Several years ago, my husband and I were in a retail store. We came down an aisle and met an acquaintance of ours shopping with his girlfriend. His shopping cart was full of toys, and he leaned close to us and quietly said, “I’ll be putting this on my credit card and will be paying for this all next year.” My husband and I looked at each other, and I thought, “Yikes!”

We had set a budget and were buying the last of whatever we needed, and when that money was spent, we were finished. We knew that on the 26th of December, when we woke up, we might not have a bunch of money, but we were not going to get slammed with bills from the credit card company for our purchases.

This may seem a little late in the season to be writing this but did you know that it was always the week before Christmas when I was tempted to put purchases on the card? We had spent our Christmas budget and had other bills to pay after Christmas, so I couldn’t dip into that money. But there were other things I would like to get, nothing necessary but things that would have added to our holiday celebrations. I resisted those temptations but they were there every year nonetheless.

If any of you are feeling those temptations, I want to say, “Don’t do it!” You don’t want to pay for it later, especially now when credit card rates are through the roof. Did you know that when we use credit cards for purchases, we are more likely to pay between 25 and 100 percent more for what we are buying? (Thank you, NerdWallet.) Add on the interest we will be shelling out, and that’s a pretty hefty price to pay for anything.

I know that there are times when we have to use our cards. Perhaps an extra family is coming to our celebrations that we have not planned for. Perhaps the neighbor next door just lost his job and they will not be having any Christmas whatsoever. Perhaps we have lost our job and our family will not have any presents or dinner if we don’t use our card. We still need to set a budget and stick to it and forget about Madison Avenue’s idea of the perfect Christmas. Sometimes smaller is better when we can’t afford more.

Three things I have learned about Christmas that I want to pass on. First, try to put something away each month so that Christmas doesn’t catch you flatfooted. Second, purchase a couple gifts for your kids. One that they want and one that will help them explore their giftedness. Third, the best Christmas gift is the gift of time. Give those you love the gift of your time this year. Plan a few outings you can experience together and it will make this Christmas so much more meaningful for you and them.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas with the ones you love! (And put that credit card away if you don’t absolutely have to use it!)