Remember this post?
When I wrote that post three months ago. in the back of my mind it was "wishful thinking". I was thinking "Sure, I can get by with the majority of my Christmas Shopping being a cash affair...but I am sure that I am going to have to pull out the credit card at some point.!"
Well - I was wrong.
Not only did we manage to have a completely "Cash Christmas", but we ended up paying off a credit card in the process (and the only remaining credit card will be more than paid off with our tax return)
You know - I'm all for the Spirit of Christmas following you for the next 11 ½ months. I never realized how wonderful it would be to not have the Invoices of Christmas following us too!
This is the first year since I was old enough to apply for a credit card that we don't have a balance carrying forward into next year. The first year that we don't have to dedicate our tax return to Christmas. I cannot tell you how liberating that feels (although I know many of you have been doing this for years. I'm slow that way sometimes).
From what I hear, I am not alone this year. If the news is to be believed, more and more people refused to put Christmas on credit as well.
As for me reaching this goal, I have to say that you guys played a huge roll in that. Maintaining this site has become a constant reminder of my goals and keeps me in "frugal mode". So thank you for coming here and coming back and keeping me motivated to both write more and save more.
Tosha
Congrats! That is awesome you were able to reach your goal this year.
kimmiep621
wtg, i bet you feel great. after reading your post the first time i thought thats pretty cool to do. then i took a nap then woke up and realized we did same thing, ours was more foreced since we don't have credit anymore but hey we still did it and that counts for alot. and at end of week we still have $ to pay for other bills. so feels nice. Thanks for making me realize that and i can't wait to tell my husband. have a very merry christmas
midlife mommy
Congratulations to you! I wish I were in that boat with you, but I'm not. I'm trying though. I racked up a lot of credit card debt through on-line shopping -- now I use the PayPal plugin. It generates a one-time (or multiple time) use credit card, since most sites require a credit card, but it actually draws the cash out of my checking account. It's helped me a lot!
midlife mommys last blog post..Winter S*cks, And Merry Effing Christmas