I was in an elevator a few days ago with two guys. They were friends and I walked in half way through a conversation. One guy was telling the other how the hotel had charged something to his room and that he was going to have to go to the front desk and pay cash for it.
He specifically made a point say he was paying cash.
I was pretty happy about this. Love hearing that someone is consciously paying cash for things. Extra bonus points for talking about it with a friend. Awesome. I did a mental fist pump.
But my smile was quickly wiped off my face. He followed up his cash paying comment with this…
“Gotta keep those credit cards clear for the holidays!”
Darn it! So close!
What’s super sad is that he still has time to save up for Christmas! He doesn’t have to put it on a credit card, it’s only October! He still has lots of time to plan ahead and make sure that he gets through the holidays. He just needs to sit down and decide how much he needs and how he wants to spend it.
What would have happened if I had said that to him? What would have happened if I had suggested a Christmas budget?
Figure this; he’s already planning. He’s paying cash for things now so that he has an available balance on his credit cards for Christmas. Proof that he’s already thinking ahead. So it really wouldn’t require much more planning to take it up a notch and actually pay cash for Christmas! It’s already on his radar, he’s already changing his behavior in order to make Christmas happen. He needs to decide that a Credit Card Christmas isn’t something he is willing to accept anymore and then make the changes necessary.
What about you? Has all this Christmas talk made you wish for a green Christmas for yourself?
I’m assuming his Christmas expenses are going to be bigger than his hotel bill (duh!) and if so, this would be impressive if he paid for his hotel bill using his cc, but paid cash for his larger Christmas expenses!
Or even better, use credit card and pay off the balance in full.
Sheesh, connecting credit cards with Christmas just takes too much fun out of it all. True, so much time to plan with 2 1/2 months to go. We have cancelled Cristmas for the grown-ups when we have run out of spare money. The kids always have a special time, but I don’t need anything today that needs to be paid for tomorrow, with interest.
Cool write-up.
Doesn’t it just make you want to tackle the guy in the lobby, shake him and ask him exactly what he’s thinking?