With times already being tight, the advent of the holiday season can add even more stress to a household on a budget. In addition to the expense of family presents and holiday meals, showing your appreciation for the hairdresser, mailman, assorted teachers and tutors and anyone else who comes to mind can leave very little in your wallet to celebrate. Luckily, there are still some holiday traditions that don't cost a thing. I've gone on a virtual trip across Europe to gather some of the best ones for you.

Last week I posted about ways to use credit cards effectively during the holiday season. If you're not careful, you could make your 2010 very difficult because you'll be owing interest on your holiday credit card bills for months to come (if not all of 2010). This problem will only be compounded if you've got a big tax headache coming to you next year. One thing to always keep in mind is how you spend money today can affect your financial future.

So how can you make sure that your tax burden is a little less burdensome? The surest way to lower your tax income is not all that helpful, but you'll see it mentioned: make less money. Helpful, right? On the flipside, there are probably a lot of people out there who would love to have to pay more taxes--it means you've made more taxable income. That said, there are good ways to lower your burden if you're looking to save some money in 2010.

I spent the week in Las Vegas at a conference and as such I was inspired to write this post. Las Vegas--aka "Sin City"--is world-renowned for its gambling, a past-time whose charms elude me. In my opinion, if I'm going to be dropping a wad of cash I want to see something leather in my closet to show for it. Spending money on slot machines, roulette wheels and the like is the equivalent of taking a match to your bankroll and setting it on fire.

Except when you do that, at least you'd enjoy some warmth...

And so I started thinking of other extreme money wasters for those with money to burn:

In one of my previous posts, Take Me Out To The Bar Game, I wrote about how you can save money by going to a bar instead of watching a live sports game. Turns out people all over the country are taking that advice a step further and just watching the games from home.

Recently the Washington Post reported that NFL TV ratings have been rising due to the recent economic downturn. They're claiming that more people are watching games from home either because they want to get their money's worth out of the HDTV they bought or because watching games from home is free. Both theories make sense.

Here at Savings.com, we stress that credit cards are not your best bet when saving money. A 20% off sitewide code is great, but if you're putting that payment on a credit card with a 15% APR, that will basically negate the savings from a coupon. If you don't pay off that bill immediately, you're going to be paying interest for months into the future.

When it comes to Christmas shopping, the same principle applies...and then some. If you carry a balance on your credit card, it's quite likely that you could be paying off this year's holiday gifts well into the next year - if not the whole year round until the next holiday season comes around! If you bought Christmas gifts on credit in 2008 and your credit card is not yet paid off, it's like you're paying for Christmas throughout the year. The answer? Don't pay with credit. Of course, that's not a feasible strategy for everyone.

Now that the Holiday shopping season is upon us, it's time to...what's that? You thought you had a few more weeks to kill before you had to even start thinking about gift buying, long lines, and bank account breaking? Hahaha, oh no my friends! Wasting away the next few weeks can mean missing out on some of the best bargains available.

Every year it seems the holiday shopping season gets moved up sooner. This year several retailers, both online and off, started their big festive season pushes in August. For the most part, however, many seasonal deals started to appear in full force the day after Halloween. The days of procrastination paying off in last minute bargains are slowly fading away into the past.

So, in honor of slow-cooked turkey, pine needles littering the floor, festivals of light and quick kisses under strategically hung mistletoe, I'm going to give you a brief primer in getting the jump on cool holiday tech deals that won't put you in the poor house come January 1st.

Halloween's over and with it the scary season. Some would say the scary season of the bad economy is coming to a close as well. How true is this? Well, it depends on who you ask because if you're struggling financially, there's no doubt that you're going to be pessimistic about the overall economy as well. But there are some encouraging signs that the economy is coming out of its slumber. This is good news for retailers who are probably a bit worried about the spending habits this coming holiday season.

Let's look at some of the major indicators. Last week it was revealed that the Gross Domestic Product went up 3.5%. Given that a recession is defined as two negative quarters for the GDP, it would appear that the GDP is a great indicator of our new fiscal health. Still, there are those who argue that the GDP isn't that great of an indicator, and may not mean that we're in a recovery mode, just that we're effectively treading water. However, there is some evidence that we're entering a recovery as well.

'Twas the day before Halloween and the big Monster Mash and you need a quick costume for little or no cash...

If you didn't get around to taking advantage of any of our Halloween deals there's no need to worry. With a bit of ingenuity and scavenging, you can still come up with a Halloween costume that's cheap, easy and will allow you to stand out among a sea of sexy pirates, sexy witches and sexy zombies...

We all want to be among the first to own the latest toys and gadgets that hit the market. More often than not, the biggest barrier to scooping up that hot new product is the high cost associated with most new consumer electronics upon initial release. This is where discount websites and online stores specializing in bargain-priced tech become your best friends. Before you can dive in and grab that new iPod, flatscreen TV or computer program, you'll need a plan of attack to best maximize your savings potential.

