How Can I Enjoy a Debt-Free Holiday Season This Year?

Holiday music in August. You're probably thinking, Ralph, you've got to be kidding me. And it might seem early, but those festive expenses are just around the corner.Let me just ask you this, does the thought of those holiday bills fill you with dread and financial stress? What if you could enjoy a season of true joy and true generosity without adding a single dollar of debt?So stick with me today because I'm going to share with you exactly how to make that happen on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hey there and welcome back to your daily Financially Confident Christian.I'm Ralph and this is the show that helps you answer that question, how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we're in our series Smart Money for Back to School and Beyond. All about equipping your family for for a thriving physical year.Now yesterday we talked about budgeting for fall fun activities like festivals and sports and all with the idea of doing it without overspending. So if you missed yesterday's show, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.You can always find our episodes@financially confidentchristian.com now today we're going to bring that forward thinking strategy to the biggest spending season of the year. Yes, we're going to talk about how to prepare for a debt free holiday season and start your stress free giving early.So today's question is how can I enjoy a debt free holiday season this year? That's why I started with the Christmas music.Listen, if you're like me, the holiday lights are beautiful, the music is festive, the gatherings are just absolutely joyous. I truly love this time of year, I should say that time of year that's coming up.But the problem with that is credit card statements start rolling in in January and then you start to feel that way. I spent way too much.I spent more than I intended on gifts and Ralph, I spent more than I intended on decor and food and hey, maybe you did some traveling and all of a sudden you start to feel what I'll call the post holiday financial hangover. If you ever felt it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe you're thinking, you know what, Ralph, I just got past that hangover.Just finally paid off those credit card bills just a couple months ago. Hey, maybe for you, you're still paying them from last year.And what happens is that leads to regret, it leads to guilt and that new debt, like I talked about sometimes it lingers for months and dare say maybe for years. I remember one particular Christmas I felt like my wife and I, we were paying off that Christmas debt for years.And see the problem with overspending. And that's what we're really talking about today.That overspending will undermine your budget and it'll undermine those plans you have for debt payoff. And in the end, if you're not careful, it will truly sabotage your financial goals.And in the end, what it does is it turns A season meant for celebration. Hey, the holiday seasons are great. They're a great time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's a great thing.But if we don't think about this, we don't plan ahead. We turn that season meant for celebration into a financial strain.And unfortunately for many people, and maybe you're one of those people listening right now, financial regret. See, here's the thing I want you to understand. Today, the holiday season is predictable. You know, it's coming.It's not like it's a big surprise like that emergency repair on your car or a medical bill you weren't expecting. It is absolutely predictable. But it's often chaotic.And the reason that it's chaotic, if we're going to be honest with each other, is because we haven't planned adequately for it. And see the true joy and generosity come from the heart of giving. That's really what we want to do. We want to give, we want to have a heart.For that shouldn't come from debt.And so many people I've known, I've worked with over the years have just the holidays have turned into a source of just absolute chaos and absolute debt. Well, let's start by discussing some biblical principles related to this. And the first one is this. Diligent plans bring profit.Now, if you listen to my show every day, or maybe you catch it once a week or something like that, you know, I use this verse quite a bit because honestly, one of the main things we talk about if we want to become a financially confident Christian is to really start to plan. So let's look at Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 5, and it says this. The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.Well, think about that in the context of planning for the big holiday season.If you're diligent in planning for that, there is absolutely no reason that you can't plan ahead and go into the holidays with the idea of being festive and not worrying about or having that fear that Anxiety about being in debt for months and months and months after that. But if you don't, that's that haste it talks about. And what does it say here in the scripture that haste leads to what? Leads to poverty?Well, guess what? That poverty. That's the definition of how to be struggling and how to find yourself in that anxiety.Well, let's look at the second biblical principle, and that's prudence. Back in the book of Proverbs, chapter 22, verse 3 wisely states this again, I've used this on the show before as well.That prudence see danger and take refuge. But the simple keep going and suffer for it. Yeah, see like I said a few minutes ago, this is a predictable thing.And if we're being prudent, we see that now, it doesn't have to be danger. That's a, that's not exactly where I'm going today.But if you don't take refuge, if you don't start to plan for it, you're going to get yourself in trouble. Let's look at our third and final biblical principle for today. And that's cheerful giving.And that comes right to us from Second Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 7, where God says this God loves a cheerful giver. And that's the whole point of the holiday season. Hey, the best gift we ever got was the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.Well, if the holidays become this source of stress and they become this source of anxiety for you, you're not really being a cheerful giver, are you? See, it's hard to be cheerful when you're burdened by debt. That's just a factual accurately statement.Remember