Q. I'll be stretched thin by buying Christmas gifts this year because gas, electricity and other costs are rising. Any suggestions on how to end 2005 without a bunch of credit card debt?

A. There's a lot you can do to avoid post-holiday hand-wringing. Experts recommend you draw up a realistic holiday gift budget and more importantly, stick to it.

The pitfalls of not having a budget are many if you aren't swimming in cash. Three years ago, Champion Mortgage found people who don't make budgets ended up spending 35 percent more than people who do, and that four in 10 people end up spending more than they planned.

What's worse, people create their own version of the ghost of Christmas past in ringing up credit card debt. About three in 10 people responding to a Consumer Credit Counseling Services poll in November 2004 said they were still paying off debt from the previous holiday season.

"People start charging now, and they'll charge straight through Christmas and then there's after-Christmas," said Wendy Burkholder, who helps money-strapped consumers untangle their finances as executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Hawai'i. "In February, the full reality of what they've done hits. Our phones start ringing."

This year the average U.S. consumer is expected to spend more than $738 on gifts and other holiday items, according to the National Retail Federation. That's 5.1 percent more than a year ago.

A little less than one-third of the purchases will be made with credit cards if last year's trend holds, the trade group's research shows.

Experts recommend setting a holiday budget that takes everything into account — not just gifts for family and friends, but also the small last-minute gifts for co-workers, neighbors and refuse workers.

People are also reminded to budget for gift-wrap paper, holiday food, parties, decorations, cards and mailing. While there is a temptation to make loose estimates or keep a budget in the back of your mind, sit down and write out a detailed budget. Does it fit within your financial means?

There are ways to cut if you come up short. Burkholder recommends sitting down in a family meeting and talking about not going overboard or setting limits on how much each other should spend.

"It's amazing to me the sense of obligation people feel in terms of buying expensive things for family," she said.

Other suggestions: