So I'm really excited about today's episode, talking about a
few of my favorite things. OK, I'm not going to start
singing, but today's episode is for you.
If you have thought January, you get your credit card statement
and you're like, how is the world?
Did I spend so much money at Christmas?
Because you said, you know what, this year is going to be
different and you got your credit card bill and boom, snuck
up on you and you did it again, right?
So First off, I want to, I want to help you with that.
And then second, I want to help you create a credit card free
Christmas this year. So stay tuned.
I have 5 hacks for you to help you have a credit card free
Christmas. Hey there, I'm Jules the budget
nerd and welcome to the Debt Rebel show.
This is the place where working families like yours learn how to
stop living paycheck to paycheck, crush debt for good,
and build a life where money actually works for your family.
In about 15 minutes, I'll share practical family tips, tough
love strategies, and actionable steps to move toward debt free
living without the fluff, the shame, or the confusion.
And I know a thing or two about this.
My family and I have eliminated over $107,000 in consumer debt
and that was after I got my degree in economics.
So stay tuned. This is going to be a great
episode. So grab that coffee, your
planner, whatever you need to make this a great experience.
Maybe a snack if you're like me. And let's make your money work
for your. All right, So today's episode is
one of my favorites because, OK, First off, we're talking about
budgeting. And I'm Jules, the budget nerd.
But we're going to be talking about Christmas holiday
spending. The stuff that we, this is one
of the times of year that our budgets can get completely off
the rails. We start feeling guilty, we add
to that debt load, we overspend, and then the shame spiral just
continues to get worse, right? So I want to halt that right now
and to help set you up for a credit card free Christmas
because that is could be your gift this year, right?
To open up your credit card statement in January and see the
balance go down. What Oh my gosh, how great of a
gift would that be to to your future self, to your family, to
your marriage, to your future goals, So many things.
OK, so I'm going to talk about today 5 simple hacks that that
you can apply this year right now to help you enjoy the
holidays without that credit card hangover in January.
So if you are new to the web, if you are new to the podcast, I
just want to say a special welcome.
I love talking about budgeting and debt elimination because of
what has done for our family and the life that is created for us.
So I am on a personal mission to help families break free from
that paycheck to paycheck cycle and eliminate debt for good so
that you can focus your time attention on other things
instead of paying for yesterday and reliving the shame of past
purchases. All right, so let's get back to
that because I want to talk about these things because these
are gifts that you can give yourself right now to set
yourself up to have a more enjoyable holiday season.
So some of my absolute favorite things about Christmas are just,
Oh my gosh, the smells, the food, the time with people and
just kind of there, you know, yes, it can be a super busy
time. There's like some interesting
pockets of breaks and things like that.
But one of the things that has helped our family is focus in on
what is the most important thing for the season.
And so for us, it's not necessarily about spending a
bunch of money, but the first hack that I have for you is to
set your holiday spending cap upfront, whatever that amount
is, is to decide now what that's going to be and then don't go
over it. So I know that's so much easier
said than done. But when we have that money and
we know what that number is, it's so much easier to stick
with that when we know what that number is instead of just this
vague, I'm going to spend less than last year Will do you know
how much she spent last year? OK, go back and look.
And then maybe that's what your target is this year, but I would
say the best way to stick to this is to treat it like a
boundary and not a suggestion. Whatever, once that money is
spent, it's spent. And so being specific and
intentional with it is going to help you stay within.
That's whatever that set amount is.
So another, another hack is to use a sinking fund, even if
there aren't, depending on when you're listening to this, if
there aren't very many weeks left until Christmas or whenever
you do your gift giving or your gift purchasing or your holiday
spending is even if it's just a little bit every single week,
set that aside. So even $2550 a week is stash
that in a separate savings account or checking account or
if it needs to be cash and it needs to be in an envelope so
that you're not tempted to spend at other places.
You know yourself well enough to know which one's going to be the
most effective for our family is I have it in a separate account
so that it's not something that I can see on a regular basis.
