It is that time of year again, time to start thinking about Christmas Although Halloween has not even been and gone, yet Christmas seems to begin earlier every year. However, planning your Christmas shopping is not such a bad idea. Having more cash left in December is the main reason people start shopping early as it enables them to spread the cost of Christmas out over a few months instead of spending all their salary in one shopping trip! In today's current financial climate this is probably even more appropriate as many have lost their jobs or have had to take shorter hours/reduced working weeks.

However, enough with the misery and despair. Christmas is the time of year to look ahead and to enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Below are some useful Christmas gift ideas to think about when doing your Christmas shopping:

1. Sales Now On

Many sales and discount offers are happening right now in the stores. Purchase any three items and the cheapest is free or upto 40% off some discounted products. This is great for toys. If you know what your child wants for Christmas this can be a great time to get yourself some great deals. However, sometimes you will have to make a bit of a judgment call. I have 3 young kids and between now and Christmas they will change what the want from Santa countless times. Having just bought the toys on special offer only for your child to say they don't want the toy is a heart stopping moment. However, there is no need to worry too much. They usually don't remember and are very happy get the gift at Christmas!

2. Is Second Hand OK?

I never used to be too keen on second hand items, but this was before the kids came along and I found out how they can spend my money faster than I can earn it. Nowadays you can really pick up a bargain online mainly due to the birth of online auction web sites. To be honest kids really do not tend to play with toys for any length of time which means they soon get discarded and then next new toy becomes available. Therefore this makes online auction sites a great place to pick up some good deals just remember to look around, check out the seller as much as possible, look at their feedback and selling history.

Another tip is if you buy video games, for consoles such as the Xbox, playstation, PSP and Wii etc they buying second hand games is a great way to save some money. Again children and even adults finish playing the games so quickly that trading them in for new or used games can be a great way to pick-up some bargains. My husband regularly takes our old games back to Game and trades them in. This means we can buy a couple of slightly used games for the kids which keeps them happy. Fortunately we have not had any problems with the slightly used games we have purchased and basically I highly recommend this way of picking up a bargain.

3. Use Your Imagination

Most family members don't expect a lot of money to be spent on Christmas gifts especially when you have children. A good bottle of wine, gift voucher and books are all excellent gifts for parents and family members. They get more pleasure out of seeing the children open their gifts. This is the real spirit of Christmas. So really you don't need to spend a lot of money on gifts. When buying your gifts think about what the person really wants. If you are creative that is fantastic and you can make something very special and save money at the same time.