How To Manage Your Holiday Credit Card Debt

The holiday season spending: Black Friday Sales, Christmas Shopping, New Years Eve Festivities, it adds up slowly but surely. You know the feeling, when you look at your credit card bill post-holidays and say “what was I thinking?”. The average consumer this year spent $1,054 on credit cards. That is on top of the $15,600 of average credit card debt we have in the United States right now.

Debt is not something to take lightly. It is a killer of savings and can cause a great amount of financial stress. As a matter of fact, it is the number one leading cause of financial stress in marriages.

So now that we realize how big of a stress debt can be, we can use this fresh start in the new year, we can start thinking about how we are going to pay off our debt.

Setup A Timeline

When making a plan to pay off your holiday debt, have an set end date, and stick to it. Remember, the longer it takes to pay off, the more interest will be added to your account.

Tackle Existing Debt

When you have multiple credit card debts often it is overwhelming to prepare a plan of attack.  One method I recommend is the avalanche approach. In this approach you take the highest interest rate card you have and you pay it off first. Then you take the next one, and pay it off, and so on. While focusing on paying the highest card, continue to pay the monthly minimum on the other cards.

Live within Your Means

Stray away from spending more money on things that are not needs while in the process of paying off of your debt. Create side incomes to earn extra money.  Sell things you aren’t using,  clean friends houses, get a part-time job on the weekends.

The most important thing to remember is to keep practicing good spending habits after you have finished paying off your debt so it is not an ongoing cycle.

If you have a financial question for Bruce, give our office a call at 417-882-1800

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