Five reasons to get started on your holiday shopping now

Christmas is probably the last thing on your mind right now. I get it — you just celebrated Thanksgiving and you still have Halloween to plan. However, getting a head start on your Christmas shopping will help you to stick to your budget and avoid that yearly holiday stress. Here are five reasons why you really should start buying now to save later:

1. Compare prices
Shopping in December often means running around trying to do your shopping in a hurry. That means that you won't shop around to find the best, competitive price for items. Start now so you can take your time comparing prices, so you can stay within your budget.

2. Sale items
From now until Christmas, you have about two and a half months to hunt for bargains, especially for things like toys and clothes which are less likely to be marked down during the height of the holiday season. For intance, I just scored some big discounts on Play Mobil at my favourite toy store — deals I always have trouble finding in December.

3. Pay attention to promotions
Keep an eye out on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter — retailers often offer exclusive flash sales, coupons and contests for their Facebook fans and Twitter followers. It's so easy to stay in-the-know — just 'Like' and follow retailers' social media pages.

4. Going online
Last year I did all the shopping for my kids in the space of one hour. It was the most stress-free holiday shopping experience I've ever had because it was all done online. I also signed up to retailers' websites that gave the option of sending their sales to me by email. It helped a lot with comparing prices ahead of time and just browsing for gift ideas months in advance.

5.  Less stress
Getting your shopping out of the way early will give you more time to spend with family and friends come holiday season.