And it's just money that's set aside that I save throughout the
year so that I know exactly how much money I have to spend at
the holiday time. All right, so this is hack #3
simplify gift giving with some boundaries.
So you'll kind of hear this common, common thread throughout
this and it's about setting boundaries for ourselves.
And it's super healthy to set boundaries for ourselves,
especially we set them for our children.
So let's set them for ourselves. And so one of the things that's
helpful for us when it comes to the gift giving process is in
our gift planning process is deciding there is there a limit.
So maybe you have a large family.
I know I was talking to a friend who has seven kids and she's
like, I just want to give up gift giving all together because
it just it's so out of control. So for for, you know, for them,
maybe it is focusing on a family gift or a family experience.
One thing that my mom has done for us every single year for the
last few years is she gives a family gift to my sister and her
family and myself and my family. And we all go have an
experience, which all is hack #4 I'll tell you about that in a
second. But we all go to The Nutcracker
ballet together. And so we experienced that
together. And so this year my daughter's
actually going to be in it, which is very exciting.
So it'll be even more amazing this year.
But that is something that we have started and it's now a new
family tradition. My mom gives, is able to give
the gift because she loves giving gifts, but it also helps
us, helps her stay within some boundaries, but it also creates
an experience for our family that we absolutely love.
So to go with that is normalizing the fact that
scaling back isn't necessarily about, it isn't about the money.
It's about the meaning of what you want, your experience, what
you want your Christmas to look like with you and your family.
So I know some families will do 4 gifts per child, something
they want, something they need, something they wear and
something they read. Pinterest is full of all kinds
of those types of ideas, but the whole point is to maybe reduce
what you have done in the past to help with the financial
goals. But that takes us to the next
one is getting creative with your memory making.
So for us, creating those those memories together and like I
talked about that family gift that my mom does, that is a
memory that we have year to year and it's so much fun.
We have photos and it's just a great experience for our family.
We all enjoy it it and it gets better and better every year.
So this hack about creating, getting creative about making
memories with your families, sometimes the best memories you
can create with your family cost very little or nothing at all.
SO1 tradition that we've had in the past with my family is
we'll, we'll do, we'll make hot chocolate, put it in a thermos
and we will drive around and look at Christmas lights and
listen to Christmas music and eat cookies in the car, like
that kind of stuff. So it's getting getting creative
and it's not about necessarily the dollar amount, but focusing
in on the experience is going to is going to help you stay within
your financial parameters, within those boundaries, but
have an amazing experience and celebration with your family.
I know some families do like a thrifted like ugly sweater
party. You know, maybe that's a
Pollock. Everyone brings something they
have their ugly sweater and it's just a time to be together and
to celebrate. But not a lot of money has been.
Another thing that we do with our extended family is we have
we each bring a family gift and so each, each family wants to
participate. We do a gift exchange and
there's a limit on it. So we don't spend more than $25
on the gift. And all the families that want
to participate get, you know, do participate.
And then we do do a gift exchange.
It usually ends up in some sort of, you know, very animated
discussion about the rules that don't go well, But it's about
the experience and the time together.
That's another part of our family tradition is we don't
necessarily spend a lot of money on that.
But usually the memory that we have is that there's a specific
family member that never gets the rules right, even though
it's the same game we've played for years.
It's kind of this ongoing joke. So one thing I want to remind
you is in all of this, your kids are not going to remember the
price tag. I don't remember the price tag
of the gifts that I was given as a kid, and neither will your
kids. What they will remember is the
time that you had together, the memories that you created
together. So when our family says keep
your eye on the prize, that's the what we mean in this
scenario is it's not about the amount of money that you've
spent or even if you stayed within your budget.
Your kids are going to remember the time that they got to spend
with you. And that's what that's what most
kids, whether they are going to tell you that or not with their
words, that is what they want. And so in all of the years, I
worked with youth for over 20 years, and that is the common
thing with all of the youth that I've ever worked with, mostly
with teenagers, is they just really want to be able to spend
time with the people that they care about.
