by Currie Jean

Created on: November 30, 2010

We all want to lavish our loved ones with beautiful, expensive gifts, useful tools and shiny new electronics during the Holiday season. If only we could afford it! Don't let yourself feel guilty about your dwindling spending money and your desire to save. Family and friends understand the need to cut corners, and minimal spending can always be countered with thoughtfulness.

Start thinking about Christmas gifts early in the year - at least six months before Christmas - and jot down ideas when they come to you. If you see some of your planned purchases on sale, pick them up early.

By planning ahead, you'll avoid the December temptation to make up for your lack of perfectly fitting gift ideas by spending extra money. And, if you regularly deposit small amounts of money into a separate Christmas savings account or cash envelope, you'll endure a lot less budgeting stress when the Christmas season comes around.

As you build your Christmas gift list, prioritize in favor of immediate family and best friends. Give inexpensive gifts to distant relatives and those you don't speak to often. Limit your spending per gift by writing down a set maximum amount of money. Don't go over that number!

It is very, very important to avoid credit cards. Spending on credit sometimes doesn't feel like spending at all, and may tempt you to put your spending to the back of your mind. Worse, using a credit card makes every purchase cost extra due to interest, so even if you budget and buy on sale, you may not even be saving money in the end.

The best way to solve this problem is by facing your spending directly: at the start of your big gift shopping day, leave your credit cards at home, withdraw cash from the bank, and make that amount of cash your spending limit. Pay more attention to your list than the store windows when shopping - don't window shop. It's natural to be tempted by a good deal, but if the item isn't something you planned to buy, purchasing it still wastes your money. For this reason, you should also give little or no attention to advertisements in print, on-line and on television. If you already know what you want to buy people, marketers will only complicate things for you.

Making purchases on the Internet can be another way to save money, as long as you're careful. The Internet is a scammy, scummy place sometimes, and you could get ripped off. Only buy from reputable, well-known sellers, and don't trust a seller just because their website shows up at the top of the Google

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