Take advantage of the sales!

The best time to buy Christmas presents, ironically, is a couple of days after Christmas when the sales start. Unfortunately there are very few people who are motivated to leave their very comfortable spot in front of Morecambe and Wise, but if you can get yourself up, use this time well. Of course you'll need a really good hiding spot because the presents will sit in your house for nearly a year before you can tuck them safely under the tree!

Spread your spending across the year

Another good idea to avoid the spending blitz is to buy a gift or two every month. That way you really won't notice the money as much as you will when you attack the shops in the last week of December with a million other shoppers. And it's much less stressful.

Put it away

Draw up a special Christmas budget by deciding how much you'd like to spend on the special people in your life, adding it all up and then dividing by the number of months left. Save that sum each month and you'll have a tidy little Christmas nest egg, enough to buy the gifts that you want, as well as the food, new clothes, special trips to the hairdresser and so on.

And for the rest of us...

If you are at all worried about Christmas debt, or if you are feeling overwhelmed with your responsibilities towards Christmas, speak to someone.

National Debtline has a Christmas Debt Campaign and provides a national telephone helpline for people with debt problems in England, Wales and Scotland, 0808 808 4000.

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