Did you wake up last January with a spending hangover? You know what I mean- come January, when all the gifts are opened and the parties are over, the credit card bills begin to arrive. Sadly, it takes the average American who uses credit cards to finance Christmas six to seven months to pay off the holidays. Who wants to be basking in the summer sunshine while still paying for the gifts you gave your kids, family and friends?

Be it right or wrong, women do a majority of the holiday planning and shopping. I hear many of them exclaim to me, "I hate the holidays!" and "I might as well give up trying to pay off these cards- I've got to put on Christmas." "Savings?! Who can save money during the holidays?"

Ironically, our friends and family would never intentionally want us to jeopardize our financial security, or rack up debts on their behalf, but who ever thinks about it like that? However, in the current economy, many people are even more stressed. Some have less money to spend for the holidays and feel overwhelmed at having to buy lots of gifts. But there is hope!

The Conscious Bookkeeping site was due for a makeover, so we went ahead and did it! We hope you enjoy the new look, and the new features of the site, which include:

• a completely new look and feel
• a new Conscious Bookkeeping social network
• easier to use site navigation
• site specific search bar to help you find what you're looking for fast

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the new site. Leave us a comment on this post if you like.

Enjoy the new site and we hope to see you soon!