Make It Through Holidays Debt-Free

Reduce where possible: See if there are opportunities to reduce the number of gifts you give. If you have always exchanged gifts with individuals of a group of friends, consider doing a Secret Santa where each person purchases for only one person in the group. Or suggest going out for lunch together as a group instead of giving gifts this year. In all likelihood, others are also looking for ways to reduce the amount they spend this holiday season, and a suggestion that will do so will be welcomed by all.

Spread out costs: One reason many people go into debt is because spending comes at the same time. Use your imagination on ways you can make purchases at a different time of the year. For example, if you know that someone would like to attend an event that happens during the summer, you can pay for them early in 2009 when money may not be as tight.

Create traditions: One of the best ways to save money is to change the focus of the holiday away from material goods to creating traditions. When it comes down to it, how many of the gifts do you remember you received over the years? On the other hand, you likely remember the traditional events that you did with your family each year much more vividly.

Zero-sum game: If your children are requesting a lot of gifts, make holiday gift-giving into a zero-sum game. For each new gift that each family member receives, they have to be willing to give up one (or more) of their old toys. If the toys are still in good condition, they can be given to charity, a new tradition. Not only will this help lower the number of gifts that need to be bought, it will also ensure you have fewer toys cluttering the room that need to be cleaned up.