If you have reached the point wherein your debts are keeping you awake at night and you cannot concentrate on your work or daily activities, it is time to think and take charge. You need a serious financial overhaul and employ techniques to help you get out of your debt-drowned situation.

Take the initial steps in managing your debts and follow the Don’ts indicated below:

• Do not be confident when you just paid the minimum amount of your debt. In time, you will be shocked to know that the interest on your debt has grown and you already lost a lot of money without even improving your financial situation.
• Do not depend too much on your friends and relatives as they have their own problems as well. Relying on them so much can actually damage your relationship especially when time comes that they need the amount they loaned you yet you cannot pay them back right away.
• There are several credit counselors that you can turn to for advice in handling your debt problems but beware those who demand upfront fees or promises that are surely impossible for them to keep.
• Do not ever take an offer of a loan with a high percentage of interest in order for you to be able to pay off your old rates. This doesn’t help at all and just worsened the problem that you are in.
• Take your time and weigh the consequences of your actions. Opt for debt settlement if that option is available for you.

If you are struggling under the heavy burden of your debts, debt settlement might be the answer to your problems. This is a process you can negotiate with the people you owed to convince them to lower the amount due or a portion of your debt. There are companies that are willing to help you adjust so you can pay each monthly due.

1. Shop Online
   Since online companies have less overhead than traditional retail stores, they often are able to give better deals. There are two things you need to consider when shopping online. One is shipping costs. Some shipping costs are not bad when you consider what you would spend in time and money getting the item from a retail store, but it still should be reasonable. The other is making sure you will get the gift before Christmas. Most websites will give you an estimate on how long it will take the gift to arrive. If you’re shopping early, it’s not as much of an issue. By December however, you may want to upgrade shipping just to be sure. Start by checking out the 123 Christian Store.
2. Set a Budget, Use Cash, and Put Away Your Credit Cards
   This is sometimes hard to do at first, but it is well worth the effort. Taking the time to create a budget will help prevent you from overspending, and using cash will prevent you from still paying interest on the previous year’s Christmas gifts in July. Dave Ramsey has a lot of great example of the negotiation power you have when you have cash. You can save a lot of money on big-ticket items. This varies by product. For example, electronics have a very low mark-up—you still may be able to negotiate the price down a little, even in large retail stores. Furniture however has a high retail mark-up, meaning at full retail a person is paying 2-3 times the wholesale cost.

   You just need to talk with a manager or owner if it’s a small store, whose bottom line or bonus are impacted by how much the store sells. Knowing this, you have a lot of room to lower the price and walk away if it’s not the amount you want to pay.

   In general, using cash for your gifts also brings out your creativity, and you can often surprise yourself with what you’re able to do with a set amount of money.

3. Bargain Shop When It Comes to Your Gift Wrapping Paper, Gift Bags, Ribbons, Etc.
   Again, there’s a wide range of these items. Similar patterns of gift wrap may be $3.99 at one store and $1 at another. Since the wrapping paper is going to be gone in seconds anyway, this is an area where you can lower your spending without a lot of notice. As long as they’re kept in good condition, Christmas gift bags can be saved and reused year to year as well. Some people like to get crafty and make their own gift wrap, using things like comics, magazines, and old catalogs.
4. Make a Trip to Some Local Thrift Stores
   This is not to get everyone in your family used gifts. The main thing you want to look for is baskets. For some people, you may be getting a set of small items, and nice baskets make a great way to package them. If you can get a good deal on a roll of shrink wrap plastic at a craft store (which can be shrunk tight using the heat from a hair dryer), that often adds a nice look to it. It’s rare, but occasionally you will run into something at a thrift shop that seems totally out of place and would make a great gift. An example would be something new that is still in the box, a large stuffed bear that would sell $50-60 that looks brand new on sale for $5, and similar situations.
5. Look for Special Discount Codes and Coupons
   This can be online or through your local paper. Even if you normally don’t read the newspaper, the holidays are a great time to at least buy the Sunday editions for all of the coupons and sales papers so you can comparison shop. Check out coupons for online retailers at 123 Christian Coupons.
6. Get a Part-Time Seasonal Job at a Store Where You Want the Employee Discount
   This is not an option for everyone, but you can often get things you want for 25-75% off of retail and make some extra money.
7. Plan Your Shopping Out Where You Can Get Everything (or Almost Everything) Bought in One Day
   This will save you both time and gas money. There may be one or two gifts you may have to find later, but it’s usually better to get it all done at once. You can do this by taking the sales papers you know that have the items you need and determining the best path you can go to visit all the stores. If you have more than one person shopping, you can split up and get done in half the time. Keep in touch with each other with cell phones in case either of you run across something you think is important.
8. If You Have a Large Family, Consider Exchanging Names/Playing Secret Santa.
   You can get each other nicer gifts compared to everyone trying to get everyone else something, and you can put a lot of focus on making the gift special. Set a price range for the gifts (both a minimum and maximum if necessary). In other large groups outside of family, you can do things like exchanging Christmas ornaments.
9. Books Tend to Make Nice Gifts, and Many Are Not Expensive
   If you can find out someone’s interest and hobbies, there is likely a book about it. Most people will appreciate you took the time to find something that they like, and with children the right book will outlast the time spent playing with a plastic toy.
10. Make Use of Your Old Christmas Cards
    They make great gift tags and decorations. Many people just put them away in a drawer or box, never to be seen again. Get creative, and you may find some interesting uses for them.

