How to Get Back on Track with Your Finances After the Holidays

Did you welcome in the New Year with a spending hangover? Perhaps you spent more than you intended and racked up debt on your credit cards. Are you worried about how you can fix and realign your finances? Follow CCCU's simple tips to get back on track after holiday spending:

Evaluate your holiday spending

The first thing to tackle is sorting through all your purchases. This can help you understand how much money you’ve used on your credit card and/or if you went over your budget.

Revise your budget

Once you’ve assessed your holiday spending, it’s time to create your financial recovery plan by revising your budget. Reallocate funds to cover the new debt payment and decide how quickly you can pay it off.

Take a break

Challenge yourself to cut back on unnecessary expenses for a month. Consider removing your credit or debit card on retailer apps where you saved them for easy checkouts. Also, cut back on some of your entertainment costs for a while (like unsubscribing from streaming services, limiting your Friday nights out, etc.).
Bonus tip, you may also want to unsubscribe from all retail marketing emails- this may help limit your impulse buying.

Pay more than your minimum credit card payment

Besides the benefit of paying off your debt faster, paying more than the minimum due will help you avoid paying more interest than you need to, which will save you more money and reduce your credit utilization ratio.

Do you need help calculating your debts? Use our free credit card payoff calculator.

The bottom line

With the right financial recovery plan and good financial practices, your holiday shopping debt will be taken care of in no time and your 2023 can be off to a great start. Visit CCCU’s free financial tool, Banzai, for more financial tips and advice this new year!