Christmas morning will be a flurry of fancy wrapping, bows and ribbons flying, a symphony of “oooh”s and “aaahh”s, a festival of feel-good gift exchanging, a surfeit of festivities.

Then comes the sobering chill of January. No, I don’t mean the weather. I mean the bills. Suddenly the true cost of all this merry-making will start to arrive in the form of credit card bills and disappointingly low balances on checking account statements. Is it already too late?

It’s never too late to turn over a new leaf when it comes to your attitude towards finances, although at this time of year it may be more out of necessity than good planning.

If you haven’t made that budget with us yet, now is the time to do it. Finding the funds to pay off this extra debt may seem impossible, but if you are serious about repaying your holiday debt, you can do it.

Start with a few New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Make a budget and stick to it

2. Place a moratorium on your credit card spending, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it

3. Be consistent about making payments towards credit card debt. If you are in over your head, contact creditors to make payment arrangements that could save your credit standing. Generally, it is best to pay off the highest interest debt first.

4. Start saving on luxury expenses you can do without. It may mean small sacrifices such as going without those morning coffee shop stops or making your lunch instead of eating out. Modify your cable TV choices - give up those premium channels and look into renting movies (or borrow them - even cheaper).

Capital Acquisitons and Management Corp (CAMCO) and affiliated companies will pay $1 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their debt collection practices violated Federal law.

The FTC charged CAMCO with threatening and harassing consumers over old and unenforceable debts as well as debts they never even incurred. According to the FTC, these deceptive and abusive collection practices violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Do you know what your rights are under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? What can debt collectors do and what are they not allowed to do when they contact you regarding debts?

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act provides rules and regulations that govern how you may be contacted, when and how often. Debt collectors may not use false or misleading statements to get you to pay a debt and they may not contact you at work if you request that they do not.

For more information on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, visit the FTC website’s Facts for Consumers.

We may hate that word discipline when it’s applied to ourselves, but it is the single most important factor in deciding whether we are rich or poor. Without self discipline, we will spend lavishly on the whims of the moment and end up with a mountain of trash and no money.

So how to become disciplined where money is concerned? Gary Simpson of Personal Finance Budgeting suggests taking out a large denomination bill from your bank account, say $100, putting it in your wallet and then never spending it! To know that it’s there gives one a good feeling - and having the determination never to use it for purchases builds self discipline.

It’s a good system and I can see that it would work. That is, if you actually have $100 in your account, of course…

Everyone starts somewhere, I guess. Have a read of the article - it’s full of good sense.

The IRS is making it easier for some who owe delinquent taxes to make payment arrangements by making the application available online.

The OPA (Online Payment Agreement) is now available at the IRS website and allows taxpayers to file a request for a payment arrangement and receive immediate notification of approval.

Taxpayers who wish to use this tool must have already filed all required tax returns and have the following information available:

* Balance due notice from the IRS.

* Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.

* Personal identification number, which can be established online using the caller identification number from the balance due notice.

Three payment options are available when applying online:

* Pay in full — Taxpayers who pay within 10 days save interest and penalties.

* Short-term extension — Receive a short-term extension of up to 120 days. No fee is charged, but additional penalties and interest will accrue.

* Monthly payment plan — A $43 user fee will be added to the amount owed, and interest and penalty will continue to accrue on the unpaid balance.

The application is available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., Saturday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 4 p.m. to midnight (all are Eastern Time).

Online Payment Agreement Application