The holidays may seem like a long ways off, but setting your budget now will make sticking to it later easier. The earlier you start saving for known expenses, the more you'll be able to absorb any unexpected costs that crop up. Here are a few tips to remember when creating your holiday budget for this year:

Make a List and Check it Twice
Creating an effective holiday budget means including everything you plan to spend. Budget for decorating, new outfits you plan to buy, food estimates, and travel costs alongside the gifts on your expense list. Be sure to include any money you plan to receive, too. Does grandma give you $50 every year like clockwork? Include that in your calculations. Will you be buying a joint gift and then receiving cash from the others going in on it? Include that, too. The best budgets encompass all of the spending and saving you do throughout the holidays, not just how much you spend on gifts. If you're not sure where to start, look up what you spent last year as a good jumping-off point.

Cash or Credit?
Determine in advance what you'll purchase with credit and what you'll buy with cash. Using cash for everything during the holidays isn't feasible sometimes, but it's also not a good idea to put every purchase on the credit card. One example of a plan would be to use cash for all food and decoration purchases, and then use credit for gifts. The most important piece of this strategy is to give your budget a credit spending limit. It can be tempting to run up a big bill on the credit card, but limit yourself to what you can pay off by Valentine's Day to avoid falling into a cycle of debt.

Keep Track
The most important key to remember with your budget is to not forget about it after you create it. Keep track of all the purchases you make, especially ones made with cash, and adjust your budget if need be. It is a good idea to hold a weekly "reckoning" meeting, especially if you're not the only one making the purchases for the year. Sit down and check your real spending against your planned spending (the budget). If you've gone over in one area, these meetings give you the chance to adjust by lowering the amount set aside for another area to make up the difference. That way you'll keep your overall spending on track.

Setting and sticking with a holiday budget will help you enter the New Year without any added financial stress, making the holidays that much more enjoyable!