Today is the first Saturday of 2020 and some are enjoying their first paycheck of the new decade!
We made it through the holidays and, if you’re like me, you’re not looking forward to seeing ‘the damage’, aka the gross overspending many of us partake in over the holidays, and the ensuing credit card bill arriving the first of January. I enjoy spending the money on family and friends so I’m ok with ‘the Damage’, but you still must spend within your means.
It’s a new year and we get to start over with 20/20 focus on saving and budgeting. Budgeting is key to help us focus on our spending. It’s ok to spend your money, you earned it and you should enjoy it, but it is also very rewarding to save it. However, you can’t keep spending forever, you must pick a time to pay off your debts, but that is directly a result of your own motivation on the path to financial freedom.
So how do you handle overspending around the holidays, what’s the best way to eliminate ‘The Damage’?
1. Pay off your holiday expenses first
Any major or large purchases you made to either provide for or visit friends and family, focus on paying those expenses off first. These expenses usually aren’t accounted for in a monthly budget, and by eliminating these costs you can get back on track with your normal budget.
2. Eliminate your smallest debts
Pay off any additional debts incurred either on new credit cards opened (which definitely isn’t a great way to debt free life – opening new lines of credit) or other accounts that aren’t in your usual financial routine, won’t let you forget you spent on those accounts and put you in a bind later on when bills are due.
3. Unsubscribe
We mentioned subscriptions and the danger they can be to our monthly budget in the last post, but any free trials or coupons used to sign up for streaming services will most likely be ending soon before January is over. Retrace your steps and unsubscribe from any new services you wanted to try or use just for the holidays.
Remember, spending is OK! But you must spend within your means, and within your budget.
MoneyHugger 