15 holiday financial stress-busters

If there's one thing scarier than a pre-Christmas to-do list, it's a post-Christmas credit card statement. You can avoid or alleviate the financial worry of paying for Christmas, says Janet Ferrando, an independent financial adviser in Toronto, by planning your holiday spending the same way you plan (or should plan) the rest of your family finances. "Knowing what you want and why you want it is the key to staying on track and reducing stress in everything we do," says Ferrando. "Christmas is no different."

• Sit the whole family down and list, in order, your priorities for the season. The first should be your overall goal (for example, "enjoy a loving, spiritually meaningful week with my family"). All subsequent items ("attend Christmas Eve church service," "take kids on Christmas-lights tour") should flow from that. You'll be surprised at how low "vacuum living room curtains" comes on the list.

• Put financial estimates beside each point (many won't cost anything).

• Flesh out your budget for the holiday. Include cards, decorations, gifts, food, entertaining and all travel expenses.

• Keep your budget with your gift list to keep your spending priorities literally in sight.

• If you don't have enough cash on hand this year to meet your budget, you have two options: slash your budget to match your resources or take on some debt. If you must do the latter, plan ahead how you'll pay it off.

• Be aware that credit companies often raise credit limits at this time of year to encourage buying. Don't max out your card! You could end up with a whopping bill come January.

• After Christmas, analyze. Did you stick to your budget? If not, why not? If it was absolutely impossible to meet your priorities with the amount you allowed, you'll need to raise your limit for next year. If you were simply sidetracked, write down why and how.

• Determine your Christmas budget for next year and how much you'll need to save every month until then to avoid going into debt.