"Avoid Post-Holiday Spender's Remorse" is a cross-post from Union Plus. 

Opening gifts each December is a ton of fun. Opening the resulting bills in January is not. Yet every holiday season millions of consumers use their credit cards to finance gifts they don’t have the cash to pay for. Consider the following before you start shopping this holiday season.

There are only two legal ways out of debt – cutting expenses or increasing your income. Decide which works for you and commit to it before you start shopping.

Prioritize.  What’s more important?  Paying your mortgage and buying food or giving gifts you can’t afford?  Consider shortening your gift list or giving smaller gifts to adults.  In times like these, friends and family understand.

Jennifer Wright Dorr at Union Plus sends us this feature examining Union Plus credit and debt counseling services for union members.

 Desperately wishing to be free of debt, America’s workers too often turn to unscrupulous and ineffective debt reduction companies for help. But Patti Schlittenhart, a member of California School Employees Association (CSEA) Local 248, made a better choice. When she realized she needed help with her budget, she turned to the Union Plus Credit Counseling program because she “knew that if the service was backed by the union, it had to be reputable.”