Christmas Credit Card Debt and How to Avoid Personal Finance Hell

I'm gong to share with you how to keep yourself out of post Christmas personal finance hell. I'll be sharing my own holiday spending habits that keep credit card debt entirely out of the picture.

Right now is the perfect time to at least start thinking about matching the people in your life with the gifts you would like to get for them. If you wait till last minute you're not going to get Cole in your stocking but a hefty dose of credit card debt.

Remember that Christmas gifts are not a form of competition. If someone in your circle of friends and family are better off financially. Then please don't get into a contest of "who's present was more luxurious."

Set a budget and stick to it. Decide how much you can afford to spend in total for the Christmas season and then divide that number by the amount of people you need to buy presents for.

Stop buying lunch and dinner at fast food joints and bring a sandwich with you to work instead. Be sure to eat dinner at home. It's not only economical but also healthier for you. You'll save a fortune in just a couple of weeks and you can allocate this money towards making the most of your Christmas shopping.

If you don't have to drive somewhere then don't. It's likely you don't even realize how much money you're spending on gasoline on frivolous trips around town. Save that gas money and add it to the coffer for Christmas spending. Maybe you hate to carpool but you can do it for two or three weeks, can't you? Take the train, bus, metro to work, it's not luxury but you'll find that you're not sitting in rush hour traffic, which lowers your stress level.

If you don't need something then don't buy it. You don't know what you're going to get for Christmas so if you don't need it, big or small, then don't buy it. You can go without till after the Christmas season.

I can't stress this one enough! Use the Internet to get some of the best deals out there. Order those Christmas gifts early. Get them on-line and be sure to compare prices between different websites. Some websites have fantastic deals but as they are shipping from other countries, delivery times may be as long as two weeks.

Finally, put those credit cards away and pay by check-card. You've been saving on lunch and dinner as well as gas so you should have saved up a few hundred dollars for Christmas. Stick to your budget like glue and don't go above or beyond it.

Your friends and family don't want you to go into credit card debt for them, they just want to celebrate the Holiday with you. So go out there and have the best, debt free Christmas, ever.