Ah, the holidays. That time of the year for family, friends, ridiculous amounts of credit card bills.

It’s almost easier to rack up charges between November and December than our friend Steve’s special eggnog recipe is to drink. We don’t know what he puts in it, but that stuff is SMOOOOOOOOTH.

If you need help keeping the credit card in the wallet, GoBankingRates.com has a few tips that could help.

  1. Make a list and check it twice: Write down ahead of time who all you need to buy for, instead of just going ‘OOOOH, PRETTY. So and So must have that!”
  2. Think about purchases in terms of your workweek. Look at how much you make per year and break that down to per week, then think to yourself, “How much will I have to work in a week to afford that?” If the answer is “Get a second job” maybe it isn’t so essential that you have it.
  3. Go debit instead of credit. This way, you have a set amount you know you have available, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
  4. Wait a day or two before buying. The idea here is to let it sit for a moment and think, “Do I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally need this?”
  5. Set a daily food budget and then meal prep. It’s super easy when we’re rushing from place to place to just hit a drive thru and that cost racks up faster than we realize. The suggestion from GoBankingRates is to do dishes that lend themselves to leftovers, like casseroles or stews. Oooh…now we want chili. Again.

There are a few more recommendations at the link above. Among them is unsubscribing from email newsletters. You know, those things that you don’t really read anyway.

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