Ah, the ghost of Christmas past. Before the holidays began you were well aware that you have a credit card balance which you know will haunt you in the coming weeks. Yet you have managed bulk it some more when you bought luxurious gifts for everyone, (even shopping items on discounts can total to a whopping amount of cash when accounted for collectively) and prepared sinfully festive dinners. Disregarding the joy of gift-giving, when the season ends, you will face the reality of being in debt. But don’ fret. We’ll help you get past this one too.

Add up your balances and know exactly how much you owe. The sooner you know how much you’ll have to pay for, the sooner you can devise a way to solve it. To make sure you have your exact amount, keep your receipts whenever you shop so that you can account them immediately after all shopping has been done and without any further delays.

Come up with brilliant ideas to generate more cash. Think up some brilliant ways how you can have extra cash the moment you realize how much action you’ll have to take for paying off these debts. You can either baby-sit your cousins or take part-time jobs such as dogwalking or running errands. You can earn loads of cash being a part-time nanny.

Do some cost-cutting in your other expenses. To help you scale your debts faster, you can review your regular expenses and make revisions on your budget. You can reduce the cost of your food (How about saying NO to dessert for a month?) or you can do your own laundry to save up on laundry costs.