Credit Card Seduction!
How many paychecks each month?
How do you budget and set up something to put by for a rainy day? And you have to have savings! Unfortunately, it is hard to set up and adhere to a monthly budget. And the worry and stress caused by money problems hurts the whole family.
Depending on how you are paid, there are as little as two paychecks a month and maybe four if both parents work. And if you are a single parent, it gets even harder.
But you have to work out a plan and then do it so that money will be there when you need it for all of your bills, household expenses, and then for the inevitable and unexpected expenses.
There are so many expenses that you can prepare for ahead of time. What about your plans for your Christmas purchases? Have you planned wisely and saved a certain amount to allot for school expenses and special birthdays and vacations?
Why?
Because you know the holidays and birthdays and vacations will happen each year, so there is no excuse not to save. There are many methods to tuck some money away ( and not get into it at all) each week throughout the year, so that when the special occasions come, the money is ready.
That way you don’t have to worry about it each payday.
Another method which might work for you is to plan to buy a gift each week or every other week throughout the year and put it away until it is Christmas or the next special day.
(If you decide to go ahead and wrap it, you are way ahead of the game!)
And remember to plan ahead with after-Christmas sales. Get the wrapping paper and ribbons at half price and put them away for next year. That saves on a big expense. Use a generic wrap of colors for all your gifts each year and you won’t have to buy the latest Disney movie character. Pretty paper is great but you know the kids are interested in what’s inside!
And your littler ones just want that BOX!
Some things to remember when you are out shopping:
Caution: Do not to get a credit card from every department store that offers you 10 or 15% off your purchases just by applying and getting a charge card at that store! That is the pure definition of Credit Card Seduction. It can turn around and hurt you big time!
Most of the time, that credit card will have a large interest rate! You will have a hit on your credit when they run it through to qualify you, and this can negatively affect your credit score. And if you get a card at each store just to get that discount, that many hits can be damaging.
Note: Saying you will just get that card for the discount and cancel it later…..not good! Canceling a credit card can also hurt your credit score! Yes, sad to say, it’s a lose-lose situation.
If you use credit cards, I personally feel you need to have at least one generic credit card which is NOT from an individual merchant. This would be for emergency only! ( and wanting that handbag sooo bad is NOT an emergency.)
This generic credit card is to be used for purchases like furniture, and big items so that you have the power to cancel the transaction, for instance if the furniture shop never delivers on the furniture that you’ve paid for!
Tell me, if you have a handful of credit cards, you have a lot of due dates and a lot of juggling to do to make sure those bills are paid on time. It is so much better to just have ONE, and then you can more accurately see your charges, due dates, fees.
And don’t forget about monitoring your bill for fraudulent charges . We are living in the world of hacks and breaches daily. If you have just ONE account to monitor, it will be much easier to spot a problem.
Anyway, plan your birthday and vacation and Christmas purchases and stick to your plan.
Make your holiday purchases wisely.
Your kids may want a lot of things, but teaching them that they can’t have everything is one of your most important jobs.
How do you budget for holidays and special gifts?
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