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CNN Saturday Morning News

Overspending During the Holidays

Aired December 07, 2002 - 07:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Every year it is the same, the holidays come, you shop till you drop and then in January you have a whole lot of bills. Well we can help you avoid the problem. Clark Howard, our Pocketbook Protector and author of Get Clark Smart explains.
CLARK HOWARD, CNN POCKETBOOK PROTECTOR: Do you know what the January hangover is? That's when you have so much fun shopping throughout November and December that by the time January rolls around you can't pay all the bills. There are lots of us who have the January hangover and if you have had that experience in the past where you're paying for a prior Christmas once it's June or July what that means is you've got to change how you handle the holidays.

What you should do is you should do a cash only Christmas. You take those credit cards and you leave them at home and that way you'll do away with all that buying that you do without thinking about how you're going to pay for it. And I know the frenzy that goes on when you get in the stores and they have clearance signs and markdown and take another ten percent off the sale price and all that and you think I've got to have it.

Well, you don't got to have it. You really need to think through what's going to happen to you later on, based on what you spend right now. What I'm talking about isn't as much fun as going out and shopping and shopping till you're dropping, but it is a lot more fun once the new year rolls around and you don't owe everybody on earth more money.

CALLAWAY: And Clark will be with us live next weekend. Go ahead and send us your e-mails. Here's the address. wam@cnn.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 7, 2002 - 07:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Every year it is the same, the holidays come, you shop till you drop and then in January you have a whole lot of bills. Well we can help you avoid the problem. Clark Howard, our Pocketbook Protector and author of Get Clark Smart explains.
CLARK HOWARD, CNN POCKETBOOK PROTECTOR: Do you know what the January hangover is? That's when you have so much fun shopping throughout November and December that by the time January rolls around you can't pay all the bills. There are lots of us who have the January hangover and if you have had that experience in the past where you're paying for a prior Christmas once it's June or July what that means is you've got to change how you handle the holidays.

What you should do is you should do a cash only Christmas. You take those credit cards and you leave them at home and that way you'll do away with all that buying that you do without thinking about how you're going to pay for it. And I know the frenzy that goes on when you get in the stores and they have clearance signs and markdown and take another ten percent off the sale price and all that and you think I've got to have it.

Well, you don't got to have it. You really need to think through what's going to happen to you later on, based on what you spend right now. What I'm talking about isn't as much fun as going out and shopping and shopping till you're dropping, but it is a lot more fun once the new year rolls around and you don't owe everybody on earth more money.

CALLAWAY: And Clark will be with us live next weekend. Go ahead and send us your e-mails. Here's the address. wam@cnn.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com