<prompt> Human: I havent seen anything in the Wiki on holiday planning or Christmas, so I figured I would some time writing up a good one for you guys. This communitys willingness to give is phenomenal and I want to give back. Apologies if the formatting is a bit off, Ill try and edit it after I see how it comes out.---The holiday season is almost here. Thanksgiving is only 13 days away. There is so much anticipation coupled with enticing deals, that most of us will throw down money like eggnog around the holidays. For the sake of not getting wrapped up in debt, lets talk about holiday budgeting and planning. During the holiday season, from a little before Thanksgiving to New Years, retailers will make over 20 of their total sales Christmas statistics Of course, most of these sales are for Christmas, but Christmas sales start as soon as Thanksgiving is over. And dont dismiss the money spent on Thanksgiving food, holiday parties, holiday cards, and other festive expenses as unimportant.To illustrate how important planning for the holiday season is, lets start with how much we wasteOur holiday trash is atrocious. During the holiday season, at least 28 billion pounds of edible food are wasted each year - equating to over 100 pounds per person. Americans throw away 25 more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Years holiday period than any other time of year. SourceIm not going to do the math on the cost of 100 pounds of food per person. But, seriously consider using some of these and eating leftovers. Some Stats on Last Years Holiday SpendingFrom last years Gallup pollGallups November update of Americans 2015 holiday spending intentions finds U.S. adults planning to spend 830 on Christmas gifts this year, on average. That is up sharply from the 720 recorded a year ago, and is significantly higher than what consumers have indicated in any November since 2007.Gallup.comYoull find similar numbers from American Research Group Shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of 882 for gifts this holiday season, up from 861 last year according to the 31st annual survey on holiday spending from the American Research Group, Inc. Planned gift spending for 2015 is 23 above spending in 2007 and 25 below spending in 2006.How much money should you be spending during the holidays?If you are struggling financially, dont go overboard on buying Christmas gifts.There are a lot of different answers to this question. Ive seen several recommendations. This is the first recommendation, specifically for gifts: a responsible approach would be to calculate how much you earn in a week, after taxes, and use that as your benchmark for total holiday spending. For most people, this will be about 500. Then, distribute that amount any which way youd like to members of your family, no matter how big or small. source Now, if youre going to be really smart about this, give gifts that can actually be used by more than one person and arent perishable food, one-time experiences, etc.The second holiday budget recommendation I is to take 1.5 percent of your annual income. This number is pretty similar to the above.Please know that everyones circumstances are different and this is just a blanket estimate. If youve got a weird situation, respond to this thread and Im sure we can provide more specific advice.Dont forget about travel expenses!Holiday DebtHere are some stats from The Harris Poll 65 say they typically use credit cards for at least some of their holiday season spending, and many will take three months or longer to pay off their holiday debt More specifically, a third 33 say they either exclusively make holiday season purchases using credit cards 15 or that they make more purchases on credit than they do using cash or debit cards 17. Thirteen percent 13 use each in equal measure, while roughly half 49 say they use cashdebit either predominately 20 or exclusively 29.If you can make most of your purchases with a credit card and pay it off immediately, this can be an extremely beneficial tool. While the majority of people do pay off their credit card debt, 15 say they pay it off within three months, 8 within six months, and another 8 say it takes them longer than six months to pay off the debt.Being smart about using credit cardsCredit cards are dangerous because it becomes very easy to overextend yourself and incur more debt than you can afford to repay. The interest charges are something you want to avoid at all costs. Its nice to use a credit card during the holidays for obvious reasons you dont need cash in hand. It also allows you to purchase items that may only be on sale within a small time window. Bank interest is rarely anything to write home about, but using a credit card can allow your cash to stay in the bank for an extra 30 days.Getting money back with credit card rewardsThis is personal finance, so I expect everyone here already knows they can get cash back and rewards points by using credit cards. Holiday purchases are usually some of the biggest all year. So, buy the big ticket items with a card and pay it off asap. You can do your own research on the best cash back cards.Stacking upTry to stack up as many savings as you can. For instance, there is the potential for a customer to use store rewards, cash-back, and mail-in-rebates.Its also possible to do this with cash back websites. Here is my edited version of this article In the simplest terms, stacking cash back rewards is the practice of clicking through an online rebate portal or cash back site to shop and then pay for