Curb Your Spending Temptations this Holiday Season

You may have mastered creating a budget, but how well have you stuck to your guns? Temptations lurk on every corner urging you to spend, spend, spend. So what can you do?

Make a list of course! Make sure to do this before you go shopping, and whether it is for groceries or gifts, stick to your list and don’t deviate from it. Remember, a sale is not worth the savings if it’s not something you need. Speaking of sales, don’t spend more than you originally intended just to get a free gift or an additional discount. In most cases it’s really not worth it from a financial standpoint.

If you get a ton of catalogs and find them tempting, toss them before you even bring them into the house. No matter what anyone tells you, if you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Telemarketers are skilled at getting people to buy more than they want or need. You have every right to hang up on a telemarketer, and you should exercise that right – every time!

Put your number on the national “Do Not Call” list by going to donotcall.gov. If the calls persist, you can always contact the Federal Trade Commission. Thanks to Federal Law you can also stop the avalanche of junk mail in your home mailbox. Just go to OptOutPrescreen.com and register your address.

Lastly, if you’re getting a lot of spam in your email from people you don’t know, try setting up a separate email account for purchases you make online. That will help you keep your personal mail separate from the junk mail and you won’t be as tempted to click on the emails with “special deals”.