Sometimes that's their friends, but most of the time they want
they just want the attention of the adults in their life.
And so I highly encourage you this holiday season if you have
youth in your life that sometimes we feel like they
might not need us because, you know, teenage years can be very
challenging and especially if you're parenting a teenager.
I see you. I'm not in that stage, although
sometimes it feels like I am with my 6 year old going on 16.
But with all of the teenagers that I have worked with in my
career have seen the one big common thing is that they want
to spend time with the adults in their life.
They they want to, even though they might not necessarily say
that. So that's just a total side
note. But having having those
experiences and realizing that our kids aren't going to
remember the price tag for the, you know, Tickle Me Elmo.
I don't remember how much Tickle Me Elmo was when I was a kid,
but that was a big one. I have no idea what it cost.
I don't even know what it cost now.
But the whole point is they are going to remember the time with
you and not the price tag on the thing, the gift that you gave
them. All right, hack #5 So when you
are shopping, I'll, the app that I use is the every dollar app,
but you can use whatever you want.
Maybe it's a simple no on your phone is track as you go.
So that you know, I'll do this too with my, with my gift list
is who am I going to purchase gifts for?
And then I know what I have spent on them and what gift I've
gotten them. So that one I don't forget.
And then also I know that I've, I've given them a gift.
I've accomplished what I set out to there, but keeping track in
real time is going to help you see where maybe you overspent on
one or you know you can have more to spend on another.
See within the parameters that you have set for yourself,
right. So to recap the five hacks real
quick is to set that holiday spending cap upfront and so know
how much you are willing to spend for your holiday
celebration. And then 2 is create a sinking
fund for that. Even if it's just $25 a week to
add to that, it's going to help you steer clear of that credit
card this holiday season. And then #3 is simplify your
gift giving boundaries. So having maybe a family gift
exchanges and normalize the meaning of the holiday
experience and not the money part of it.
So refocusing, redirecting your attention on that hack #4 is
getting creative with your memory, making it can be a be
something basic and remember that our kids are going to
remember the time and not the price tag of their experience
and their holiday celebration with you.
And then hack #5 track as you go so you know when when you could
be getting off track and it helps you create it.
It helps you prevent the oops I overspent moments.
O so as a reminder, you can do this and you also don't need to
go into debt to make the holidays magical this year.
So I want to encourage you just to pick one of those things
today and get started with it. See what could happen so that
you are giving your future self, your January self a gift right
now by picking one of those hacks to get started on.
So if you also are like, hey, these are some really great
ideas. Do you have more?
I would say absolutely, I definitely do.
And I'm you can jump on mywebsite.rebelpodcast.com and
grab the Debt Rebel Star Starter Kit.
And you can grab the free Debt Rebel Starter Kit.
It's not only going to give you some ideas to help bring peace
to you in this holiday season, but it's also going to help you
set out and create a budget that works for you and your family.
It's going to give you some ideas on ways to save, create
some margin in your life, and to finally eliminate debt from your
life. So that next Christmas, you
won't even have to put these hacks into place because you're
already working on them and creating these habits for you
and your family that are going to serve you and your goals and
your future self so much better. So check out the Debt Rebel
Starter Kit. It's available on my website.
It's totally free. And I hope that it is a blessing
to you and allows you to have a holiday season that is full of
joy and not about financial regrets and the shame that we
can feel when it comes to overspending.
So I hope that you have a fantastic holiday season and
we'll talk with you next time. Thank you for tuning into the
Debt Rebel show today. Ready to take your family
budgeting to the next level? Stop that paycheck to paycheck
grind and start living debt free.
Head over to my website, debtrebelpodcast.com.
That's DEBTRE delpodcast.com to grab resources, tools and tips
to make it happen. And don't forget, subscribe,
leave a review. And if you know another family
that will love hearing today's episode, it would be such a gift
for both of us, your friend and me.
If you share this episode and remember your debt free life
starts with one brave step and I'm cheering you on every step
of the way. We'll talk soon.
Debt Rebel.