Christmas may seem like a life time away but the truth is that it is only 6 months until the big day. Many people start to do their Christmas shopping early and although you have a good few months before the main bulk of the Christmas items hit the shops there is no harm in planning ahead.

If you have a lot of friends or relatives that live far away and you will need to post their presents to them, you can often add a big chunk on to your Christmas shopping for postage charges.

Before going down to your local Post Office, have a look online at some of the companies that offer deliveries. Often they use the main couriers but are able to offer discounts to people that are only sending a handful of items, often making them cheaper than the Post Office.

If ordering items online, rather than having them delivered to you, see if you can have them delivered straight to the recipient as lots of shops ow offer a gift wrapping service. Keep your eyes open for places that are offering free shipping for a limited period and try and take advantage of these offers.