How to Manage Debt During the Holidays

The season of giving is a special time to appreciate your loved ones for everything they do. To avoid feeling like the Grinch, most of us decorate our homes and gift our loved ones with thoughtful surprises. This joyful mentality usually leaves no one debt free after the holidays.

By the new year, some of us look back and question how we racked up so much debt. Instead of feeling stressed, do yourself a favor by making a plan to tackle debt early. Prosperity Concierge is your go-to bookeeper for debt counseling. We help you get and stay debt free with our financial coaching and bookkeeping service located in Reno, Nevada.

Ways to Manage Holiday Debt

This year we decided to give you a gift that will last a lifetime. Here are five ways to help you manage debt during the holidays.

Create a Holiday Budget

During this time, we all get bitten by a bug that makes us feel so merry and bright that we overspend. Creating a budget is a great way to manage how much you CAN spend. Not only does this approach help you identify where to shop, but it also helps you avoid adding to your debt. You shouldn’t feel obligated to buy gifts and to go into more debt. If you truly can not afford it, don’t buy it.

It is important to make a budgeted list and check it twice. By doing this, you can adjust gift ideas as you go. Experiences like movie tickets, escape rooms, and spa days are all great inexpensive gifts that people enjoy and will remember more than tangible items. This pre-planned list will stop you stay debt free.

No Spend Challenge

You're probably not alone if you've never heard of the “no spend challenge”. Many of us are guilty of enjoying a few personal pleasures each paycheck. This challenge asks you to cut out some (or all) of your leisurely spending during the holidays.

Depending on your holiday budget, you can customize this challenge. Some people may only have to go a week without spending for themselves while others may keep it going all month long to meet their goals. This challenge will supply you with extra cash encouraging debt free purchases.

Compare Prices by Shopping Online

There are a variety of reasons we love shopping in stores, but comparing prices online gives you access to the best deals around. That doesn't mean you have to give up the fun associated with retail therapy. We just ask that you use technology to your financial advantage. For example, feel free to compare prices while shopping in store on your mobile phone.

Make A Plan to Tackle Debt

Get Organized

Many of us own a variety of credit cards but don’t know how to pay down debt efficiently. The first step is getting organized by assessing how much debt you owe. This will help you prioritize what cards need to be tackled first.

Change Spending Behavior

The first thing you can do in this process is STOP using credit cards. Cut them up. Most Americans use their credit cards as if it is free money and then become buried in debt payments that they can no longer afford. Start using cash or your debit card to make purchases. Only buy what you can afford in cash.

Make changes in your spending habits. Make temporary sacrifices such as eliminating your daily coffee shop or dining out. This is key to becoming debt free and building wealth. Once you are debt free and wealthy, you can have guilt free coffee from your favorite shop.

Prioritize Your Debts

We prefer the debt snowball. List all of your debts from smallest balance to largest balance. Make minimum payments on all debts except for the smallest. Pay that smallest debt off first by throwing as much money at this as possible, always making more than the minimum payment until it is gone. Then take that money you spent on the previous debt and move on to the next debt creating a debt snowball. Small victories create a sense of accomplishment and motivation to keep going. Before you know it you will be debt free!

Reno Bookkeeping Services Here to Help

The concept of debt is a widespread phenomenon, but how you manage it is essential to your financial success. Let our Reno Bookkeeping team help guide you to financial prosperity. We help the Reno community become debt free with our one on one debt counseling.

Visit us online to see all the counseling services available to you or schedule a consultation with our team. Prosperity Concierge offers you the finest consulting services. Our goal is to help you create substantial wealth and fortune to empower you for many years.

Schedule A Consultation

3 Reasons Why You Need a Financial Coach

Are you having trouble balancing your budget or getting out of debt? Good news, there's hope.

Imagine you're training for a triathlon. It's one of the hardest athletic events in the world. It involves biking, running, and swimming all in the same day. Most triathletes rarely train for something like this by themselves. They get a team or a coach in their corner to train for each part of the race . This helps athletes run faster, swim smoother and bike harder.

Being physically fit is similar to being financially fit. And the best way to get fit is to have somebody training YOU to build the money muscle. That's where a financial coach comes in. As the owner of Prosperity Concierge in Reno, I'm here to help get your finances into shape and set you up for financial freedom.

What is a financial coach?

Many ask; what does a financial coach do? Basically, financial coaches work as your instructor and advocate, helping to set up your short and long-term financial goals.

Many people are apprehensive to reach out for help when it's their money. It is a personal topic and often involves many emotions. It can be tough, but recovering from debt and building wealth is easy when you have the right team.

If you're not sure about how to save, learn about investing or balance a budget - that's where I come in. Here are just a few tips to ease your mind on why you should consider using us as your next financial team:

1) Helping you save more and spend less

The goal here is to work together. Let's say you want to go over your budget for the next month or you're having trouble saving 15% of your paycheck. Financial coaches want to make sure you're setting clear goals and have visibility over your finances.

I like to meet with clients when it's convenient for THEM. We meet for coffee or wherever they feel most comfortable to go over their expenses. I want to make sure we set goals that help you put more in the piggy bank and know where every dollar is going throughout your budget.

2) Coaches get you out of debt faster

Debt can be crippling. The mere thought of looming payments and increasing interest rates can cause anxiety and panic. Many of us have experienced spending frenzies, new accounts, compulsive buying, and risky investment behavior. Everyone makes mistakes and we are here to help teach you how to avoid them. Here's the good news: there is a way to become debt-free!

Prosperity Concierge will help you list out all your debts to help you tackle each one with long-term solutions. Paying off debt is great, but learning to stay out of debt is priceless. Debt management may be stressful - but a financial coach wants to show you there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Not only do we help manage your debt, but we can help improve your credit score and manage your expenses to prevent having to use those accounts.

LET US HANDLE YOUR DEBT

3) Lessons for the present - and the future

Again, financial coaches are like teachers. At Prosperity Concierge we want to help you develop the skills to pay off debt and stay debt-free. Give us a call today, we're here to give you a roadmap to your future.

Wealth building begins with breaking old habits and creating positive new ones. For coaches, we want to push you to saving that extra change, not being scared to look at your checking account, and passing the lessons on to those in your circle to create generational wealth and healthy buying behavior.

Ready to get somebody in your corner?

We know how important accurate financial management is for growing wealth. If you invest your time with us, the return will come in more than a rising bank account and credit score. You will gain knowledge you can take with you through life and retirement.

Christine Matlock is a local Reno bookkeeper and financial coach who’s proficient in handling business expenses, creating budgets, using QuickBooks, and developing financial confidence. See how she can help your business improve its bottom line! Connect with her today!

LEARN ABOUT OUR COACHING SERVICES