How to Have a Stress Free Holiday Season By Tracye Gano

The holidays are right around the corner. Holidays should be a time that we come together and enjoy our families who we may not see much during the year. It should be a time of rejoicing and relaxing.

But for many the holidays are not a season of enjoying family and relaxing. As the holidays approach many families are faced with expensive dinners, parties and buying gifts for family, friends and coworkers.

What happens if your budget just does not allow the extra expenses at this particular time of year? For many the answer is to pull out the credit cards and begin the charging spree. The mind set is “I will worry about the bills later”.

It may take the immediate stress of what to do with a budget that won’t stretch to include all the holiday extras; but it does not solve the problem that will hit you after the first of the year when the credit card bills start mounting.

The holiday expenses that cost you $1000.00 in credit card bills will cost you much more in finance charges and stress. Many people spend the next year trying to pay off the following year’s charges; only to find out that the holidays are once again looming ahead. Since the budget is even more stretched from the previous year charges, the charge cards come back out for the present holiday season.

I want to offer some suggestions for staying out of the holiday spending trap. First it is not a bad thing to not be able to afford extravagant presents, dinners, and all the other trappings that we have come to expect.

Make a decision to not pull out those charge cards and then stick with it. Let your family and friends know that you plan to only spend that which you can afford. Whether your budget will handle $1000.00 or only $50.00 make that determination of what you can afford and stick with it!

Put the credit cards away, and get creative. Make something from your kitchen. Bake cookies and create a gift food basket. Give a gift certificate of your time for the following year. If you draw, paint or are gifted in some other medium; take the time to create something special for those on your giving list.

Instead of one family bearing the load for a huge Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, suggest to other family members to bring a dish so that everyone can share in blessings.

Another thing you can do to relieve the spending stress of the holiday season is to buy things on sale and spread out your purchasing throughout the year. 

These are just a few suggestions. The limit to what you can do is only limited by your willingness to roll up your sleeves and give more of your time and talents.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things  are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.