It does not matter who you are or how much money you make, holiday shopping hits everyone in the wallet. If you are really trying to maintain control of your Christmas spending, take initiative and set a budget of $20-30 for each person that you will be buying gifts for. Get more Christmas shopping tips.

If you don't have enough money to achieve your Christmas shopping goals, apply for a Christmas loan.

Create a limit with your friends and family
That means contact all of your people and request that they partake in creating a budget for gift buying amongst everybody. Most likely, they will be more than happy to partake. Utilize this Sample Christmas Budget Spreadsheet.

Do A Secret Santa
If you have a large family, lots of friends, and/or many co-workers, set-up a Secret Santa. That means putting for each group (work, family, friends), put all participants names in a hat and have each person pick one name out of that hat. Whoever's name you get is the individual you will be buying a gift for. It is much more cost effective to buy one gift for one person as opposed to the entire group. You may want to even take it one step further and do groupings. That means coupling husbands and wives together and even the kids too.

Take Advantage of Sales
There are going to be sales going on for the entire holiday shopping season, right up until Christmas day. You will likely get the best deals the longer you wait. Retailers are going to be looking to dump merchandise and will be offering amazing savings later in the shopping season. Therefore, you should put off your shopping as late as possible. However, last minute shopping can also be a bad idea.

Be Artistic
If you are creative, craft a gift. Create something that parallels the interest of the receiver. For example, if you are responsible for a baseball fan, go online, print out baseball images and make a collage. A gift like this has much more sentimental value than a dvd, video game or article of clothing. It is something that can and most likely will be cherished forever.

Get Coupons/Discounts from 'Liking' a Retailer On Facebook
Nowadays, most retailers are on Facebook. It has become very popular for Facebook participating retailers to offer coupons/discounts for 'liking' them on Facebook. By 'liking' them you are agreeing to receive emails regarding updates, new products, sales, etc.. You will also likely receive coupons and even invites to special sales for Facebook friends only.

Go Vintage
Doing bargain hunting at thrift stores and flea markets will equate to you finding a great gift for significantly less than a new item at a retail store. You can even locate something that your recipient would not be able to afford buying new. You should also consider checking out your local pawnshop and even some garage sales.

Don't Forget Price Matching
If you do your shopping early in the season, make sure to check the newspapers and store fliers for sales. If anything you have purchased goes on sale, return to the retailer and request an adjustment to match the sale price. And if you see any competitors of the retailer you purchased the product from offering the same item for cheaper, bring that ad into where you made your purchase and request for them do a price match. They may say yes, they may say no...but there is no harm in asking!

Christmas On A Budget - Great article on Yahoo! detailing Christmas budgeting.