off bills or credit card debt. Gift cards might be the smarted thing if you have them around and you can spend for the holiday gift giving season. The credit, debit and cash those are much more tricky, especially that plastic.
Why? It is so much easier to recall you have money, but in reality you don’t have that money. The debit card you do and that money comes out of the checking or savings account immediately upon use. What is the problem with that? People don’t keep track of what they have SPENT and what they have LEFT in the account. Easy to overdraft and dangerous at the same time.
With that said, the credit card is worse because it is NOT your money, it belongs to the bank, and we forget we ultimately have to pay it back. The problem is most Americans don’t pay that debt back and it starts to mount and incur interest. That is massive because that interest can become so gargantuan that it becomes hard to pay it off. Before you know it, you’re drowning in debt from purchases that you made two to three years prior during the Christmas holidays.
This is why I’m an advocate for cash. With cash, it is hard to overspend because you have to set a budget and once the money is gone it is gone. That is the top-tier rule that should be followed by many Americans. Now, we don’t live those lives like other celebrities who are millionaires and have endless money they can spend however they please whenever they please without so much of having to do a double take on what they’ve spent.
Everyday Americans don’t have that luxury, so we have to pick and choose and be aware of what we spend, where we spend it and how much of it we spend. The holidays bring stress because we feel the need to do more than what we are actually capable of doing. Yes, the word budget comes into play and it is something many of us hate hearing, but that is life. If you feel this pressure to do more than what you can, take a moment and breathe.
Ask yourself the questions that we rarely ask: 1) Do I need it 2) Do I want it 3) What purpose does it serve. Yeah, they are loaded questions, but perhaps the most important is the first one. Be honest with yourself when you ask that question because it makes all the difference. If the answer is NO, then you know what you have to do, even if you feel otherwise. Don’t act on impulse! Act on what makes rational sense. It is something you will indeed appreciate long term.
Written By Jason Jones
