It’s time to tackle your holiday debt

There is no time like the present (pun intended) to get a jump on your holiday debt. Now that it’s January, you know those bills are coming and it’s just a matter of time.

Don’t wait for them to arrive in your mailbox or inbox. Take charge today and show your holiday debt who’s boss.

The paper trail

Gather up all of your receipts from your holiday purchases so that you have a clear picture of what you are dealing with. You can only have a successful strategy to take a bite out of that debt if you have an accurate idea of how much and to whom you owe.

Prioritize

You already know that you can’t do a million things at once effectively, so why even try? The best results take focused effort. The same goes with your holiday bills.

Pick one and funnel any extra money that you can towards paying it down. It’s a good idea to pick a debt with the high interest rate first.

Gift cards

Was your stocking full of gift cards? While these little gems may be nice to have on hand, wouldn’t it be nicer to have lower (or no) debt to deal with?

Consider selling your gift cards (we won’t tell) to generate some extra cash to pay down that holiday debt more quickly.

Put the other cards away

It’s time to put your credit cards away for a while and adopt a cash-only lifestyle while paying down the holiday debt.

It sort of seems counterproductive to focus your efforts on paying down debt only to rack it up again. This isn’t a make-work project!

Be proactive

Don’t wait for the bills to arrive to actually make payments. Check your balance online and make payments regularly, based on your pay cycle. Before you know it, you’ll have put a pretty good dent in that debt!

A little goes a long way

It may seem inconceivable to think you can come up with funds to pay down debt on your already tight budget, but where this is a will, there is certainly a way.  As added incentive see the impact of paying even just a little more than the minimum using a debt calculator.