COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As the holiday season winds down, chances are your wallet or bank account will feel the impact.
According to WalletHub, the average credit card debt for a US household is $10,870. But when it comes to cleaning up your finances, there are several things you can do. Financial planner Matthew Kirby suggests getting organized financially first. He recommends creating a spreadsheet of all your existing debts. The next step is to create a budget.
“There are certain things in a budget that you have to pay for, whether it’s your rent or whether it’s daycare or food or gas,” Kirby said. “These are the things that are not optional.” According to Kirby, tackling the highest interest debt first is key. “A lot of times it’s usually credit cards, personal loans, all of those tend to be higher than the more traditional types of debt, which would be a mortgage, car payments,” Kirby said.
In addition to seeking expert advice, using web-based budgeting tools is a good place to start. “If you go to your bank’s website and you can go back a year, a lot of times they’ll give you a breakdown of where your expenses are and sort them out for you,” Kirby said.
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Kirby said taking a look at your finances from the previous year is important to setting yourself up for a better financial future. “If there are things that you struggled with or things that were out of your control or things that maybe you didn’t make the best financial decision, at least there’s an awareness because if you’re faced with that same decision in 2025, then you can adjust- you accordingly,” said Kirby.
Kirby said sometimes another source of income might be needed to pay off debts. “We’re seeing a lot of people have side jobs, whether it’s driving for rideshare or other types of income streams to try to overcome some of the inflationary issues that we’re seeing, primarily with housing, energy and ‘food. prices,” said Kirby.
Getting out of debt and managing your daily cash flow is critical. Once you get to a place where you feel comfortable with your spending, encourage people to make saving a priority. “You need to be able to build a savings account or an emergency fund that will help you stay out of debt,” Kirby said. “So instead of having $1,000 on a credit card for new tires on the car, have a savings account, you don’t have to do it with a credit card, but you can pay cash for it.”
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