Let's say you rack up $1,500 on a card that charges 19% interest and you make only the minimum required payment each month. It could take up to 17 years to pay off the balance! Sound unbelievable? Visit this credit card payoff calculator and see for yourself.
Make your holiday high in value, low in cost Avoid a credit card calamity this holiday season by considering gift alternatives that mean more and cost less.
Make a custom gift certificate offering your free services over winter break. Design the gift certificate on your computer or make one from old holiday cards, photos, or any other creative materials. Offer your services for:
Adults
- Grocery shopping
- Interior painting
- Housecleaning
- Babysitting
- Yard work
- Car cleaning
- Cooking a family meal
College friends
- A haircut or manicure/pedicure
- Doing a week's worth of laundry
- Car cleaning
Children
- An outing to the library or park, or another activity that involves sharing time without cost
- Tutoring services
More gift ideas
Hand-painted mugs, ornaments, and furnishings
- Buy coffee mugs at a dollar store and food-safe glaze at a craft store. Paint your own design with the glaze and dry the mugs according to directions. Fill mug with the recipient's favorite candy or assorted herb tea bags. Wrap with netting and tie with ribbon.
- Buy plaster ornaments from a craft store for under $1. Paint/decorate and give as gifts or tie to packages.
- Buy unfinished frames, book shelves, etc. and decorate them yourself.
Video memory
- Have someone film you recalling your favorite family holiday(s) and give it to your parents or grandparents.
Greeting cards
- Create hand-made greeting cards by decorating plain card stock with rubber stamps or colored pens and paints, then tie assorted cards with a ribbon, or
- Design cards on your computer.
Friends photo collage
- Create a poster collage from photos of you and your friends, and mount on large poster board to create a great wall decoration.
Seasoned cooking oil
- Buy a large bottle of regular olive oil (under $10) and some ingredients like garlic, fresh rosemary, and chili peppers. Sterilize old oil bottles or unique (but inexpensive) bottles from a discount store. Fill them with oil and your choice of flavors and store them in the refrigerator. Make labels for the bottles on your computer.
Pasta basket
- Purchase a basket, pasta, sauce, and breadsticks at the dollar store. Wrap the items and dress up the basket for a tasty gift.
Holiday cookies
- Transform simple sugar or butter cookies into artful holiday treats using sprinkles, frosting, and other decorative edibles. Replace chocolate morsels with holiday-themed chocolate candy in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Place them on a plate dressed up with ribbon and colored wrap.
Fruit basket:
- Purchase small, inexpensive baskets at a discount or crafts store. Choose a few apples, oranges, and other fresh or canned fruits, and assemble them in the baskets. Decorate the baskets with colored plastic wrap, netting, ribbon, pinecones, holly berries, etc.
Charitable giving
- Make a small donation ($5) to a favorite charity on behalf of the recipient. Obtain or create donation receipt and wrap in a small box.
Additional information
Sign up for student loan information, money management tips, and more. Visit Nellie Mae's Money Management Center designed exclusively for undergraduate students.
*Undergraduate Students and Credit Cards in 2004, Nellie Mae.