It is only days past Halloween, and merchants everywhere are displaying a glut of Christmas decorations, wrapping papers, ribbons, candies, and assorted holiday-themed household goods.

If you are trying to stay within a budget this year or just want to cut back on costs without cutting back on giving, here are some tips that I have  followed for many years.

• Resist the temptation to start buying gifts and gift-giving supplies until you have MADE YOUR LIST,checked it twice, and done the following:
• Pull out all your stashed gifts and wrapping supplies and TAKE INVENTORY. Write it down.
• Use up everything you have on hand. Yes, START WRAPPING AND TAGGING now. It is easy to do this a little at a time and fun, too.
• GO OVER YOUR LIST AGAIN.

 I really enjoy using gift bags and tissue paper; they are convenient and very inexpensive if you either buy in bulk, recycle bags given to you with gifts, or pick up several at the Dollar Tree and similar discount stores.

However, I have found that the best way to save a lot on wrapping is to use one color paper and one color ribbon for every present. I had a cousin who only used white paper with red ribbon for Christmas, other colors of ribbon for other occaisons. This way, you can buy your paper and ribbon in bulk, either online or from local retailers. Wholesale florist shops that will also sell retail are excellent sources for ribbon.

Fresh Christmas greens, gathered pinecones, homemade tags, and other embellishments personalize your gifts. 

I save the paper from presents to our family and use it to wrap stocking gifts and small items. No bit of ribbon goes to waste and I often cut up cards sent to us for tags. If I have too many odd and assorted bits, I put them in plastic bags and throw them in the box set aside for Goodwill donations.

Every year I find something that I hope the ladies in my family will enjoy, and I usually give each recipient the same item. One year I ordered Chinese silk purses in bulk from ebay. There were about 20 total, so I also gave them as birthday and other gifts during the year. The average cost was less than $5.00 each, including shipping.

Our libraries, public and private, host annual book sales. On the last weekend at one of these sales, patrons can choose a whole paper grocery bag of books for just $5. I have found many new and gently used presents and can afford to give a big stack of books this way.

Yard sales are a really fun source of presents all year long. It's just very difficult to resist buying way too much stuff, so you have to be fairly disciplined, not just in the buying, but also in hiding the gifts away until needed!

I LOVE the Dollar Tree stores for all kinds of gifts. If you shop there regularly and carefully, you can find items that are well made and most attractive, especially if you remove tags and re-package beautifully. I often make up housewarming gift bags of garden items I have purchased at Dollar Tree and these also make nice Christmas gifts for neighbors. Dollar Tree sells everything from gloves to kneeling pads to small tools. Once or twice a year, usually in the spring, they sell packets of assorted garden seeds for ten cents each and I always tuck some of these in the bag.

Finally, I look for gifts all during the year and pack them away with the Christmas decorations. The drawback is that sometimes I forget that I have bought something for a relative or friend and need to regroup. I do tend to have at least 10 gifts on hand at any time, but this comes in handy on many occasions. One of our local churches sponsors an annual Christmas drive for shoeboxes filled with items for boys or girls and I enjoy packing some of my purchases into the boxes.