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December Stress
By Molly's Brother | December 3, 2006
T.S. Eliot may have been right: April might be the cruelest month, but December is–hands down–the most stressful. As we walk throught the month, it’s difficult to stay above the fray. From now until January 1st, it is a high-octaine, all out sprint for over thirty days. We see an increase in social responsibilities and we feel pinched by the fiscal realities of the season.
However, this first week of December is the most crucial time of the entire calendar year to start to turn your financial life around.
Don’t wait until January 1st to take stock of your entire life. Don’t wait until January 1st to vow to pay off your debt (the debt that you ran up during the four weeks of December, by the way). The time to act is now.
TAKE STOCK OF YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE
If you’re drowning in [tag]debt[/tag] or financially overextended, sit down and take a good hard look at your financial life. It may be that you can not afford to spend as much as you want to on your children, friends, or family this holiday season. It’s important for you to realize this now. If your ignore your fiscal limitations and spend as though you don’t have any, then you’re going to find yourself waking up in the New Year even more deeply in debt.
TRACK YOUR SPENDING
If you don’t already do this, now is the perfect time to start to track your spending. The various shopping trips over the course of the next four weeks start to add up–and not just because of the gifts you purchase. Think about it. With each jaunt, you pay for parking, your have lunch out because it’s more convenient, you grab a $3.00 coffee, you grab a $2.00 cookie, you have dinner out because you weren’t home to cook.
All of this shopping starts to add up. If you [tag]track your spending[/tag], chances are you’re less likely to nickel-and-dime your money away and make smart financial choices.
STICK TO YOUR BUDGET
Yesterday, I talked about creating a gift list. Once you’ve created that list, you’ll also have a [tag]budget[/tag]. You know how much money you’ll plan on spending for each person. The most important thing here is that once you’ve created a budget or spending plan: STICK TO IT.
Otherwise, it’s useless.
It’s the most ex-pen-sive time of the year. When you calculate your normal cost of living and add a healthy dollop of Christmas shopping on top of it, December is not only the most stressful month, but also the most expensive.
Topics: Spending Log, Your Budget |
December 4th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
You’re the best blogging resource I’ve subscribed to. I know you don’t always have the time to write, let me encourage you to keep it up as you can. I was pleasantly surprised to see 3 new entries this morning after my weekend-away-from-a-computer. Thank you!
December 7th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Michael–Thanks for the kind words! I took a little breather from blogging, but now I am back and re-energized.