As the economy slows down, one of the key things to do, reports Marshall Loeb at MarketWatch, is to try and get out of debt as soon as possible. He points this out about holiday debt, especially:

The sad thing with a lot of consumers is that when January rolls
around, they drag credit not only from this holiday season, but from
the one before it too.

Try to engage in aggressive debt reduction. Do what you can to get out of debt, and try, try, try not to put holiday debt on your credit cards. Loeb’s rule of thumb: if you can’t pay it off in six months, don’t buy it in the first place.