Becky and Adam were enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner with Becky’s family. During dinner, the subject of Christmas came up. Her mom asked she what her and Adam wanted for Christmas. Adam and Becky turned and looked at each other with a shocked look on their faces. You see, neither of them had given much thought to Christmas since they were still reeling from the events of the last 6 months. So many things had taken place during that time. Their wedding in May, Starting her new job after graduating college, buying a new car for her since she needed reliable transportation for the new job, moving into and furnishing their new apartment and so many other things. Christmas seemed like a distant day, but when her mom asked that question, reality crashed in that it would be here in less than a month.

Becky told her mom that, with everything going on, they hadn’t discussed it yet. She said they would talk over the weekend and let her know. On the car ride home, Becky said she had completely forgotten Christmas was next month. Adam reassured her and told her not to be upset for not realizing it was so soon. He told her that he hadn’t realized it either. Then, Becky asked Adam what they were going to do about it. They didn’t have any money saved for Christmas and Becky said how big of a deal Christmas is in her family. She was feeling bad for forgetting about it and for not planning for it. Again, Adam told her that it would be okay and not to get too worked up about it.

After they got home, Becky immediately started making a list of who they needed to get presents for and what she wanted to get each one. She asked Adam for input about his family and together the list grew. When they started to add up the cost for everyone’s gifts, they both looked at the list in horror. Where were they going to come up with that much money in less than a month? Since it was getting late, Adam suggested that they turn in for the night and talk about it more in the morning. Unfortunately, Becky struggled to sleep through the night. Tormented over this, she woke up thinking about how they were going to but gifts for everyone. All she could think about was that she didn’t want to disappoint anyone.

The next morning Adam came into the kitchen to find Becky sitting at the table with their bills, bank statements, and several other papers scattered across the table. Becky looked up and from the look in her eyes, he knew it wasn’t good. Knowing he needed to ask her, but being afraid of her response caused him to hesitate for a moment. He poured a cup of coffee, took a sip, and found the gumption to ask her about all of the paperwork on the table. As soon as he asked her, she began to cry. Now he’s thinking “boy, I wish I hadn’t asked her”. But, he knew it was the right thing to do, so he went over to her, sat down beside her, and hugged her. After a few minutes, the tears slowed down and she said how upset she was that they didn’t have money saved to buy gifts for Christmas.

Adam quickly scanned the papers Becky had on the table and concurred with her that they didn’t have any money saved for Christmas gifts. Sadly, they barely had $200 in their checking account and nothing in their savings account beyond the amount to keep it open. Thinking for a moment, he said the only thing that they could do was to charge the gifts on a credit card. Becky stared at him for a moment and asked him how they were going to do that since their credit cards were all nearly maxed out. He told her that they can ask for their limits to be raised and he thought the credit card companies would surely do it, especially since the holiday season was happening now.

Becky decided to go along with his suggestion and she called the credit card companies who were all agreeable to raising their limits. After her phone calls, Becky was feeling better and started making a list of what she was getting for everyone. In a short time, the list was complete and she took it to Adam to see if she had forgotten anyone or if he had any other suggestions.

That Saturday the two of them braved the crowds and the rainy weather to start shopping for gifts for everyone on the list. By the end of the day, they were both exhausted but had a trunkload of gifts to unpack after they got home. Since they were both so tired, neither of them took the time to add up the receipts to see how much they spent. They just piled the gifts in the living room and went to sleep.

The next two Saturdays were pretty much the same thing, get up head to the stores, and work on buying the gifts from the list. As before, they were both pretty tired when they got home so the presents were piled in the living room with the others. Again, because they were tired and hungry none of their purchases were tallied up to see how much they had charged.

Christmas day came and Becky and Adam gave all of the gifts they had bought to everyone on their list. They also enjoyed receiving many gifts from their family and friends. When they got home that evening, they put the gifts they got under their tree and sat on the couch enjoying the fire in the fireplace before going to bed.

New Years came and about a week later their credit card statements arrived in the mail. When Becky opened them she became shocked at the totals for each one. She thought there must have been some mistake, but as she looked over them, she realized there was no mistake. The minimum payments for each card had significantly increased. When she added up all of the minimum payments, she realized they weren’t going to be able to pay them with what they normally earned each month. When she brought it up to Adam, he initially got made about how much was spent and how much the payments were now. After he calmed down, he figured they would need to work overtime or get a part-time job to cover the payments along with everything else they had to pay.

Stay tuned next week for part two of Becky’s and Adam’s tale of their surprise of Christmas.

I hope today’s blog was encouraging to you and provided information to help you and others better handle their financial matters. My purpose through these blogs is to inform the reader about money and financial issues so that we all can become better managers of our assets. If you like what you read, make sure to sign up so you can receive my weekly posts. The goal of Take Two Financial Coaching is to provide the necessary information to help families and individuals break the chains of debt, build lasting wealth, and become outrageously generous so they can live the life they were created to live.

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