Plan for it now, so no regrets later.

I got a call the other day from a survey taker, who asked me if she could have 10 minutes of my time. I don’t always, but I decided to take the call. She wanted my opinion on Christmas spending--how I thought the economy would effect people’s spending this holiday season, and if I thought the latest increase in the national debt would have anything to do with holiday spending. I gave her my opinions on the subject and hung up the phone

Unless you don’t own a TV or radio, you’ve likely heard about our government’s troubles over the past few months regarding the national debt. In May of this year we hit our “ceiling” at $14.29 trillion. Essentially we, as a nation, maxed out our credit limit. Congress had until August 2nd to come up with a solution. The solution proposed was a package of budget cuts and an

increase in the debt ceiling--a $2.4 trillion increase that allows more borrowing into 2013. This is all still in the works, and I’m sure we’ll continue hearing lots more about it.

This roused my interest so I logged onto the US Debt Clock.org website. The figures that our government owes are mind boggling. But what I found even more interesting is that the “total personal debt” owed by American consumers actually exceeds the national debt. American consumers owe over $16 trillion. The government’s solution is to raise their credit limit, and worry about the consequences later. But what about you? Will credit card companies continue to raise your credit limits when you hit your ceilings on your credit cards? Of course not! 

There's an old saying that was inscribed onto a sign on President Truman's desk back in the 40's: "The Buck Stops Here." This was meant to indicate that he didn't "pass the buck" to anyone else, but accepted personal responsibility for the way the country was governed. Our current administration seems to have misplaced that sign, but that's another story. As consumers we have a personal responsibility to ourselves to do something about all of thisdebt we've accumulated. Stop using credit cards! Make purchases on a "need to have" basis, and only buy it if you have the money for it. This is definitely the way to go. You can make a difference in that debt calculator by personally taking responsibility for your OWN debt.

Back to the subject of Christmas. Start planning for it now so you won’t have to pull your credit cards out at the last minute. Take advantage of sales between now and then, pay cash and stash it. Tuck money away every week so that you have it available in December. If you do a little planning now, you won’t have those regrets in January and February when the credit card bills start rolling in. 

The Debt Lady Says, “Plan for it now, so no regrets later.”