Christmas is a time for celebration. A time to spend with family, friends and loved ones. This is a time to savour all that is good in life, to rest, relax and recuperate ready for a new year. Unfortunately Christmas is also a time when people overspend and can push their lives into a spiral that will take many months to correct.

If you wish to deal with debt problems the first place to start is by realising that it is possible to have a good Christmas without running up large debts. This is a time to spend with people rather than on presents that people do not really need or want. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to buy someone a gift and then spending hours just looking for something to buy.

Consider this for a moment how you would feel about a gift if you realised that the person giving it to you had been forced to go into debt in order to make the purchase. Could you enjoy the gift – probably not? Do not buy presents that you will still be paying for in six or twelve months time.

Of course you might be reading this after Christmas when the damage has been done. The credit cards have reached their limit, the parties have been enjoyed, the presents have been put on one side and all that remains are a few memories and the pain of paying for it all.

Large numbers of people live their lives by getting into debt at Christmas and then spending half the year to pay off those debts. They then get into debt for a summer holiday and spend the next six months paying for that. Other people find that debts are piled upon debts and never really reduce. If you fall into either of these categories it is time to change.

Begin by understanding that the pride of ownership follows the pride of earnership. If you want something do not buy it unless you are able to pay for it. Every time that you buy something that you cannot afford you are mortgaging your future.

Stop thinking that you have to have all the trinkets that are advertised on the TV and in magazines. Stop thinking that you have to buy all the doodads that your friends and neighbours buy. You do not. Most of the things people spend their money on are not necessary. Most of the things you buy will be forgotten very quickly but the debt that you used to buy them will hang around and control your life.

Whenever you are tempted to buy something on credit remember that the company you are buying from want you to take credit. They want you to take credit because they will make more money from charging you interest on the loan than they will make on the item that you are purchasing. That is money that you will no longer be able to spend on something else.

Once you have accepted responsibility for your problems you are in a position to begin to deal with them. Start by listing all of your debts and then preparing a budget. When you prepare the budget ensure that you will have some money left over each month to reduce your debts and then faithfully apply that money to pay off your smallest debt first. Continue in this way until you are debt free.

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