Everyone knows that the holiday season can take a serious toll on one's finances in a heartbeat. So many people find themselves in debt or near broke come the first of the year. There are a couple of reasons this happens. One is inflation of goods every year and another is over spending. This article will take a look at how you can make holiday shopping easy this year. You will learn how you can save big time on gifts and stay debt free.

Listed below are a few tips that will help you get through the holiday shopping season without getting stressed out.

Save Up - You would think that saving up for your holiday shopping would be automatic; but surprisingly, many consumers do not have a dime saved up when it is time to start their gift shopping. I know that everyone is not on the same financial level, but if possible you should try to put a little something aside every check or at least once a month dedicated entirely to holiday shopping. You will be surprised to see how much you have to spend when the holidays roll around. I personally take just ten dollars a week and put it in an account that is just for holiday spending. I do this all year around, that way I never miss that money from my check, it's like it's never there.

Start Early - I really like this simple idea, start your shopping early. I mean, we all know the holiday season is coming every year and we all pretty much know who we need to shop for. With that being said; you can start shopping for friends and family way before the holiday season even begins. If you buy a sweater here and a toaster there, next thing you know, you may only have one or two things to buy come November and December.

Buy Universal Gifts - This is a great idea if you have to shop for couples. Find something that they both can benefit from. This can sometimes be a lot cheaper then buying individual gifts for each person. Great universal gifts are things like toasters, games or gift certificates.

Look Online - Even though people are still drawn to the mall when it comes to knocking out most of their shopping you can often times find some really good deals online. This really can come in handy if you already know what you are looking for. All you really need to do is put a quick search for whatever you are looking for and compare to find the best price.

Find Wholesalers - This is one of the most overlooked but most effective ways to save big time on holiday shopping. This is true because most do not know about or understand buying goods at wholesale prices. I f you can find a good wholesale company, you probably will be able to do all of your holiday shopping through them and save big time! When I say big time, I mean you can be paying up to 75-80% off retail prices for thousands of products, pretty cool, huh?