While the holidays are stressful financial times for all of us, they can be especially hectic for college students living on a budget. As a student, you are busy prepping for finals, managing a part-time job, and squeezing in festive holiday parties where you can. Your limited income, coupled with the fact that you just don’t have the spare time you’d like, makes it even harder to do some smart shopping before the holiday hits. There are ways to live on a tight budget and fit in some gifts, but many students forget to keep their eyes on the prize and often spend more than they have. Luckily, you can follow these helpful tips to avoid falling into any spending traps this holiday season.

Change with your Budget

If you don’t have the same income as you did last year, don’t feel pressure to live up to the hype, thinking you have to keep pace with the previous year’s gift giving, says CNN. If you got a partner or your mom an expensive gift last year and think they’ll expect it again this year, think again. You simply can’t keep up with the rate of purchases when you have limited cash. Your loved ones will understand, so nix the guilt and spend within your means.

Make It Fun

If you are flying or driving home to see your family during the holidays and you have an extensive list of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, you may panic at the thought of buying something. Instead of freaking out, suggest a gift swap of some kind, like Secret Santa or a Yankee Swap and set a max limit, like $10 or $20. This way, you only have to buy for one person and everyone has a fun time playing the game.

Always Comparison Shop

Avoid buying into the hype surrounding discounted prices, or buying anything without first comparing prices. While some items may be priced the same at several stores, you can net major savings on other items by doing some research before you buy. While there are a number of deals and steals around the holidays, prices for items will continue to fluctuate over time. FOX News recommends using apps like Hukkster or RedLaser to compare prices and find the best deals in your area.

Best Time to Buy a Trip Home

Knowing when the best time to buy not only holiday gifts, but also airfare back home, is key to saving money this year. According to The Huffington Post, you should start searching for the cheapest airfare for the period of Thanksgiving through New Year’s by September or October. However, while rates go up just before November hits, you can save cash when you book a departure flight for Mondays and Tuesdays—this is when you’ll see flight costs about 20 percent cheaper than the average.

Use Credit for Small Purchases Only

One of the best ways to avoid overspending is to hit the mall with a limited amount of cash at your disposal, rather than a credit card. While building credit is good, charging up high amounts of debt for gifts that you can’t realistically pay off the next month is unwise. If you’d like to work on building your credit, use your card for small purchases (like boxes of candy or giftwrap).

Aside from the obvious possibility that you can easily start drowning in debt once you start swiping that card for purchases like clothes and food, there’s another danger to using credit cards for holiday purchases: applying for new cards, according to USA Today, can actually damage your credit score. And when you charge, say, $100 on a card with a $200 limit, your credit score may even take a hit.

Interest rates can be another trap. Often times stores will offer a percentage off your purchase when you open a credit card with them. While that sounds great when you’re living on a budget, but you’ll easily make that savings up in interest paid, as store credit cards with very low or even zero percent introductory interest rates have notoriously high rates after a couple months.

If you follow these tips, you can ensure that your loved ones are treated to great gifts this holiday season—just not at the expense of your savings. If you can avoid overspending and work hard to find the best deal on new items, you may even have a little left over to treat yourself!

About the Author:

This article was written by student Dee Bronwinn.  Dee knows the stress of holiday shopping on a student’s budget and hopes you find this article helpful.  If you are looking for another way to save money this holiday season, she recommends checking out Lupo Clothing for some affordable gift ideas.