SALT LAKE CITY — Sandra and Ian Cameron are looking forward to a white Christmas with their sons Connor and Clayton — but they'll be throwing a lot less green at it than usual.
As part of Deseret Media Companies' "Imagine A Happier You" initiative targeting personal financial well-being, they're on a fiscal diet. And they could not be more relieved.
They both work. He delivers mail and she's a flight attendant. And until recently, they were both spenders, too, racking up more than $30,000 in credit card debt and a little more with a personal loan. They've been fixing up their downtown Salt Lake home largely on plastic.
In August, Sandra Cameron was one of three women selected by DMC for intensive yearlong financial mentoring. Knowing that she'll be showing her mentor from AAA Fair Credit her bank statement, she says, is as good an extra brake pedal. Through a combination of budgeting — "That has really been the greatest thing," she says — increasing the number of hours she works and considering every penny before they spend it, the Camerons have paid off $3,500 in three months. But there's a long way to go and the holidays, which they say are going to be a giant test of willpower.
"It will be a smaller Christmas for sure," says Sandra Cameron. "In the past, I'd already be shopping madly."
She thinks she'll ace it. "I'm getting stronger temptation muscles."
Scaled-down plans include homemade gifts from the kids for the grandparents and a scaled-down celebration with grown siblings. All the cousins, who normally draw names, this year will pool a small amount each to do something charitable like buy a goat for a family in Kenya. Everyone's having a tough time in this economy, Sandra Cameron says, and it's a nice way to help someone else.
The Camerons have always hosted a large Christmas party and that's a tradition too dear to let go. But they're not going to do "neighbor gifts" in addition to the party, since they always invite the neighbors to the party, too. And they'll build the party on a budget.
They've been working at building an emergency fund — and their car's need for repairs has very nearly kept pace with their efforts. On the other hand, she laughs, they had the emergency fund, so that $1,300 in repairs didn't go on a credit card as it normally would.
They eat out less often "and I don't think I enjoy it as much as I did. I find myself thinking, 'That so is not worth $50,' " she says.
What makes a meal downright tasty, according to Sandra Cameron, is knowing she got a good deal. So she uses discounts from source like restaurant.com to pay for part of the meal and uses a cash-only system for all their discretionary spending. After they make the house payment and the utilities and budget for food and debt repayment, they each have a bit left over from their individual paychecks. He can use his, she can use hers. Or they can put it toward debt. Increasingly, that's the most appealing choice, she says.
Every two months they pore over the budget to see how realistic it is. They've done some tweaking, but it's working pretty well.
The other big change they've made is where they shop for kids clothes. Clayton, 6, and Connor, 3, go the gently-used route, with styles from a consignment store. She was always good at getting bargains, Ian Cameron says, but they're saving a lot on children's clothes.
"At their age, it just needs to fit properly and be functional," she says.
The family has a separate fund for birthday parties and presents and treats. It is a tin canister that's filling rapidly with pocket change. Baby steps yield cash dividends.
To find out more about the initiative, read participant blogs, chat about money issues or access financial articles and tools, go online to imagineahappieryou.com.
e-mail: lois@desnews.com