Cash is coming back in style. This isn’t popular with some retailers just as Christmas is around the corner. Since more people are afraid of incurring more credit card debt people are looking to pay for things in cash. That is great but if you have a credit card and choose to use it wisely that isn’t a problem.
Using cash isn’t the only thing that is troubling for retailers since the holidays are coming up… people are planning to spend less than they did last year on gifts.
Both of these things can be really great for us as consumers because this will mean that retailers will be pulling out more stops than they did last year to encourage people to buy. This means that more free shipping deals will abound (if you haven’t seen any already) and discount coupons will be available in stores.
As I’ve said before using a credit card isn’t bad, if you can pay off the balance.
Before spending, make a budget for holiday spending or if you have a large family try to see if you can set a spending limit or participate in a gift exchange with one family member. For those with children, nieces, nephews, etc. you may have more difficulty buying just one gift but you could also find out what is one item that the child really wants.
Holiday shopping shouldn’t be comprised of impulse buys. Christmas and Hanukkah come every year. This should not be a surprise that people have to scramble to buy gifts or to make preparations. If you have to go into debt to buy gifts, then you shouldn’t. If you have the makings of a gift at home then do that but spending because you want to give a gift you can’t really afford, makes no sense.
Start putting those dollar bills aside now to help ease the burden of gift shopping. Even if you are making tins of cookies for people, or other homemade goodies, you need to make sure that you have enough materials. Better late than never to start preparing for Christmas.
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