when the kids were young, I was so worried about going back into credit card debt. You know, I want them to have a great holiday, but at the same time, I didn't want to live in this burden of debt because it took away all the cheer.And the truth is, if we're going to do this, well, debt free holiday praying is wise stewardship, it just is. And it allows us genuine generosity and hey, reduced stress. And it frees you to truly celebrate God's blessings without that financial regret.So now you're like Ralph. I agree. How do we do this? What can we do? The real question is how do we transform the dread of the holiday bills into peace, joy and celebration?Well, I've got a single solution for you today and it's really pretty straightforward. I want you to intentionally create a dedicated, I'm going to call it the Debt Free Holiday Fund and start funding it right now?Yes, start funding it right now. In August. It's time to make a plan for holiday spending that aligns with your budget and your values.And here's a commitment I want to encourage you to make. It's like a two for it. Today I want you to commit to no new holiday debt.Because listen to me, proactive planning for a truly peaceful holiday season is possible. So here's your one action step for today with the goal to prepare for a debt free holiday season. That's going to be the goal.Our gift to ourselves is we're not going to go into debt. So the first thing I'm going to say that you should do is estimate your holiday expenses. It's really pretty straightforward.Brainstorm all of those likely holiday costs. Now, not just the gifts, that's one of the things. But the gifts, the travel expenses. Maybe you got to travel.Maybe you have like for example, my, my older son, he's stationed in Texas in the Coast Guard. We may go see him during the holidays. Well, I've got a budget for that. Hey, maybe you have a big set out at your house.You got a budget for food or maybe decorations are important to you. Maybe you have the annual Christmas or New Year's party.And maybe, just maybe you give to charity during the holidays where all those things are things you need to estimate when you're thinking about your holiday expenses. So put those down and write a realistic estimate next to each of those for that total anticipated cost.Hey, we got to start with what is it going to cost us. And then the second step is to set a debt free holiday goal. And I want you to make a firm commitment.My goal is to pay for all the holiday expenses with cash flow from a dedicated fund taking on no new debt. Just think about how liberating that is as you say this. So write that goal down because this is your commitment to peace.And then the third step to this is create a fund called your holiday sinking fund. I'm gonna encourage you to set up a separate savings spot. Maybe that's a dedicated savings account or maybe it's just an envelope.Or use your budgeting app and label it holiday fund. I know many moons ago when I used to run a credit union, we used to have holiday accounts.There was the Christmas fund and people would set those up at the beginning of the year and just start funding those month after month and then calculate how much to save weekly or monthly until you reach that desired shopping completion date. And maybe for you, hey, I got to have this all done by the 15th of December. Then I'm going to encourage you to do one more thing.This is kind of like a little bonus pro tip. I encourage you to start shopping early, even if it's just one gift. Identify one gift on your list that you can purchase now.Maybe something on sale, something that's not going to spoil. This isn't time to buy something that's going to spoil. But think about it.You can spread out the cost and start to build that early momentum because I want you to fight that struggle and stress of holiday financial pressure. That's not a fun place to be. You want to be cheerful.You really truly want to celebrate the holiday and by doing this it's going to transform that vague worry that I'm not really sure what the holidays are going to cost me. Ralph.It's going to transform that into a concrete plan and then you can truly spread out the financial impact and and avoid those last minute scrambles that usually lead to debt. Giving you peace and genuine joy knowing that you've planned and prepared. Why about we pray together now.Father God, we just thank you for the joy of celebration and the spirit of giving. And Lord, we confess that the holiday season often brings financial anxiety due to these unplanned expenses.Lord, we just ask that you would grant us wisdom, Lord and foresight in planning for these expenses. Help us to be diligent in saving for a debt free holiday.Lord, guide us to give cheerfully and to celebrate your blessings with peace and not stress and not financial strain or anxiety. And we ask this in confidence in Jesus name. Amen. Listen friend, a debt free holiday season isn't just a dream. It's so much bigger than that.It's achievable. It's a reality if you work savvy and you have an intentional plan in place.So I'm going to encourage you, take that step today to set up that holiday fund and make your first contribution. You're moving towards true freedom.And if this episode has resonated with you or maybe the show is really connecting with you, I want to ask you to consider sharing it with somebody else who might need to hear what we talk about on the show every day. You can find resources and connect with the show right at our website.That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com hey, send them a text, send them an email or maybe talk about it in your Bible study or your group that you get together and say hey, you know what this guy's talking about Christmas in August. He's lost his mind. But he makes a really good point. So I'm going to encourage you to share the show.Now, tomorrow we'll be talking about another crucial annual financial touch point, and that is this, how to review your financial goals for the rest of the year. I want to give you a plan for the rest of the year so you can be on track to hit your targets before year end.So you don't want to miss tomorrow's show. So make sure you join me. Let's all go out there and be those financially confident Christians that we strive to be. You can do this.I have confidence in you. Have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy, God bless you, and you have a great day.