How you plan to save this holiday season?

For many of us, our sales numbers are down, so our pocketbooks are a little lighter this holiday season. How do you plan to save money when gift shopping this year?

By relying on the excuse that I just got married

I will be sure to do a lot of research and comparison shopping before purchasing anything.  I have generally found great deals online if I know exactly what I am looking for.  If I have to make a purchase in a store I will watch for sales (this generally requires to start shopping early) or see if I can get my hands on any coupons to help save a little money.

You could always try the approach of just not buying anything...but what fun is that I guess.

I will probably end up shopping around to find the best price, but in the same token I am also not asking for anything extravagant if anything at all. I have always been a fan of thoughtful gifts over expensive gifts - not that the two cannot go hand in hand, but it is amazing what a little thought can do as opposed to just shelling out a lot of $$.

Julia,

No gifts? That's no fun, but you do bring up a good point.  The important part about giving gifts is the thought, not how much it costs.  Many times it seems that the most thoughtful gifts are the least expensive, so it may be beneficial to put a little more thought into your gifts this year and you may find you save a little money :)

Kelly

I started on Ebay a couple of months ago. There are some great deals there right now - things just aren't flying off the page like they did a few years ago. I'm glad I'm not a merchant relying on Ebay for my distribution channel - if I was, I'd be looking to diversify!