It's simple, don't give your money to the rich who already have enough, give it to the poor and hungry who have nothing and by doing so you will then have the true meaning of Christmas and not the sad meaning of Xmas.

When you do a budget, you ususally have an amount that is left over to work with after the bills are paid. Being unemployed, there IS no money left. You have no amount to work with.

Why worry? NO "holiday expense" is mandatory. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Easy. You don't have to buy a gift for everyone you know. You don't have to buy a gift for every member of your family. You don't have to buy gifts, period. You don't have to buy Christmas sweaters. You don't even have to buy a tree. If you're worried about how to pay for your "Christmas expenses," you may need to sit back and rethink things.

Holidays are just a bunch of $hit to me, another day and so on. I don't do them and I don't spend anything more then I do ordinarily.

That's because deep down we know that we're getting ripped off and played. Christmas or at least, what it's become, is nothing but an expensive hassle shoved down your throat by mass media and large corporations trying to make a buck. And of course, when it's all over, they still won't be happy because there's not enough money. I'm predicting that this is the year that everyone is going to have to spend time with their families instead of placating them with useless crap they wouldn't buy themselves let alone use. and everyone's going to hate it still.

Go patronize the small stores in your neighborhood, take people out to dinner or even lunch at a local, non-chain restaurant. These are the real people who can use your money. Don't give it to the large companies.

Once upon a time when consumers had more brains, they had vacation and holiday special accounts that they set up. Many people also had college education funds. I remember when I was just newly married, at the age of 19, setting up vacation and Xmas funds at my bank. It did take discipline. My husband worked for the township mowing and plowing which paid very little. So to have anything for Xmas we had to save all year long.

The America today is very different. We use credit knowing we can't afford items, and we just keep taking our more cards if somebody will approve that credit. We WANT, WE WANT, WE WANT and look where we are today.

"We worry about, but don't budget for, holiday shopping" - geez how dumb is this - no jobs - no budget. What an idiot!

Hey Congress and the Senate how's your holiday shopping budget doing?

We will not be buying gifts except for children. That is dropped our spending by hundreds of dollars.

Whatever happened to banks opening "Christmas Clubs" every year? It was a short-term savings account that began in January and was cashed out around Thanksgiving. Every week, you'd put away a specified sum of money and when it came time for Christmas shopping, you had your wad of cash!

I am college educated, 3 degrees and am one paycheck away from joining the homeless people I pass on my commute everyday. After being laid off 4 times in 2 years, wartching my chosen field of practice evaporate (real estate) and now working diligently to pay off all the debt I racked up trying to survive, I am thankful I have job at all. The holidays have no meaning for me other than mass consumerism. Owning stuff does not bring happiness. Love from friends and family cannot be bought and for me, is not dependent on how much I spend.

To make sure I really keep a detailed account of my holiday spending I scan and file my receipts and then create bi-weekly and monthly budget reports. This way I not only have to encounter eat transaction I've made, but also how much I've spent and where at. I took my friend's advice after creating budget reports through excel, and got a NeatDesk. The software that comes with the scanner takes care of creating these reports for me and saves me time.

That sounds like most Americans plans for retirement......

Here's how we stay sane: Instead of deciding IN ADVANCE what I will be shopping for and then trying to figure out how I'll pay for it, I decide IN ADVANCE how much I have to spend (as low as $5-$10) and then find something at that price level. Works every time, and you'd be amazed at how many small but thoughtful gifts you can find for every single person on your list. In addition, because it seems like there are more of us every year, we've started an annual Secret Santa gift exchange: everyone who puts in their name must list at least three suggested items in the agreed price range, and we all stick to it. There's no reason to get sucked into the holiday madness - we take turns hosting the family group, we have great fun, no one goes broke, everyone gets something they like, and the children enjoy it just as much as the adults!

If this article is true - it's no wonder people got totally jammed with credit cards.

I make a list of everything to buy with cost next to it and do not deviate. Self discipline is the answer, no matter how hard it is.

Anyone wishing to should look up toys for tots or other local groups. If you have plenty yourselves, now is a great time to help out with Christmas for some other unfortunate families and kids.

Thisis just more proof on why Americans are broke. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE MONEY. But they can handle a PS3 controller.

There's nothing more delightful than watching the dumb masses self-implode during these wonderful economic times.

Budgeting for holiday dinners is almost impossible unless your menu remains the same every year, the people at the table never gets to be more or less and if you trust the food industry not to ride you like a 4th of July pig.

Please excuse ol Mr. Scrooge but I do not ever remember reading anything in the Bible about celebrating Christmas or shopping at Macy's to buy gifts. Christmas is based on a Roman Pagan holiday and has nothing to do with Christianity. The holy day was the Sabath and remember to keep it holy not to max out your credit cards. You feel kind and considerate after a few brews then go buy a Big Mac for the homeless person on the corner. Other than that keep your money in your wallet and pay your bills. You will feel much better. Jesus will love you for it!

Well the gov. is giving us a nice example to go by: no budget and hopeless amounts of debt.

regarding the high cost of thanksgiving dinner: The inflation is caused solely by commodities trading. Commodities trading is the realm of the wealthy. Commodities trading is scalping of the food of the poor by the rich.

How does it make sense to allow speculative "trading" on food AND at the same time give farm subsidies to stabilize the price of food? We have a schizophrenic policy here. Inflation right now in the USA is caused by the investment class scalping food and energy from the poor. Its that simple.