Columnist David Koch

No-one likes to be thought of as a Scrooge, but this Christmas is going to be a tough one for many, which means now's the time to start thinking about how you can rein in your spending at Christmas - while still having a good time. So here's some tips for cutting costs this Christmas

Tip 1 - have a financial makeover

The worst Christmas hangover is usually the financial one, when you open your credit card statement in January and realise exactly how much all that yuletide fun and frivolity cost. This year, instead of putting everything on the credit card, pay for presents and other Christmas expenses in cash. That way, when your credit card statement arrives in January you won't need to sit down and take a few deep breaths. It's also an idea to set a budget for Christmas and stick to it.

Tip 2 - shop around for presents

How many of us leave all our Christmas shopping until the last minute and end up paying top dollar when we needn't? There are lots of ways to cut the cost of presents, online shopping being one great example. There are heaps of sites that offer serious discounts to recommended retail prices.  A good idea is to find what you want to buy in a normal retail store and then search for the same item on discount shopping sites to see if you can get a better price. Also look for sites that offer free shipping to cut your costs.

It's also an idea to buy some presents in bulk and ask for a discount. This tactic works really well when it comes to presents for school teachers and colleagues. Buy a lot of good quality chocolates or plants, for example, and ask the retailer if they give a discount for volume sales.

Tip 3 - do your own cooking

Food is one of the biggest expense items at Christmas. But you can save if you do a lot of the cooking yourself. Make a Christmas pudding instead of buying one and shop at local markets to avoid paying the prices the big retailers are charging. I'd stop short of recommending you buy a chicken instead of a turkey at Christmas (although this would have been common practice in our parents' generation). But don't go nuts on expensive seasonal items like seafood and stone fruits. Instead, look for items that are on special and leave the stone fruits for January when prices come down.

Tip 4 - get the kids involved

Another great way to cut costs is to get the kids to decorate the house (remember the wonderful paper chains of our youth). You can also get them to stencil brown paper as wrapping paper, one of the most expensive Christmastime costs.

Of course, you can always postpone Christmas until after 25 December and take advantage of the Boxing Day sales - but I'm not sure how well that would go down with your nearest and dearest, even if it seems like a good idea at the time.