Consider sending as many of your holiday greeting cards electronically as you can this holiday season. Not only do you save on the purchase of the cards and envelopes, but also on all the postage necessary to send them.
One of the first public uses of payment by instalments was pioneered by Christopher Thorton in 1730. He published an advertisement which read "rooms may be furnished with chests of drawers or looking glasses at any price, paying for them weekly, as we shall agree." This is one of the first recorded instances of the sentiment "buy now pay later."