Bonus Tip: Prepare for Next Year’s Christmas Early

Beginning right after Christmas, decorations, ornaments, artificial trees, and other items go on sale—as much as 90% off—take advantage of that opportunity and the following Christmas will look like you spent a small fortune. When you’re first starting out, you don’t have to get everything at once—just build a little each year.

May You and Your Family Have a Merry Christmas!

Taking care of your finances is never an easy thing. When it comes to paying bills, just about anybody can lose some of their integrity and if you are a Christian this is just not acceptable. This is after all one of the things that are supposed to set you apart from other people in the world. If you cannot keep your faith close to you and follow the Word when it comes to taking care of your money, you may not be able to handle a lot of the pitfalls and obstacles that life presents to the children of God.

So, what do you do? Many people are always trying to find a way out of paying what they rightfully owe; consider making payments on what you know that you owe and going through the legal ramifications of taking care of the rest, whether it be disputing the charges or even making payment arrangements. This has to do with credit card bills, medical bills, loan payments, rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, and just about everything else.

Make Payments on Time

Be sure to make all of your payments on time. This is your duty, and these are actual bills and money that you owe to people and corporations who have families and responsibilities just like we all do. Not only will this help you build good faith with companies around the United States but it will also help you to build your credit history and your credit score, so you can be able to get credit for the things in life that you and your family need.

Be Honest

While many people feel it does not need to be said, it is important to practice your faith in all business dealings as well as in your personal life. If you owe it, pay it. Don’t try to get around things by ordering utilities or racking up bills in someone else’s name or claiming that amounts are not actually due the way it was said they were. Be honest in your business dealings and the good karma and good faith will come back on you.

Keep in mind that there are always Christian people for you to work with; it is just a matter of finding them in your community. No matter what it is, whether it is insurance that you are after, a good mortgage, perhaps a line of credit or two—ask around to see who in your community can help you with Christian business dealings so the good faith can not only be given but returned as well.

For many of us we feel that it is to late to live the way he expects us to, but that is not true. No matter how far off track you have gotten you can find help with a Christian credit counseling company. These companies begin first by helping you to understand and learn how to adhere to biblical principles when it comes to your finances. They get you back to tithing your income, and help you work your way out of debt. Some help by setting up a payment plan with your creditors, which usually lowers the payments and interest rate so that you can get out of debt faster.

They also will help you get to the root of your financial problems. See, most of us have a feeling of entitlement. We feel we are entitled to a big home, nice cars, designer clothing and large family vacations every year. What we fail to do is to make sure these expenses can be paid out of our income. Instead we refinance our home with two mortgages, and rack up astronomical credit card debts. A Christian counseling company will show you how to live comfortable within your means. You will also see that as you begin to down size your expenses the stress level in your home will also decrease.

Many of us claim that it is impossible to follow God’s financial rules. What we fail to realize is if we follow his way, it makes it much easier on us. For example, do you really think that God would ask you to give him the first 10% of your income, without making sure that you still had enough to survive? As God says, ” you cannot serve two masters.” If you are seriously in debt, you are a slave to that debt; your life revolves around how much money you need to make to pay it all back.

Being in debt is a vicious cycle. It puts strain on your marriage and in your family life. If your finances are out of control sit down with a Christian financial credit counseling company. They will not only help you get out of debt, but they will teach God’s principles about money. Once you truly understand about how God looks at money, you will see how important it is to be obedient, and how dangerous it is not to. God loves us and these rules are made so we can enjoy life without the weight of debt.