To control your spending this holiday season, stick with cash

Stay jolly. DmyTo/IStock/Getty Images Plus by Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University The holiday shopping season is now here, and Americans are ready to splurge. The average U.S. shopper expects to spend more than US$1,000 on gifts for Christmas and other winter holidays this year, surveys show. These days, consumers have no shortage of payment options, each seemingly more enticing than the last. Do you swipe your credit card and pick up “free” miles? Do you use buy-now-pay-later and spread the payments out over time? Do you use a debit card to avoid going into debt? As a business school professor who writes about the holiday shopping season, I’ve been thinking about the best way to pay for holiday gifts without breaking the bank. My advice, found in my forthcoming book The Power of Cash, is counterintuitive. Don’t use any of these things. Instead, use good old-fashioned paper money. Yes, using cash instead of paying electronically is a simple way to control your holiday spending while even helping others. And I speak from personal experience. Why cash is less likely to set you back Before spending any money, it is important to set a holiday budget. The problem is that while...