the purchase with a credit card that earns rewards. There are a multitude of cash back or rebate websites, including Ebates, Mr. Rebates and BeFrugal. There are no limits to how many sites a shopper can use. Look around and find which site provides the highest cash back on a particular purchase. Pay for the purchase with a credit card that that will earn additional cash back. Savvy shoppers double check credit card cash back offers before making a payment. This is especially important during holiday shopping when credit cards may run specials with certain stores, or the cards have rotating cash back categories.Start planningTravel: The average American is expected to travel 275 miles in order to spend the holiday. I hope you booked your flights in advance. Should have started this post months ago if I thought you guys didnt know this.Food: I dont spend money on Thanksgiving food since I always visit. But, if you host a thanksgiving lunchdinner, either budget it now or make sure to record your expenses for next years planning. According to the NRF survey, Americans will spend an average of 104.74 on holiday-related food, which could include everything from going out to restaurants with the family to buying a bottle of wine for a party. This is nowhere near as much money as we spend on gifts.Gifts: Get a reasonable idea of how much you can spend on Christmas Christmas presents. You dont have to use the above guideline, but figure out a number you can spend that doesnt throw you into a bad financial situation. If you want to spend less than that number fine. But, set a number and stick to it. Figure out how much money you can spend this holiday season now, and dont go over it. 2 weeks early is not too early. One of my families favorite traditions is getting together after a great Thanksgiving lunch and discussing what types of donations we want to give which extended family members. By this point, I already know how much we have to spend on each person.If you dont set out some figures our guidelines now, you wont have time to plan effectively for any black Friday spending. And once youve rashly spent some money on black Friday, its all downhill from there and hard to track. Last year I finally tracked every bit of my holiday spending, and the numbers really add up. 20 here and there while you walk down mainstreet window shopping turns into a LOT. If youre shopping in person, the most effective way to budget yourself is by using cash instead of credit. If this is feasible for you, make an envelope for each person youre buying for, fill it with the set amount, and stop spending when youre out. Of course, the downsides to this are no credit card rewards cash back. Pick your poison.MINTSet up Mint to keep track of your holiday spending. Here is their holiday budgeting guide I didnt talk much about food budgeting, but this is the perfect way to trackbudget food.Plan out who is getting gifts what they are gettingMake a list of everyone you need to buy for. Everyone. Planning out what people are getting is a lot harder. The easiest way to go about this is picking price ceilings for each person and then searching for a gift within that price range. I always play the game of shifting money around. For instance, if two relatives have 25 limits, I might be able to spend just 20 on each and shift the saved 10 to someone else for a slightly more expensive gift. If you can make a complete gift list, it will be so much easier to plan, visualize, and know the financial impact. Dont forget about people like the gymnastics coach, the bi-weekly math tutor, etc. that you may feel obligated to buy for, but initially forget about.Its also worth noting that the price of a gift matters a lot less than the meaningfulness of a gift. Personally, I only know of one family member that would be upset if they noticed their gift seemed less expensive even though it was extremely thoughtful and genuine. If you cant figure out what to get someone: Dont feel bad about giving them a gift card. Youll be able to stay exactly within your range for spending on that person and 50 of people actually want gift cards for the holidaysConsider being transparent about financial expectationsThis is mostly for families. If you are making a change this year and spending less on Christmas presents, consider being transparent about it. Let the children know they will be getting economically feasible gifts. Its your choice if you want to allude to a price or price range. But, if this year is going to be different than past years, tell your children and any other family members ASAP. Children with high gift expectations and a Christmas morning with a lower price tag do not mix well. If your children are accustomed to buying presents for family members, consider giving them a limit as well.There are more ideas on saving money on gifts later.Shop early and shop onlineShop early At first this might be controversial and play into commercialism, but get your holiday shopping done as soon as possible. Yes, sales happen throughout the holiday season, but the closer Christmas comes the higher pressure will be. Youll make more rash decisions when things are last minute. Time is money, and if you are disciplined, you can save a great deal of time shopping online. Youll also save gas money.American research group backs this up illustrating that people who wait to start shopping spend on average several hundred more than those who plan their shopping early. Heck, there are plenty of sales going on RIGHT NOW, but nobody is thinking of it yet. Ive heard of financial consultants who finish their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. MEN, you are worse about procrastinating If you are going to shop in-person, have a plan before you walk in. Its easier for me to get distracted in a store than online. Gift shopping holiday shopping is full of emotion. Spending and emotions dont go hand in hand. Price check everything you are looking at with your phone If the store youre in has a price match, you can still buy there. ;Stop buying for yourself. 