Combat your holiday debt with a spending plan

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The holidays can be mentally and financially draining and may leave you needing a plan to pay off holiday debt.

It can be easy to lose track of what you are spending when you are mindlessly swiping a credit card. Experts say spending money you haven’t earned yet can be dangerous.

It is important to first evaluate why you may be in a position of debt and make sure you don’t get into further debt.

Director of the Center for Financial Success at Western Kentucky University, Andrew Head, says “Staying out of debt requires staying on top of the expenses that you have and making sure that you’ve got a plan for them. The other thing is to build that emergency fund, to have three to six months of living expenses.

When budgeting, experts recommend being proactive and aware of what payments you will have, rather than reactive and making payments as they come.