Managing Your Holiday Tech Buying Budget

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.

The three basic tips to holiday shopping are:

1. Start early. By early I mean Summer-early. Barring that, then get the jump on all the hot discount electronic deals as soon as possible on or immediately after all the Halloween candy has been handed out.

2. Make Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals your new favorite times of the year and hunt for those budget-pleasing deals to fulfill your needs.

3. Have a sound strategy and strong attack plan so that you can zero in on the best deals. Basically this means: form your tech dream list, price compare on your favorite sites, and read as many reviews as you can.

4. Know which products are trending to be big sellers and possibly come with deep discounts attached this holiday season. This is important in giving you some insight into which products will fall inside or outside your estimated spending parameters--as well as which ones might fly off the shelves faster than the time it takes Usain Bolt to embarrass the competition in the 100 meters.

So after doing all of that, you'll need to take a look at the budget you have set out for yourself and be open to things like refurbished products or even take advantage of some "buy one, get one" type deals as a way of saving in the long run. Managing your tech-buying budget during this crazy season is all about researching and fully understanding your online shopping options as much as it is about deciding what to buy and what to pass on.

Next week, the countdown begins! I'll be kicking off my Top Ten consumer electronics gifts list for the 2009 Holiday Season. Feel free to comment below or follow my updates on Twitter @SavingsGCapes.