The Secret of Online Holiday Spending
© Reginald Vickers
There are many different methods of spending for those "must have" gifts that your loved ones have been drooling over for so long. Many years ago there were only two methods of having the money to buy the desired present. First, the method of choice for most "over 70" crowd, is called "savings". Second, a method that is used many times with "savings" is the "buying only what you can afford". These two methods are somewhat of a lost art and I personally have only heard about them in books and the reading of ancient artifacts. One of these historical writings mentions a ritual known as Christmas Club. This amazing tool was used by banks to aid members to set aside a certain amount, on a weekly or bi-monthly basis, to help them have money for Christmas. It was like a reversed credit card, with the payments being made before the purchases and instead of the patron spending 29% interest each month to make up for the credit card monthly fees, they would receive the interest (yes, the interest would come to them). This in turn would give them more money than they put into their account. As late as 1966, this was determined to be the American way of Christmas spending. That was before credit cards spending for Christmas became as customary as the artificial Christmas trees.
Today, the method of choice by most Americans is just the complete opposite as the first two methods mentioned: put every Christmas item on credit card and "never refuse a child of whatever they want". ("New $500 game machine? - sure, let me apply for this new credit card!") If I sound slight fuchsias, it's because I am still paying off my Christmas shopping debt from 1972.
To get the most out of using this plastic god for holiday cheer there are certain rules and secrets that you need to learn to have a safer, cheaper, happy holiday.
Rule #1- Make sure that you shop only on secure, trusted Internet sites. Ask yourself these questions:
