Continuing our holiday-themed posts, here's a piece from Suze Orman on five ways to avoid holiday spending. Her thoughts:
1. Double the cost of anything you buy with a credit card and don't intend to pay off when the bill comes next month.
2. Disorganization will cost you big-time.
3. Decline store card offers.
4. Handle your gift card with care.
5. You can't buy friends or love.
My thoughts on these:
1. Forget about doubling the price, how about "don't buy anything on your credit card that you can't pay off on the next bill" as the tip? As I've said before, letting your charges on a credit card go on and on (my just paying the minimum) can cost you a fortune.
2. Make and use both a budget and a gift list as much as you can. We certainly have a Christmas gifts budget and, for the most part, use a list when we shop.
3. It's just not worth the savings/hassle/time/credit check, so I pass too. Besides, there's something about completing a credit card application in front of a hostile line of shoppers that just says "not a good idea" to me.
4. Simply: be sure you know the ins and outs of your gift card when you receive it.
5. Aw, shucks, Suze. You're special to me too. ;-)
Fantastic post. I hope that many of your readers will heed this advice (or are already in the process of doing so since we're less than two weeks away from Christmas). I think December is the month that gets most people into trouble.
Posted by: MollysBrother | December 13, 2006 at 12:52 PM