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Avoiding debt can be simple this holiday season as long as you use these holiday guidelines to stay out of debt and maintain the strong hold on your credit card. Use these last minute tips to reduce the debt you will be seeing into the New Year.

Every year, more than $121 billion dollars is spent each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What’s worse is the fact that this amount is spent on credit cards – imagine the interest rate on the combined total of these purchases?

1. Create a holiday budget. As long as you are shopping with a budget, it is crucial to stick with it.

2. Don’t use your credit cards. Put a stop to credit card use through the holidays. This can save hundreds of dollars in interest rates.

3. Pay off all purchases within the grace period of the credit card. With most credit card companies the grace period lasts between twenty and twenty eight days. Use these guidelines to save on interest payments.

4. Use the rewards points that you have accumulated to earn cash back from purchases. As an alternative, use the points that you have accumulated to purchase gifts.

5. Find alternatives to credit card use. Use your Christmas bonus; money budgeted through other seasons and money from extra holiday income to fund the purchase of Christmas gifts.

6. Make a repayment schedule that you can stick with. Put a maximum of three months time to repay holiday purchases to avoid paying off holiday debt well into the New Year.

7. Take part in creative gift exchanges. With these gift exchanges cookies can be used as gifts as well as other home-made and low-cost gift ideas. Swap ideas with friends and family members to save money on gifts this year.

8. Limit the amount spent on gifts. With these tough economic times it can be difficult to find the extra income to purchase Christmas gifts. Impose a limit for gift giving within the family to save valuable money on Christmas gifts.

9. Skip the extended warranty if you have a credit card that automatically enrolls items purchased with the card in warranty programs.

10. Only shop for planned purchases. Make lists and stick to these lists when shopping for Christmas gifts.