In the busiest shopping season of the year, it's easy to let your spending get out of control! The best way to control spending is with a... yep, you guessed it: BUDGET! The word "budget" doesn't have to be a dirty word. It simply means that you know where every dollar is going to be spent BEFORE you spend it. {Novel concept, I know!} Here are a few tips to keep you on budget:

• Write out a list of people that you are going to purchase gifts for.
• Set a dollar amount that you are planning to spend for each person.
• Track every dollar that you spend for Christmas.
• Write down each gift item you purchased next to the person you bought it for and tally the amounts.
• When you have reached the designated limit for each person, STOP SHOPPING!

I prefer to tally both the actual amount spent, plus the total retail value. This makes me feel good about bargain shopping! :) I have tracked my Christmas budget on paper for many years, but I also enjoy using an Excel spreadsheet or iPhone apps. My favorite app is called "Christmas" and it's got a pic of Santa holding a tablet of paper. It tracks each person you are shopping for, each item (including price, store, photo, notes, etc.) and your shopping progress for each item. The shopping progress shows whether you've purchased it or not, wrapped it and shipped it. It keeps a running total for each person, as well as the total gifts purchased. You can sort by store to see what items you need to purchase while you are there. It's fabulous and FUN! Whatever method you use, tracking spending is proven to help people spend less!

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