Here are some things you need to know, what types of deals to look for and which websites are the best when it comes to specialized consumer technology.

It's Halloween week and there aren't many things scarier to your financial future than a bad credit rating. It was bad enough a few years ago, but now a bad credit rating is even worse. Why? Because not so long ago it was still possible to squeak by with a bad credit rating. There were countless offers for "Get a loan with bad credit!!!" After all, that's the root of the financial mess that's happening right now: too many loans were given to people who couldn't afford it and then the house of cards came tumbling down.

So if banks and other lenders were risk-averse before, imagine how they are now. The bad credit deals are few and far between. The remedy: you have to clean up your credit rating if you hope to get any kind of loan with a decent interest rate--or get a loan at all. A bad credit rating can also affect getting an apartment, or even a job. Lots of people look at your credit rating. It's an important number which states, "I'm responsible"...or not.

Just a little over a week until Halloween, but if you think that ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties are scary, try an angry horde of costumed kids after you run out of Reese's Peanut Butter cups!

Kidding.

What's scarier than haunted houses is perhaps a balloon mortgage payment...Night of the Living Dead? Try working two jobs to barely eke out a living. And that monster lurking around the corner is nothing compared to the fright of dealing with a huge unanticipated expense on a very small and tight budget.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I thought I'd take a bit of time to explore some of our money demons--Halloween-style:

Now that "green is the new black," everyone seems to be jumping on board the eco-friendly bandwagon. A lot of companies pay lip service to the eco-cause, but which beauty lines put their money where their mouth is? There are a few conscious companies who are making sure they aren't mucking up the environment while they're beautifying you.

From companies with biodegradable packaging to recycling incentives that score you new goodies, find out how to make sure your old bottles, tins, and tubes don't end up in a landfill. Here are some tips to reduce, reuse, and recycle old beauty products and maybe score a few freebies in the process, so some of that "green" can stay in your wallet.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about debt consolidation, one method to help you get your debt under control. In the most common scenario, you get a large loan to pay off your bills and then just pay off that one loan. Well, what if you were actually able to lower the amount that you owe every month? Sounds too good to be true, right? Yes and no: it's possible and debt negotiation can be effective, but there are pitfalls as well.

Debt settlement is the process of negotiating your debt with your creditors so you owe less overall. The thinking is that a creditor would rather have something from you than to have you default on the loan. So actually being broke can put you at an advantage in negotiations. A major caveat is that in most debt settlement scenarios you need to pay off your debt in full. So if you owe $20,000, you could potentially only pay out $15,000--but all at once. Chances are if you can't afford to pay your bill on a monthly basis, you can't pay a lump sum either, even if it is attractively cheaper. However there are other options.

There's an interesting article out of the Washington Post showing that people are using their debit cards far more often than credit cards due to the current financial downturn. It seems not so long ago there were cries and worry about the opposite approach--people overusing credit cards because they didn't have enough cash on hand to get by otherwise. Credit cards 101 says that as soon as you start putting groceries or other necessities on credit, you've got to take a good, hard look at your spending habits.

Nonetheless, there are likely still a large number of people who are living on credit right now. Given the bad employment numbers, there are some who absolutely need to spend on credit, even if it's not advisable. But as pointed out by the article, people are being more fiscally responsible during the recession, which is good news for consumers (though not necessarily for retailers).

When it comes to saving money, there are a number of techniques one can employ. Some people claim less deductions than they are entitled to in order to get a windfall come tax season. Others collect spare change in penny jars. Others squirrel away their money in their mattress (and given the alarming rate of bank failures this year, one can hardly blame them!). Some strategies are more effective than others if you're truly serious about bolstering your bank account.

Here's a look at the pros and cons some techniques that are certainly a better bet than stashing your cash in a Posture-pedic:

Halloween is a great time to go all out with wild costumes and makeup--but it's not Halloween yet. So why are you wearing a mask? You're not? Well, your clown costume is really cute. Oh, it's not a costume? Um...

Yes, bold is great sometimes. I'm in full support of the over-the-top looks from Dolly Parton, Charo and the cast of Cirque du Soleil, but there's no need to spend so much time and money on an everyday look. If "clown face" IS your everyday look, check out our Halloween deals. If not, here are a few tips for making yourself UNDER, so you have a natural, confident look that won't have strangers offering you mini candy bars.

Halloween season is upon us, but nothing is quite so chilling or spooky as mounting money troubles. There are ways out of a current financial mess. Because of the state of the economy, some may not sure if some types of loans are still available. Sub-prime mortgages, for one, are not being handed out at the same rate as a few years ago, but what about debt consolidation loans?

Well, there's good news and bad news.

Consumers are obviously holding onto their hard-earned dollars and making sure to get the most bang for the buck when they do decide to spend money. We've seen some places where consumer purchasing behavior has changed drastically during this year, and we predict that, in order to lure consumers into buying, some retailers are going to have to work overtime to provide good deals.

Based on the data we're observing, there are some areas we think are going to be good places to find deals before the end of the year.