Christmas. What comes to your mind when you hear that word? Is it about the laughter, joy, and giving gifts? Or do you feel more anxious over money you are going to spend?

Let’s face it, as an adult, Christmas can sometimes be stressful, overwhelming, and worrying. This is because we oftentime spend a lot more money than what we actually planned.

Some of the causes of overspending is due to the last minute Christmas shopping and not having a plan ahead of time before the season arrives. It’s not just a happenstance that you get to spend more than what you expected during the Christmas season, and this is due to only one thing—being unprepared.

And to guide you, here are the 5 tips to start saving for Christmas so you can fully enjoy the holiday season:

1. Start planning about gifts ahead of time

Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to start thinking about next year’s Christmas on December 26 this year. But the earlier you start planning, the more you can save money because you won’t be desperate to get any random gift just because you’re running out time. You don’t have to necessarily plan to start looking for gifts super early, but anytime an idea suddenly pops into your head, you can write it down right away or save a note on your phone so you can refer to it later as you go shopping.

2. Look for sales throughout the year

This is also the reason why writing down or saving a note as a reference is important because if you do plan well in advance for Christmas, you could most probably score great deals from shopping. The price on items might also get high so try to purchase it when it’s still pretty low. Online shopping app like Shopee and Lazada actually have their monthly sale, so take advantage of it.

3. Cut off your unnecessary expenses

An easy way to save up money for Christmas is to start cutting back on your unnecessary expenses starting today. Then, save that extra money and send it toward your Christmas savings fund.  No matter what expenses you decide to cut back on, just make sure that you’re saving that extra money for the holidays. Your future self will be thanking you for having Christmas savings in place.

4.Calculate on how much money you need to save

It’s important to celebrate the Christmas season with a financial plan in place. It’s easy to overspend when you don’t know how much you should be spending on each gift. Hence, calculating your expenses for the holiday is important. Before you even start shopping for Christmas, you need to create a Christmas budget. To do this, you can make a list of every person that you need to buy a gift for. Then, set a budget for how much you want to spend on each person. Add up how much you’ll be spending in all. Then, consider how much money you need to set aside for decorations, food etc.

5. Do not procrastinate

Most of us have this mentality that Christmas is still far from now and we still have more time to prepare for the holiday like buying Christmas presents.  As mentioned above, when we shop last minute, we tend not to pay as much attention to how much money we’re spending because of the pressure we’re under with the Christmas deadline approaching. And it’s never a good idea most especially if you want to save up and avoid having a stressful holiday.

I think that if we are smart enough about how to budget for Christmas—when and how to shop for it, and are a little clever about the choices we make, we can have a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday with friends and family that doesn’t put us in debt as what a holiday should be. December doesn’t have to be a burden with a lot of unexpected expenses. As long as you plan in advance and change the way you save for Christmas, all stress might fade away.