If you are receiving unsolicited phone calls from an entity pretending to be ACCC (a trusted non-profit credit counseling agency), please be assured that ACCC’s policy is NEVER to contact you unless you’ve explicitly requested us to call you. Also be cautious of emails from an unusual or unfamiliar domain. ACCC’s domain extension is @consumercredit.com, and any emails using a different extension should be treated with suspicion.

×

ACCC’s Client Login allows current clients to access their program information, including the due date, program benefits, and other documents.

Select a Client Login below based on the service that you are currently enrolled in:

Debt Management Program

Client Login

Bankruptcy

Pre-Bankruptcy Client

Post-Bankruptcy Client

Not yet a client, but looking to get started?

ACCC offers debt relief options to individuals and families that are suffering from stress related to credit card debt by providing effective credit counseling, helping to consolidate debt, and advising on debt management.

Get Started

Wait!

You are now leaving the Consumer Credit website and are going to a website that is not operated by ACCC. We are not responsible for the content or availability of linked sites.

Are you sure you want to leave?

No, return me to the previous page.

Yes

Avoiding Debt With Budgeting- December Budget Example

Our credit counseling belief is that learning to budget will never fail you! That’s one reason the Talking Cents Blog loves teaching all about budgeting. Our monthly budgeting series explores how real life affects a budget. December looks to be another tough month for our couple. Let’s find out if their income has gotten back into place since last month in the December budget example.

Check out ACCC's December budget example

Check out ACCC’s December budget example.

December Budget Example & How to Avoid Debt

Here is a quick rundown of the highlights that happened during November and a few plans for December:

  • Couple still has only one salary.
  • A spending freeze was instituted. They spent less in several spending categories, like Household Items, which we will adjust for December’s budget.
  • A job has been landed for Partner #2, but they start January 1st.
  • Couple decided to make DIY Christmas presents to save money.
  • They cancelled cable to save money.
  • Utilities will start to go up with the colder weather.

While Partner #2 will be gainfully employed soon, December’s budget will still suffer from another month of lost income. In these times, our debt counselors know that it’s so easy for credit cards to be used to maintain standard of living. People will use their credit cards to eat out, buy clothing, go see movies, groceries, home goods, etc. It seems like a good solution to get through the tough times, right?

Well, if we could predict the future, then yes, it would work out. However, things change! What if the job offer fell through? Or the car broke down? If you don’t have enough income to cover your credit card bill at the end of the month, then you can’t actually afford it. This is even more true when you are bringing in less income than usual.

December Budget Example

Take a look at the December budget example to see how the couple is balancing another month with less income.

(The bolded items have been adjusted since last month.)

INCOME

  • Salary 1: $2,700
  • Salary 2: $0
  • Income from selling unused household goods: $300

TOTAL: $3,000

MONTHLY LIVING EXPENSES

  • Groceries: $400 (down from $600 for savings and Christmas gifts)
  • Household Items: $30 (down from $50)
  • Clothing: $0
  • Cellphones (2 phones): $100
  • Internet & Cable: $75 (down from $125)
  • Rent: $1,100
  • Electric: $100 (increase from $90)
  • Gas: $60 (increase from $50)
  • Trash: $10
  • Auto Maintenance: $40
  • Auto Insurance (2 cars): $175
  • Health & Dental Insurance: $350
  • Renter’s Insurance: $10
  • Entertainment: $0 (help cover loss of income)
  • Netflix/Hulu: $20
  • Gym Membership: $60
  • Student Loan Payment: $425
  • Auto Loan Payment: $175
  • Vacation Fund: $0 (help cover loss of income)
  • Pet Care: $75 (down from $100)
  • Credit Card Debt Payment: $200 (smaller payment to help cover the loss of income)
  • Savings & Investments: $0 (help cover loss of income)
  • DIY Christmas Gifts: $50
  • TOTAL: -$3,455

$3,000 – $3,455= -$455 loss for the month

This means that our couple does not have enough money to cover their monthly expenses. Even after lowering or eliminating many expenses, they are still short close to $500. They have decided to use their credit card. Since the amount is on the smaller side and there is a job on the horizon, it’s not too risky. While still ill advised, they will probably be just fine using their credit card in this scenario.

Other options to cover the gap might be to ask family for help, continue to sell personal items, or start a side hustle. Online surveys and other jobs might bring in some more money to bring the deficit even smaller.

How to Avoid Credit Card Debt

Finally, a budget is a great way to track and direct your money to avoid credit card debt. Another financial practice is to have a quick emergency fund of $1,000 and a larger emergency fund of 3-6 months of necessity coverage. That $1,000 can cover an immediate bigger need that is a one time situation. The larger 3-6 month emergency fund would be used for this couple’s job loss scenario. While they don’t currently have an emergency fund, they do save money. It won’t be too hard to shift some money towards an emergency fund once their debt is paid off in a few months time. More on this later.

If you’re struggling to pay off debt, ACCC can help. Schedule a free credit counseling session with us today. 

ABOUT AUTHOR / Michelle

Michelle is a regular contributor to Talking Cents. She has taken several financial courses on debt management and is ready to circulate what she has learned from them as well as lessons from her own life- family to DIY projects to student loan debt.

View all author posts →

creditU

Your Ultimate Money Management App

Meet CreditU, the ultimate one-stop debt and financial management app! See your full financial overview, including debts, income, expenses, and savings.



    Dev Tool:

    Request: blog/avoiding-debt-with-budgeting-december-budget-example
    Matched Rewrite Rule: blog/([^/]+)/?$
    Matched Rewrite Query: post_type=post&name=avoiding-debt-with-budgeting-december-budget-example
    Loaded Template: single.php

    Join the App Waitlist Today and Be Among the First to Try it!

    Meet CreditU, the ultimate one-stop debt and financial management app! See your full financial overview, including debts, income, expenses, and savings.