Every year we all swear we won’t do it. We won’t rack up huge bills buying presents for our loved ones and then suffer with gigantic bills in January. Especially in times of tightening our belts we all need to be concious of this effort, not only because its the best thing to do for ourselves, everyone is suffering in these times and no one likes to receive a $200 gift when they can only give in return a small token $20 gift. Be reasonable and follow some of the tips I will provide and you can still give like Santa, just without feeling like scrooge in January when you have to tell you family - no eating this month have to pay off the bills!
 
First things first, make a list of all the gifts you need to get and any ideas you have but most importantly how much you have overall to spend on each gift.  Add it all up so you can see how much you need for the season.  If you can’t afford it figure out where you can cut costs.  Do you usually get two seperate gifts for a favorite couple, where you would spend $50 on each?  Cut it down and get them a gift certificate to a favorite or hot new restaurant they keep saying they want to try for $75.  You are spending less in that you aren’ paying tax and possibly shipping on the item and you just got two gifts out of the way for the (less expensive) price of one.
 
Next, start early! Waiting until the last minute you will be desperate and spend more than you budgeted One thing to keep in mind though when shopping early is that you need to make sure that the store’s return policy will allow the gift to be returned after the date you plan to give it to the receipient.  A deal on a sweater bought in September with a 15 day return policy won’t help your cousin when they try it on, it doesn’t fit and they go to the store in January and try to return it.
 
Need funds to pay for those gifts?  Check out the credit cards you have. Some of them have “points” that can be converted to cash or goods that instead of spending onyourself, you can knock out a few gifts you need to get.  My American Express card pays all of my automatic bills (gas, electric, cable, Netflix, Weight Watchers, and gym) every month to the turn of around $500), and with their Membership Rewards program, I earn a point for ever dollar. Every year around this time I call up and convert those points to cash.  Its like my own personal old school Christmas Club account where I don’t need to put the money away every week, I just pay the bills I would be paying anyway!
 
Now, last year for the holidays I was unemployed so my money was tight.  Everyone said you don’t have to get me anything, but still I wanted to do something for everyone that was helping me out with my job search and keeping my spirits up. I went online and found that there are thousands of sites that will pay you to do surveys.  A cool one I answered gave me $150 in cash to take a two hour survey in their warehouse of luxury cars to compare them.  I also found that movie studios will pay you (if you are in their program to go to the movies and gauge the audience’s responses to the trailers for the movies). They pay you for your answers and even refund your movie ticket price.  A very nice treat when you are broke, need money and something to fill the endless hours at home.  One thing to remember when you are searching for these type of sites however is you should never have to pay them for the privelige of filling out their surveys, if they ask for money it is most likely a scam.
 
By utilizing the free money that’s out there, you can still get a few presents for loved ones and not break the bank. 
 
One other tip that I have found as I prefer to do most of my shopping online is to purchase pre-paid Visa cards as oppossed to using my debit card on a questionable site.  I add everything to my shopping cart online, figure out what the total will be and then head to my bank (no fees as oppossed to buying them in your local store) to purchase a card in the denomication I need.  By using that, I have the convenience of both avoiding a trip to the store, and no bill after the holidays as I essentially paid in cash.
 
Whatever you do this holiday season, make sure you don’t go over budget trying to impress the Joneses to the point that you can’t afford to live decently.  Its not worth it.