Name: How to stop your holiday shopping from haunting you in January
Uploaded: 2025-11-26T03:09:38.911Z
Duration: 3 min 34 s
Description: A credit expert shares tips to avoid holiday debt, from shopping early and budgeting to using 0% APR cards and considering homemade gifts.

A credit expert shares tips to avoid holiday debt, from shopping early and budgeting to using 0% APR cards and considering homemade gifts.

As the holiday season approaches, many shoppers are expected to use credit cards to purchase gifts for family and friends. Ana Staples, a credit card expert at Bankrate, advises starting holiday shopping early, creating a realistic budget, and considering 0% APR credit cards to avoid accruing interest.

Staples also highlights the importance of factoring in all costs, such as taxes and shipping, to prevent overspending. She suggests that homemade gifts or other gestures of appreciation can be meaningful alternatives when budgets are tight, ensuring loved ones feel valued without financial strain.

How to stop your holiday shopping from haunting you in January

And it is the time of the season not just to sit down with your family and eat a big turkey meal, but it's starting holiday shopping. And many Americans are going to rely on credit cards to cover gifts for family or friends, but how can you get what you want and avoid going into troublesome holiday debt this year? Ana Staples is a credit card expert with Bankrate, joining us now to talk a little bit and dig into this. So we're, of course, Ana, going into a huge shopping weekend. What should folks be looking out for when they're trying to, you know, potentially find a good deal among all of these sales and making sure that they're getting the most bang for their buck? I think the most important thing is to start as early as possible because this way a good deal can actually dictate your spending instead of the shipping times and things like trying to get what you want on time. And another thing, if you do rely on your credit cards and you're trying to minimize your credit card debt, maybe it's time to get a new credit card. If you think you are going to carry a balance, look into 0% APR credit cards. This way at least you don't have to worry about accruing interest on those purchases for a while. So let's talk about folks who maybe have big families or lots of friends. How do you recommend people balance their personal budgets with the desire to be a good gift giver this holiday season? It is definitely a natural desire and I think it is the time to indulge in it definitely. But at the same time, it is important to prioritize and create a realistic budget for yourself. You know, write down everybody you want to make gifts for, buy gifts for, and try to create a personal budget for each of those people and then stick to it. And I think that also goes to show how important it is to start shopping early because that way you are more likely to stick to the budget that you created for yourself. And that way you can spread all your holiday cheer and still stay in that budget. Well, what's a common mistake that you see people make as they're trying to kind of hit that balance of maintaining their own personal budget but also not, you know, not leaving anybody out of the gift giving? I would say a little bit of a procrastination because again, sometimes we can create that budget and think, okay, this is how much everything is going to cost. And then we actually go to make the purchases and then, you know, the tax adds up and the shipping price adds up. And at the end, you may go over 10, 20% of what you expected, even though you're buying what you wanted to buy, what you were planning to buy. So these things are better to factor in beforehand. And that way you can adjust based on that and maybe come up with some alternative ideas for gifts. And remember, shopping doesn't have to be mandatory. You can also, you know, create something yourself. You can, you know, create big goods, bake something for your loved ones. Any kind of gesture of appreciation would go a long way as long, you know, as you remember about your loved ones, you make them feel warm and cozy and fuzzy this holiday season. Of course. Ana Staples, credit card expert at Bankrate. Of course, everyone remember, if it's not in your budget to do some gift giving this year, there are certainly graceful ways to make sure your family and friends are still appreciated. Ana Staples, thanks so much for your insight this morning.

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