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having them look at the prices of the items they like. If they are in school and learning the mechanics of adding and subtracting, a great early gift for each child is a hand-held calculator. This isn’t to be used as a substitute for the old-fashioned method of adding numbers on paper, but it’s a great tool for quick adding at the store, when noisy and crowded stores don’t allow much time to hunt for pencil and paper. Encouraging your children to stick to a budgeted amount and to use calculators when deciding on purchases helps them in the long run, especially when it finally becomes time for them to leave the family home and begin setting up their own. And this is true not only at holiday time, but all through the year.



Change #5 - Set your own rules- Every year, it seems that we read of more stories of people who don’t really enjoy the holiday season very much due to the stress of buying gifts, organizing large and expensive parties or dealing with some kind of holiday activity they’d rather not participate in. I have to wonder, who made these "rules" in the first place? Is there a rule written down somewhere that says we must spend more than we can afford on gifts to impress family and friends? None that I am aware of. Must we attend every holiday party given, when we’d rather spend a quiet evening at home? I haven’t heard of that one either. So where are these rules coming from? The way I see it, most of them are coming from retailers, who are far more concerned with their bottom line than with your financial and emotional well-being. Many of us tend to fall for these con-jobs every year, drive ourselves and our families crazy, and only end up being stressed and unhappy when our special holiday finally arrives. What’s the point of that?

The good news is it’s not too late. You can get rid of the rules that are stressing you out at holiday time and make up new ones instead. Sit down with your family, explain that you’re going to cut-back on some unnecessary expenses, and come up with new holiday traditions that everyone can be happy with. Spending more time at home instead of at the mall, for instance, cuts down on unnecessary spending and makes for less frantic evenings, especially if you have young children. Since setting my own rules for the holidays a few years ago, I enjoy this time of year more than ever before. I don’t have to worry about the bill next month, since I know there won’t be one.

So how about reversing the once-popular ad campaign from MasterCard to one we like: "Gifts for family and friends: paid in cash. Holiday party expenses: paid by check. A debt-free holiday season: PRICELESS." That certainly works for me.