Buying gifts for loved ones can often be a bit of a drain on the finances. When there are many more people to buy for, like at Christmas for example, this gift-money balance is made even harder. Add to this the fact that many people are short of cash due to the recession, and you can soon have a bit of a nightmare trying to get Christmas presents for everyone without breaking the bank. Don’t fear though, here are 3 great tips for making your xmas a frugal one.

Make it yourself. There is a certain amount of stigma attached to making gifts these days, many of which stem from a lack of gift-making self belief. However, with a little practice and some patience to go with it, you can quickly become a gift making master. Start off by trying to make something simple like fudge or cookies. Once you have mastered these you can find really good guides online for making everything from jewellery to gift boxes

Compare prices. Finding that best price for a certain item has never been so easy. It used to be a case of wondering the high streets struggling to find exactly the same items in different shops so that you could find the best price available, but now you can save hours by doing it online. There are lots of price comparison sites around where you search for individual products and find the sites that offer the best prices on gifts for him and gifts for her.

Sales. It is not imperative these days to buy and give your presents before the 25th. It is becoming ever more popular to people (especially couples) to give each other token gifts at Christmas and then buy something more substantial in the January Sales. It can make real sense as often retailers reduce their prices by up to 75% in January. However, some retails are now offering sale prices on gifts for her and gifts for him even in December.