What to do when holiday bills come due

Retailers are going all out now, with sales and discounts everywhere you turn. But before you get caught up in the season and overspend, fast-forward to January — when the bills will come in.

Before your next trip to the mall or electronics store, consider these four things:

“Fuel bills: January is the coldest month. Besides paying holiday debt, you’ll be looking at higher utility bills.

“ If your list is already complete, stop shopping. Do you really need a just-in-case gift for your neighbor three doors down?

“Will a credit-card purchase put you over 50 percent of your available credit? You could be hit with an increased interest rate for as long as you have the card.

“How long did it take you to pay off last year’s holiday purchases?

“Despite the fact that credit cards make it easy to overspend, the holidays are one time when it can pay to use plastic, especially if you need to return something or want to use the credit card’s purchase protection and extended warranties. There’s also the safety issue: The last thing you need is to have your cash stolen while you shop.

“If you’ve put money aside for holiday shopping, pay off the bills when they come in. If you haven’t, set a limit on credit-card use: Limit purchases to those you can pay off in three months. Otherwise the cost of those gifts will rise to include many months of interest. To keep track of your purchases, put the credit card in the pages of your check register and write down every purchase, with a new total every time you use the card.

“And write on a small sticky note: “Do I really need this?” Then attach it to the front of the card. If that doesn’t make you put the merchandise back on the shelf, it will at least make you think: Do you really need to buy more gifts?

“More than anything, set your priorities. Your loved ones would probably rather have you at home building more memories over cups of cider than see you go out the door to battle mall traffic yet again.