Christmas Is Coming. Please Don’t Finance December Until June.
Christmas Is Coming. Please Don’t Finance December Until June.
Because Christmas is a holiday, not a six-month payment plan.
Every year, Christmas comes on December 25.
Same date. Every single year.
Yet somehow, around December 15, we start acting like somebody just announced it.
Now we’re rushing. We’re shopping. We’re swiping.
We’re using Afterpay, Klarna, credit cards and maybe a little prayer to make the numbers work.
Then January comes.
The tree is down. The leftovers are gone. The kids have already forgotten half of what they received.
But those Christmas payments?
Still very much alive.
This year, I want us to do something different.
It’s September. That means we still have time to plan for Christmas before Christmas starts planning our finances for us.
1. Decide What Christmas Can Actually Cost You
Before you make a gift list, pick a number.
Not the number you wish you could spend.
Not what you spent last year.
Not what your sister spends.
Not what social media says Christmas should look like.
What can you actually afford without creating new debt?
Let’s say your number is $800.
That $800 has to cover everything:
Gifts
Food
Decorations
Travel
Holiday parties
Family activities
Giving
Those five “little things” you forgot to budget for
Because Christmas is never just the gifts.
We will spend $500 on presents and then act shocked when the matching pajamas, office party, Christmas dinner and Secret Santa want money too.
Give Christmas one number. When the money is gone, Christmas shopping is over.
2. Count Your Paychecks, Not Your Shopping Days
Here’s where we make this practical.
Count how many paychecks you have between now and Christmas.
If you want $800 for Christmas and have eight paychecks left, that’s:
$100 from each paycheck.
If $100 per paycheck doesn’t fit your budget, that’s important information.
You have three choices:
Lower the Christmas budget.
Start with what you can save.
Find additional income specifically for Christmas.
What we are not going to do is create a $1,500 Christmas on an $800 Christmas budget and tell ourselves:
“I’ll figure it out in January.”
January already has bills.
January does not need December’s bills too.
3. Make Your List Before the Stores Make It for You
Write down every person you plan to buy for and put a dollar amount beside each name.
And this is where some of us need to have a family meeting.
Everybody does not need a gift. I said what I said.
At some point, we went from buying gifts for the children to buying gifts for children, grown children, cousins, coworkers, neighbors, church friends, the mail carrier and somebody we haven’t spoken to since Easter.
You are allowed to change the tradition.
Try drawing names.
Set a family gift limit.
Buy for children only.
Give experiences instead of things.
And please hear me:
You do not have to go into debt to prove that you love people. Love does not come with a receipt.
4. Watch the “It’s Only $20” Spending
The big gifts aren’t always what wrecks the Christmas budget.
It’s the little stuff.
“It’s only $20.”
Then another $15.
Then $32.
Then you run into Target for tape and somehow leave $147 poorer.
Christmas has a way of turning perfectly responsible adults into people who suddenly believe decorative pillows are an emergency.
Track every holiday purchase.
Every one of them.
That little habit will keep you from wondering where all the Christmas money went.
5. Be Careful with Buy Now, Pay Later
Buy Now, Pay Later can make an expensive purchase feel affordable because the first payment looks small.
That’s the point.
A $200 purchase doesn’t feel like $200 when the screen says:
4 payments of $50
But do that at four different stores and now you have several payments coming out of future paychecks.
The question isn’t:
“Can I afford this payment today?”
Ask:
“Will I still be paying for this after Christmas?”
If the answer is yes, think twice.
The goal is for Christmas to leave you with memories, not monthly payments.
6. Give Yourself Permission to Have a Smaller Christmas
This may be the most important one.
Maybe this has been a hard year.
Maybe groceries are eating up more of your paycheck.
Maybe you’re paying down debt.
Maybe you’re rebuilding savings.
Maybe you’re simply tired of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars because that’s what you’ve always done.
You are allowed to have a smaller Christmas.
A smaller Christmas does not mean a smaller love.
Cook together.
Watch old Christmas movies.
Drive around looking at lights.
Bake cookies with the kids.
Pull out old pictures and tell family stories.
Some of the best memories cost almost nothing.
And years from now, your family may not remember what you bought them.
They’ll remember how Christmas felt.
Your Christmas Money Challenge
Before your next paycheck:
☐ Set your total Christmas budget.
☐ Count the paychecks you have left before Christmas.
☐ Divide your budget by those paychecks.
☐ Make your gift list and set a limit for each person.
☐ Start a separate Christmas savings account or envelope.
☐ Decide now what you will not go into debt for.
That’s it.
You don’t need a complicated Christmas spreadsheet.
You need a number, a list and the discipline to stop when the money is gone.
A Final Thought
Christmas should not steal your financial peace.
We spend so much time trying to create the “perfect Christmas” that sometimes we forget what we’re celebrating.
Your family doesn’t need you putting groceries on a credit card because you spent the grocery money on gifts.
And you certainly don’t need to still be paying for Christmas when it’s time to start buying swimsuits.
Don’t let one day of celebration create six months of financial stress.
Plan now.
Spend with intention.
Give with love.
And when the Christmas money is gone, put the credit card down.
And remember:
Be the reason that someone smiles today.
Ophelia C. Brown
Financial Literacy Advocate | Author | Content Creator
Founder, OCB Accounting & Financial Services
Author of I Can Learn I Just Learn Differently
Columnist, Wallet Wisdom with Ophelia
Website: www.ocbaccounting.com | www.ilearndifferently.com
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