Well Christmas has come and gone…again! It was a good one too! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Now is usually the time when people start to come down from their Christmas buzz, and reality begins to set in.
You’ve heard of buyer’s remorse right? For those who haven’t, it comes after a major purchase, or minor for some people, when you begin to regret your decision to buy whatever it was that you bought. I’ve experienced it for sure!
Let’s just call this Christmas remorse shall we? Christmas remorse?? It almost sounds like a bad word. Who would ever be remorseful about Christmas? Well, quite frankly, those who let the Christmas spirit cause them to spend more than they make.
Did you have a Debt Free Christmas?
David in Portland, Oregon had one—his first ever! Congratulations David! It feels great doesn’t it?
“I DID IT! I had a debt free Christmas… my first in my adult life. On top of that, I also applied almost $800 to my existing credit card debt in December. I know that your challenge to have a debt free Christmas helped me to avoid any backward steps this month and kept me on track for my goal of having my VISA paid off by June 2010. Thanks for the inspiration.”
The topic of the day is: Credit Card Debt.
Do you have it?
I’m just going to say it. Christmas is not justification for going out and charging a bunch of stuff on your credit cards! Christmas is not about going into debt, it’s about giving. It’s not about checking your financial security at the door in order to make someone smile. The spirit of giving gets lost in the fact that you went into debt in order to give it.
You know they say that most people do not pay off their Christmas debt until June or July. That sure is something to be remorseful about.
Guess what? Christmas happens every single year, so now is the time to start thinking about next year. TAKE ACTION!
How much do you want to spend on Christmas in 2010?
If you spend $600 at Christmas then you will need to save only $50 a month to avoid going into debt next year. I encourage you to do so. Avoid credit card debt and find out why Christmas is SO MUCH better without it. I had a wonderful Christmas and we did not experience Christmas remorse. Give it a try. Start saving today!
Debt Free here! Christmas is the same day every year, so we just save up for it throughout the year. No stress, no worries. 🙂
We did Christmas with no additional credit card debt. We figured out what we wanted to spend and stuck to it! We paid cash for all gifts that were purchased, so the only remorse may be that I wasn’t able to get the “IT” Wii game for my niece & nephew but they still received a Wii game. We are very happy with Christmas this year and the ability to not overspend or use credit cards. Next year will be the same way!
Debt Free… the only way to be. We’re not quite to the call-Dave-and-shout-debt-free, but I suppose in the meantime I could call Santa and shout it, because this is year five of no-debt Christmas. If we can pay for our wedding and honeymoon in cash (in ’06), we can certainly do Christmas. Cutting back all-around helps. The gift of TIME is the most precious!
Hi,
I made it a very simple christmas, it was easy since I have no credit cards or credit card debt to pay off. I have been out of work since March. I explained to my family for months that Christmas isn’t all about a lot of gifts it is about time spent together.
I made simple glass ornaments for my family.
This year instead of going out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner I made a wonderful dinner from scratch. It was wonderful if I say so myself.
We spent the whole day together just enjoying each other.
The children didn’t appear to find anything bad about the day.
I had a debt free Christmas 2 years in a row! Got news u am approved to host financial peace university too!
I think this was the first Christmas in a very loonnnggg time that I had a debt-free Christmas. Thanks for challenging all of us.
I made it out debt free for the first time this year! D and I still overspent on our budget. We plan to have better limits for next year’s Christmas – ones that are realistic for our budgets. But being without credit cards and paying cash for everything really helped my holiday stress. I can’t imagine doing it any other way!
We did have a debt free Christmas. Thank you, Brad. Because it was your push to have a debt-free Christmas that did it for us. I decided with that post, right then and there, my family was going to have it Debt Free. And darn it, I was adamant with them and we stuck to it.
I’ll admit there was a bit of discomfort, but we did. And had a wonderful holiday! Especially now that we DON’T have to labor the credit statements come post New Years.
And as you know, my adamant nature also helped @ilydiam to live a debt-free Christmas too! (yeah!). It’s all good Brad. I can’t thank you enough. 🙂
I can’t thank Money Funk enough for being such an inspiration to myself as I know she is to others…. I did in fact have a Debt Free Christmas and let me tell you…. what stress? I always felt the pressure before to use “all means necessary” to buy gifts for everyone that I came in contact with but I say no mo!! cash only baby… and now I have adopted this new way forever and ever going forward! =]
Please continue blessing us with the knowledge you have-it just opens our minds & thoughts to really think about being financially better!!!! =]
Yeah! It’s like a pay it forward.
Just as i can’t thank Brad enough for pushing to have a Debt-Free Christmas. 🙂
We have a learned new habit to make us happy for years on end. Thanks, @ilydiam for your gracious comment!
I am in the First Club! Paid cash for everything and still put a little money aside from my paycheck. Even bought gifts for a few people. Far less stress than previous years.
I am so inspired and motivated by all of your comments! Debt Free Christmas ROCKS! I am especially excited about the first-timers having one. Once you see how much less stress is involved with Christmas after doing it without debt, it’s hard to go back to the old way. Congratulations to you all and I hope I see you right here next year for the same challenge!!
Christmas is much merrier without credit cards, I always say. 😀
More or less a debt-free Christmas. Which is to say that my husband put some items on the card back in early November when he did his shopping, and we’ve since paid it off. He went over budget, I think, to the tune of about $50. But we still came in at under $300 for all of our presents. It’s a definite step in the right direction! (And next year he’s just going to get a certain amount of cash out of the bank.)
Christmas is not a big holiday for us but we acknowledge it so this probably helps financially. No credit was used so when the cash was gone that was it.
Cash is KING! as Dave Ramsey puts it. I like it. Congratulations!
We did a Khris Kringle this year and it saved us a bomb. We only had to buy 1 present for 1 person. It was a lot more than just a normal present but it worked out well because you could plan your spend. You knew how much you were supposed to spend up to and so we just budgeted that for Dec. I went a little overboard on the whole wifes gift but it worked out well!