Cash only Christmas

With the holiday season upon us, the money spending frenzy is now beginning. Going into unmanageable debt so that you can buy gifts for everyone on your holiday list is not what the season is about. I'm not going to assume that I know what the season does mean to you, but I know that the people who really love you don't want you to put yourself in financial trouble just so they can have a shiny new gift.

I save money each month for Christmas shopping, so that I'm on a cash-only basis with my holiday shopping. If you haven't been saving for holiday shopping all year, you can still work to have a cash-only Christmas. Make this holiday less elaborate, and then start saving in January for next Christmas. If you're one of the lucky few still getting a year-end bonus from work, you could use that to pay cash for your gifts. Or you can get creative with your gift giving. Between families, friends, co-workers, children's teachers, etc.; the bill can really add up. This might a good year to give hand-made gifts. My mom always gives my grandmothers calendars with pictures of the family. They aren't terribly expensive, but they are very treasured.

If you work to get yourself on a cash-basis during the holiday, you give yourself a big financial advantage for the rest of the year.

Why it's always been dangerous to be in debt

We're getting a good reminder these days of why it's not so good to be in debt. Businesses are struggling and failing because they've over leveraged themselves. Individuals are losing their houses because they can't make their payments. Our government is borrowing money to solve all of these problems so we don't experience a more drastic economic collapse.

But there were times when the consequences for debt were even more severe. Charles Dickens wrote many semi-autobiographical novels in which he talked about the consequences of debt. His own father spent time in debtor's prison. Yes, you used to go prison (and a very unpleasant prison at that) if you managed to get in debt and then couldn't pay the money back. How anyone ever thought they'd get the money back if they threw the debtor in prison is beyond me, I guess they expected the families to pay them back to get their loved ones out of prison.

Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has written about the comparisons between our current economic crisis and the one in 19Th century England that inspired much of Dickens's work. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty grateful that our economic crisis likely won't result in the same level of social issues.