The fall season nearest the two biggest holidays of the year are a good time to think about how to clear debt and not stretch yourself thin by creating more debt than you can reasonably handle. It is quite easy to begin spending and driving up credit card balances and their interest rates when you are trying to impress family and friends or keep them happy. What you have to keep foremost in your mind, however, is there is always a clear debt solution available for you, and it begins with limiting the amount of spending that you do in the first place.

When you begin holiday shopping, it is vital to make two lists: one of things that are necessary and another for things that you would like to be able to afford, but can do without. Hopefully, you have a spouse, significant other, sibling or some other level-headed person in your life that can look at the list and tell you if they, too, agree with what you have listed as “necessary.” You should shop for only the necessary items to begin with. It is the best idea (and maybe, in some cases, a romantic idea) to clear bad debt by not creating it.

Once you have bought or paid the necessities (food, paid utilities, rent / mortgage, and monthly bills), you should check to see if you have any extra cash to work with. If you find yourself with an extra hundred dollars, then you have to prioritize the list of things you desire and not necessarily need. You may be able to manage the first three or four things on your secondary list without have to lecture yourself about how to clear debt after the holidays are gone.

One of the hugest mistakes people make around this time of year is splurging now and having to clear credit card debt later. To avoid some of this, you should consider not even making purchases on credit cards but buying things that you can only afford to pay for with cash. Your family will understand conservative spending and setting priorities straight a lot better than they would understand you being in over your head with debt. Family or not, a person who is exposed as someone who has to work hard to clear debts and has not experience job loss, medical issues or some other even out of his control will likely be seen as irresponsible.

To be sure, there are many things you could do for your family to avoid having to clear debt after they have all gone home. You could give them all handmade gifts. You could pull names and buy a gift for only one other person. You could make it the rule that there will be no gift-giving, and the family will instead spend its time enjoying the company of one another. In this scenario, there is the option of storytelling, a family talent show, board games, movie watching or just simply catching up with one another. Whatever you decide, you should know that family time does not have mean a time when you go broke.