Prince George, B.C. – With the glitter and glow of Christmas whipping consumers into a spending frenzy, January often affords the time for a sober second look at personal finances.

While final results for 2011 are not yet available from Statistics Canada, Canadian consumer debt had soared to a record high by the end of the third quarter – with mortgage debt in this country hitting $1-trillion dollars, and consumer credit card debt topping $448-billion dollars.

A slogan on the website, nomoredebts.org, reads ‘Buy Now, Pain Later’, and Scott Hannah, the President of the Credit Counselling Society of BC which runs the website, agrees a lot of British Columbians are probably feeling that pain now.

The non-profit society offers free credit counselling across the province. In Northern BC, residents can call a toll-free number (1-888-527-8999) to have their situation assessed and work with a counsellor to whip their financial picture back in shape. Hannah says a little more than 5,000 consumers from across the North called for assistance last year. (He says a Prince George office is "on the radar" for the society.) Province-wide, calls for help rose 25-percent last year, over 2010. "To put that in context," says the Society CEO, "That was on top of an increase of over 33-percent the previous year. So in three years time, the number of people in need of our assistance has doubled."

With retailers and marketers are selling immediate gratification, Hannah says consumers have definitely bought into it.

"Delayed gratification is out of style, unfortunately," he says. "The world is so fast-paced, we just don’t take the time to reflect on our decisions beforehand." The bigger the purchase, he cautions, the greater the need to pause and reflect.

For those looking at their January credit card bills and asking ‘How do I pay it back?’ and ‘How do I make changes so this doesn’t happen again?’, Hannah suggests tackling your debt-load the way you would a weight-loss program – it has to be realistic. "If it’s taken you three, four, or five years to get into debt, you need to first identify the cause and contributing factors, and, then, you need to have a plan that’s reasonable."

Hannah says your personal financial plan should:

• allow you to live within your means
• meet your needs
• have some wiggle room for discretionary expenses
• allow you to set aside some funds for seasonal expenses (so you now rely on cash versus credit during the holidays)
• where you’ve cut back in your budget, use those funds to achieve your financial goals – pay down debt, save for your children(s)’ tuition, save for retirement

Ultimately, Hannah says making a real change in your financial ‘health’ is about changing your habits. He says, too often at this time of year, people set unrealistic goals – planning to pour every extra cent into paying off their debt in short-order. "If you do that, every time you have an unexpected emergency, you have to turn back to your credit card again."

Hannah says people need to start saving for those rainy days, while paying down their debt. He admits it’s a longer-term approach, but says you’re getting your financial health in order.  "It’s amazing what happens when a person has a ‘game plan’ that’s realistic and they track," he says.  "It becomes really, really hard to get them off their game."

The Credit Counselling Society of BC had 750 debt-free graduates last year and is working with another 4500 right now. "We helped our clients pay back almost $25-million dollars worth of debt last year – that’s a whole lot of weight off their shoulders."