Ways to Save Money While Holiday Shopping

A few articles have already been published on how to save money with Christmas gift giving, but there are so many ideas on how to do this that several articles can probably be published before the topic is exhausted. By making a few simple changes to your spending habits, you can save money whether you're buying gifts for Christmas or any other holiday.

Start saving early - regular monthly saving is an excellent habit. If you are able to create savings, start a holiday fund a few months before Christmas. It would also be beneficial to sit down and figure out how much you're going to spend, then stick to the plan. If you're not able to save money, use a budget anyway. Some people are unaware of how much they actually spend, and spend more than they think.

If you have some fair-weather friends that you keep in touch with but don't see often, suggest meeting for lunch. If you were to spend $15 on your own lunch, that will be cheaper than $15 spent on each friend. You'll also still be sharing quality time, which is perhaps more important to the holiday spirit than gift giving.

Some stores, especially catalogs, offer "buy now, pay later" specials around the holidays. These won't necessarily save you money in the long run, but they can help offset cost. Rather than waiting until the end of the promotional period and paying off your balance at once, pay little by little until the promotional period ends. This could change a large burden on one month's income into a small burden spread over a few months.

Shop around. The internet can be a powerful tool, and makes it easy to research prices and product reviews. If one store offers the item you want for even $5 cheaper than another store, that's something. If you're able to do that for a handful of items the savings will add up quickly.

If you belong to a club, or if you and your coworkers usually exchange small gifts, suggest doing a secret Santa drawing. Then each person is buying one gift instead of many, and it can still be fun for all involved. You could also do a white elephant gift exchange, and have each person draw a name to buy a gift for.