Between Christmas gifts, stocking stuffers, holiday baking, Black Friday sales.. it’s easy to find yourself in debt during the holidays.

That used to be me many years ago! Every year, I seemed to forget Christmas took place in December. I found myself in an endless cycle of purchasing all my gifts last minute on a credit card with total disregard of how much I was spending. Come January, I’d have a Christmas hangover and be upset with myself over how much I overspent. I’d then spend the next few months cleaning up my financial mess.

Does this sound familiar? Learn from my past mistakes and don’t create a financial mess for yourself this holiday season. Here’s why you shouldn’t go into debt during the holidays.

Why You Shouldn’t Go Into Debt During The Holidays

1. You’re Not The Joneses

I love seeing photos of family members, vendor friends and past clients on social media during the Christmas season. The trick, though, is to not let all the festivity take you down the path of comparison living—and that’s an easy trap to fall into during the holidays.

If you’re on social media, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the photo a friend posted of their beautifully lit two-story house with the caption “#blessed.” Or the Christmas vacation a coworker is taking to Vail. Or the new Prada purse another friend received from her husband. Those are all great things, but only if you can afford them!

At any moment, you can pull out your phone, open Facebook, and see hundreds of photos and status updates about things you don’t have. The truth is that you can’t keep up with the Joneses, and you shouldn’t want to. The Joneses are broke—flat broke.

There’s always going to be someone who has more stuff and nicer stuff. If you’re always in search of more, then you’ll never have enough.

So this Christmas, strive to find contentment in where you are in life and what you already have. Find ways to be grateful for everything you’ve been blessed with, not just the glitzy and glamorous stuff we’re tempted to show off on social media.

By letting go of the comparisons, you’ll find true contentment and a much more merry holiday season.

2. Your Family Would Be Disappointed

Let’s get real honest here for a second. You are probably well aware that your family and friends wouldn’t want you to go into debt just for them. So, why do you find yourself going into debt every holiday season because of gift-giving? It’s most likely because you’re using “family and friends” as justification for your spending.

The truth hurts, but I’ve been there too! I used to reason my butt off on why I had to purchase this particular gift for this person, and spend this amount of money on my kids, and get these super expensive concert tickets for my husband. I would get a high from spending money and felt like I had to do certain things in order to create a “perfect” Christmas for my family.

The reality is this: your family and friends don’t want you to take on debt just to purchase them a gift. If you feel the need to purchase them something nice then plan ahead! Create a Christmas list, a budget, and start saving! Just don’t use your family and friends as justification to go into debt.

3. Don’t Start The New Year Behind

The January You will be so upset with the December You if you overspend on the holidays. It can be so easy to use Christmas at the “last hurrah” and go all out with your spending before you start fresh for the new year. Don’t do it! Not only does it hurt your budget in the present, but it’ll also put your farther behind in the new year.

Avoid going into debt during the holidays so you can start the new year off on the right foot!

4. The Holidays Aren’t Worth It

The holidays come around every single year. That means you have plenty of holiday seasons to show others that you care. You don’t need to go into debt this holidays season (or really any holiday) because there will always be more.

In fact, it’s hard for me to think of anything that warrants going into debt just to take advantage of the spending. When you get out of the mode that you need to buy so many things during the holidays, you can see the bigger picture. There will be many opportunities to make the most of the holidays and still come out on top financially.

5. Break The Cycle

A few years ago, I finally broke the cycle of overspending during the holidays. All it took was a mindset shift, a Christmas budget, a sinking fund and a plan. That was it!

Once I came to the realization that I could plan ahead, save a little bit of money each month, and purchase all my gifts in cash.. my life was forever changed. When you realize the holidays aren’t worth going into debt for, and there will always be another holiday next year, you can start to have a mindset shift. Make a conscious effort to break the cycle now, and you’ll see how you can master holiday season spending.

Take it from me, nothing is worth going into debt for, especially holiday spending. Do your best to budget and stick to your spending limits. I promise January You will be so happy with December You!