77 of people buy holiday deals for themselves. Dont forget about all the costsThe holiday season isnt just about giving presents. There is the cost of actually shopping offline gas, and sometimes parking, decorations, food and drink for parties, greeting cards, shipping for online orders, postage for cards and out-of-town gifts, travel expenses, holiday-related apparel and charitable contributions should all be in the budget.Dont buy and mass send Christmas cards. For the love of all that is good, send out eCards. Unless your Christmas cards are on this level of awesomeness they are going straight to the trashcan. Is it really worth sending something thats going into the trash? 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S.Ways to Save Money on Christmas PresentsI know this is rpersonalfinance not rminimalism or something, but there are a lot of optionsways for avoiding so much holiday spending if youre interested. Give all extended family, friends, and co-workers a gift in their honor. This is what I do. You can see some of the top rated charities on this list Most charities will give you a free notecardcardcertificate to present as a gift. I prefer charities that allow me to customize the gift a little bit so that I can try to pick out something meaningful if possible. Watch out for these This also kills two birds with one stone for the people who will donate some money to charity anyways.Have a namecause to back up a financial decision to cut back. For instance, take the stuff the stockings challenge and cut down on environmental waste by only giving stocking stuffers and homemade gifts. Or do a spinoff of this. Or cite buy nothing day as the reason you wont be shopping in the after Thanksgiving craze. If you are religious, there are lots of religious angles you can take to support a modest Christmas. Atheists and agnostics can easily cite holiday waste or world hunger.Homemade gifts. Be careful, expenses for materials plus your time can actually make these gifts more expensive than purchasing items. Why pay 10 for a gift when I can make it with 100 worth of craft supplies? And honestly, even if you can do it cheaply, it all depends on how much your time is worth and the type of project you go for. But, if you enjoy making craftsgifts, this is a fantastic option for saving money.Baked gifts. Its a homemade gift that is generally fast and cheap. Well, unless,... nevermind.Set up alerts for price changes. There are lots of ways to find out when an item goes on sale, or the price changes. This saves you lots of F5 time. IFTTT has a number of applets. For instance, here is one for BestBuy. IFTTT can also send you alerts for Craigslist items being posted, SMSpush notifications to your phone, Amazon deals, and much more... There are hundreds of applets and you can make your own. Dont forget, any sitedeal site that has an RSS feed can be used with IFTTT. Create an applet from RSS that sends an alert to your email or phone when a keyword is mentioned. Be careful though, you might get a lot of alerts and a normal RSS feed isnt going to guarantee that the keyword mention is a price drop.Buy practicaluseful gifts. Gifts that can serve two purposes are perfect as long as it isnt going to upset someone... or if youre okay with that. Maybe dont buy the wife a vacuum cleaner and call it quits, but there are plenty of fun and useful items. For instance, those hand held water carbonators, roll-up keyboard, elastic shoe laces, some type of tea contraption, socks, etc. I 3 socks. Selective gift buying. For mature age families or large families, secret Santa is the way to go. Set a spending limit, draw a name out of the hat, and you get to focus all your time and attention onto one person. ---I havent hit on everything and I havent had the time to do a proof read. Im counting on everyones comments to fill in the holes, correct me where Im wrong, and so on.Share you holiday success stories and failures so that we can all learn!  <response>: This is awesome OP!!! I usually start my Christmas shopping after Christmas the year prior semi-annual sales and in June during the mid-summer salesemi-annual sale. Target has a big sale every 4 months or so on toys where all toys they are trying to get rid of have a 70-90 off. I buy then too. I budget the same amount for every kid in the family and the same amount for adults. I have a few credit cards that give me some awesome cash back 500 minimum for the year with barely any spending so I cash that out by the holiday season to make up for the gifts I bought that year. Also - I recommend creating a spreadsheet with your holiday shopping budget ONLY and keeping track with it. For example - I create this budget every year at the beginning of the year or right after Christmas and whenever I buy an item for, say, my nephew I write down the total amount I pay for it in my spreadsheet and it automatically subtracts it from my total budget from nephew. This helps me stay on track budget-wise and I usually dont spend more than I planned to! 