Women are asking for advice on cooking, baking and gift-giving this Christmas. If there’s one tip worth offering, it’s this.

• GET OUT OF DEBT!!!!
• STAY OUT OF DEBT!!!
• LIVE DEBT-FREE!!!!

Unless you’ve shopped during the year, or unless you’ve diligently saved money to spend at Christmas, you will be tempted to do what many Americans do in November and December: They push prudence and wisdom aside to indulge in overspending.

Is it really worth it?

“The borrower is servant to the lender” is a nugget of wisdom found in the Bible. Have you experienced how awful it is to be “servant to the lender?” It’s not a joyful experience having bill-collectors call repeatedly. It’s no fun paying interest on loans or paying late fees! The way to avoid the stress of trying to pay back all those credit cards, or catching up on the bills you put off is to stay out of debt in the first place!

Determine honestly how much you can afford to spend on gifts this year, and stick to it! Promise yourself (and your spouse if you’re married) that you will not borrow one penny to pay for “Christmas,” and that you will not put off paying your regular bills in order to buy gifts either.

Get creative with traveling, cooking and gift-giving. Millions of people have done it through the years, and you can too! It begins with the determination that “debt is bad” and is directly followed up with a resolve not to go there.

Decide and act. Decide to enjoy your Holiday Season, even if it means spending less money, then act on it! Do whatever you have to, to avoid debt. Wouldn’t you rather be a servant to your family than to the credit card companies?

Be sure to pick up your copy of Stress Free Holiday Entertaining for tips and tricks to help you breeze through the Holidays and enjoy your friends and family for once. For your copy click here.