Now is best time to plan for next Christmas

Many of us are basking in the pre-holiday glow, feeling comfortable and charitable, watching "It's A Wonderful Life" and attending children's Christmas programs.

The stock market is ready to top 20,000, an all-time high, unemployment is at a nine-year low, and consumers are spending like it's 2007 -- just before the 2008 meltdown.

Credit card debt is fine -- it seems nearly impossible to shop without one these days -- as long as you pay it off in a month or two, but most Americans dont.

Households charged $21.9 billion on their credit cards in the third quarter, bringing outstanding credit card debt to $927.1 billion, according to the latest WalletHub study.

The good news is that so far, Americans are defaulting on their credit card debt at near historically low levels.

Credit card companies are unable to collect on only 2.86 percent of their debt, compared to 3.95 percent back in 2007 before the Great Recession, and more than 10 percent following the crisis.

But paying back those high-interest credit card bills is costly for the average household, which now owes $7,941 to credit card companies.

It you're bracing for a January financial hangover, you might consider finding a credit card with a card offering a zero interest transfer period, continuing to make the same payments you did when you carried a balance, and pay off the debt as quickly as possible.

Then set up a Christmas savings account for next year, so you'll have both the cash to make next year's purchases, and a ready-made budget level to keep next year's holiday in financial control.