Word of the New Year

Do you know how bad you can feel when you wake up on New Years Day and the Holidays are over and you realize how much money you spent and how much you still owe?
If that is you, I want you to imagine the antithesis. A burden-less, free feeling of paying for Christmas with cash is... should I say, joyous!
If you find yourself in the former situation, it's time to make a plan. Plan today to pay for last year ASAP.
If you have any consumer debt, pay it off as quickly as possible. Sit down and make a practical budget, putting all your discretionary income towards your debt. When you get that all paid off, then start saving that towards next year's Christmas.
When you get to the holidays next year and you have consumer debt left over from last year DO NOT SPEND another cent on Christmas gifts.
Believe me when I say that the recipients of your gifts would rather you be free of debt than spend dollars and cents on gifts they can probably go without. You can give gifts of love and time instead. Think of service-oriented gifts instead. Babysitting for young parents, housekeeping for aging parents, and time camping out with your children will have far-reaching benefits and memories that will last a lot longer than any trinkets, toys, or things that will break, get lost, and wear out.
Plan now and plan well.
So the word of the New Year... I already forgot. haha. But you get my drift. Maybe the word was SAVE, maybe it was PLAN, maybe it was WISDOM. I don't know, just pick one and live with it. You will be happier come this time next year.

Credit

Establishing credit is a good practice. However, living on credit is an unwise practice.
When we married 30 years ago, we made a commitment to NOT live on credit. Although we own a credit card, we treat the use of our credit card like a paper check or a debit card. Upon using the credit card, we record the transaction in our account as if we had written a check or used our debit card. Then when we receive the credit card bill we write a check out for the entire amount of the bill, yet do not have to deduct any funds from our records because we have done so all along.
We never have to worry that we don't have the funds to pay our credit card bill, never have to pay interest or late fees.
We've established good credit by showing we can be responsible with our money and with the money of others.