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Before you groan and think that it’s much too early to be thinking about Christmas (afterall, not even the stores have their summer Christmas decor out yet) remember this: you can never start planning too early for the MONEY you’ll need.

That’s right. You don’t need to be thinking about what to get Uncle Fred. You don’t need canned Christmas songs in your ears. But you do need to be thinking about money, so that when Christmastime does roll around you’re not whipping out the credit card.

Think back to last year and how much you spent. What was the amount? Was it more or less than you wanted to spend? Adjust the amount accordingly. If you haven’t already started setting aside a certain amount each month to meet that goal, now is the time to start. Divide the amount you’d like to spend by the number of pay periods you have between now and December 15th. Commit to setting that amount aside each pay period now, or set up an automatic transfer in that amount to a high-interest savings account now.

You’ll thank yourself later, when shopping actually seems more fun because you’re not stressed out about money or future credit card bills.

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