We usually don’t give this much thought until it’s Holiday time already. With Holiday gifts, décor, dinners and last-minute Holiday outfit shopping, most of us are left high and dry. But, with a little planning, you can not only get great gifts that your family and friends will love, but also have a great time enjoying Holidays to the fullest because there’ll be no cash crunch or credit card bill haunting you. If you calculate from now on, you have approximately 20 weeks until Thanksgiving. It would make sense to start saving and planning for Holidays now on.

Here’s some help to get you started.

1.       It’s always a good idea to start with a list. Write all the names of your loved ones that you need to buy gifts or greetings for.

2.       Once you have your list in place, segregate names under greetings and gifts. For gifts also, regroup the names according to the gift budget – say under $10, $10-30, over $50 etc.

3.      Write down other expenses – travel, clothes, food, charity etc. and write the budget besides each head. Keep buffer for last-minute expenses.

4.      Now you know how much money you need, divide it with the number of weeks you have until Thanksgiving or Christmas. You will know how much money you to save every week to reach your goal. Say your total budget requirement is 1000 dollars and you have 20 weeks before the holidays, you need to save $50 every week.

5.     Start keeping money aside.

Here are a few ways to increase cashflow to help your Holiday savings.

1.     Cut back on take-out. Cutting back on even one meal per day or 4-5 meals in a week, you can save considerably. Cook food at home, it would not only helps save money but is good for health also.

2.      Pick up some part time jobs like walking dogs, doing some errands on the weekends, helping someone maintain their garden, babysit kids or anything that helps you reach your savings budget.

Some more tips to help you get discounts on the gifts you like.

1.     Don’t wait for Christmas, literally. Christmas sales can be maddening, plus you cannot be sure you’re getting the best deal. Keep buying gifts throughout the year whenever you feel you’re getting a great deal.

2.      Download GeoQpons to be on top of your savings game. Get the latest discount coupons from over 300 stores across America.