Oof. I think I understand for the first time the "traditional" haze of bills that follows the holidays.
I got a little out of control with Xmas gifts, I'll admit -- and everything went on the little blue card! That got me extra JetBlue points, which is great... but even I, with my aversion to credit-based economy, can feel the attraction of "buy now, pay later". Glad I got it out of my system without too much damage. I can pay my January AMEX bill. Barely. It means that I'm going to have to watch myself for the next couple months, though.
For next year, I've set up an account for holiday expenses. It's an ING "Electric Orange" checking account (again, opened online in just a few minutes). I've arranged a small weekly transfer -- just $10 -- to run until the week before Thanksgiving. That gives me about $450 (a little more than I spent on family/friends/loved ones' gifts this year) to work with, and I can start early to avoid the holiday rush. It won't cover everything, but it's an amount I won't miss, and it more than gets me started. The account has a debit card I may be able to use to pay for items online, and then anything above that amount -- special food or decorations and the children's gifts I always donate through my church -- can be handled out of what I have available at the time.
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