HEAD TO THE US

After several months of strong trading in sterling, a pound will now buy you almost $2, which slashes the cost of shopping in the US. But are the savings sufficient to justify a shopping trip to the Big Apple?

On purely financial terms, the answer is probably no - unless you're spending very large sums. But many people will enjoy a weekend in New York and regard the savings as a bonus.

Pre-Christmas, flights to New York cost from £250 or so. Add £100 to £150 for accommodation for two nights and you'll need to make shopping savings of £400 to justify your trip.

There are certainly good savings available. An Apple iPod colour video player will cost you £176 in New York, compared to £259 in London. Nintendo games consoles cost £126 in New York, and £179 back home. Levi's 501 jeans cost £23 there, less than half their £50 price-tag here. Or get yourself a pair of Nike Air Max 360 trainers for £72, down from £120 in the UK.

Still, you'll need to do a lot of shopping to make that £400 saving. And you could do it in one go by popping into Tiffany to pick up a diamond ring for £1,626. The same piece is on sale in London at £2,175.

One final point to remember about shopping overseas - in the US, or anywhere outside the European Union - is that there is a strict limit of £145 on the value of goods you may bring back in without paying import duties. These can add up to one-fifth to the cost of your purchases.

TARGET TESCO

Supermarket loyalty schemes can prove valuable at this time of year, but here's an extra tip, courtesy of Martin Lewis, who runs the Moneysavingexpert. com website. Lewis points out that Tesco Clubcard holders don't have to redeem their shopping vouchers in the supermarket's stores. Instead, they can spend them on Tesco deals from its Deals brochure. "Tesco Clubcard vouchers quadruple in value when you buy presents from the Deals catalogue," Lewis says. "For a £5 voucher you can buy a present worth £20 - a perfect way to buy gifts without spending real cash."

There's no limit to the value of vouchers you can spend on Tesco Deals. The catalogue includes everything from meals to magazine subscriptions and days out; there's something for everyone at a quarter of the normal cost.

GET VIRAL

Stocking up on drink? If you can't face a booze cruise (see below), get online and type "Threshers" and "discount" into Google. You'll find a range of sources of the vouchers the off-licence chain has published, giving 40 per cent off the cost of wine and champagne, on purchases of up to £500.

Threshers originally intended to offer the deal only to suppliers, but the vouchers have been passed on around the country via e-mail and it is promising to honour them. Thousands of people have taken advantage of the deal, which expires tomorrow.

All sorts of high street retailers, from Gap to Selfridges, have used "viral" campaigns of this type to offer discounts on selected goods in the run-up to Christmas. The offers can be very valuable, with discounts off up to 50 per cent sometimes available, or buy-one-get-one-free offers.

Check out www.vouchercodes.com, a one-stop shop for bargain hunters; it has details of special deals and vouchers from more than 300 well-known retailers.

WAIT FOR SALES

Many people don't give all their Christmas presents on 25 December. If you're not seeing certain friends or relatives until after the big day, you may be able to save money by holding off buying their presents.

New year sales at most shops now start well before 1 January - many shops will cut prices on 27 December, so there will be bargains to snap up for those whose presents can wait.

For people you will see on Christmas Day, one option is to give them a picture of what you're planning to buy them, with a promise to get it in the sales. If you are concerned that goods will sell out, make it a generic promise rather than something specific - promise a flat-screen television, for example, rather than a particular model.

USE THE WEB

Internet price-checking services make it child's play to find the cheapest source of almost anything you'll buy this Christmas. Once you've identified the specific item you want, these sites will find the best price on the web, with or without delivery charges, and you can order there and then.

The market-leading price sites are www.kelkoo.co.uk; www.pricerunner.co.uk; and www.shopping.com. In theory, the three sites should come up with broadly similar findings, but if you're spending a great deal of money, it makes sense to consult all three to be sure that you'll be making the biggest saving possible.

The sites use technology that checks listings on other sites, rather than depending on a database, so they should produce up-to-date comparisons. And there's no catch - most of the sites get a commission for referring shoppers on to retailers, but they stand or fall on their integrity as bargain finders, so they can be trusted.

So take, as an example, Sony's PSP portable games console, which costs £149.99 at branches of Currys. Pricerunner found the same base pack for £139.99, while Shopping.com's best price was £142. Kelkoo was unable to beat those prices, but the site did suggest several deals at the same price as Currys but with free games thrown in.

GRAB GROCERIES

The money-saving guru Alvin Hall says the best way to avoid spending a fortune on Christmas food and drink is to plan ahead. Simply making a careful list of everything you'll need will save you 10 to 15 per cent compared to what you would spend by wandering round a supermarket buying everything you think you might possibly need.

Then there's the time-honoured booze cruise. A European Court ruling last month was expected to enable internet shoppers to buy cheap duty-free alcohol online, but the ruling said such shoppers would have to pay UK duties on imports, so the booze cruise has survived.

Taking a car and one passenger from, say, Plymouth to Caen, Cherbourg or St Malo costs as little as £65 on Brittany Ferries. With fuel, you'll need to make savings of around £100 on alcohol to make the trip worthwhile. To maximise your chances of doing that, research the trip first. The www.boozecruise.net website lists prices at many continental hypermarkets, so you know where to head.

Another way to save money on groceries is to use MySupermarket.co.uk, a service that enables you to find the cheapest store for the groceries you want. Provide the site with your shopping list, choosing from the range at Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco or Ocado (Waitrose). The site will calculate whether you'd do better buying the same goods from another store - and will transfer your list there if you ask it to.

The site incorporates every money-saving offer each store has on at a given time. For those who accept the recommended supermarket and then take full advantage of special offers and deals, MySupermarket claims the saving could be as much as 20 per cent.

DO IT YOURSELF

Check out the Christmas decorations on sale in department stores and it's obvious that the current fashion is for old-fashioned items made from materials such as felt or wood - it's all about nostalgia.

The good news is that home-made decorations fit the trend perfectly, particularly if you get the kids involved in making them - and they'll save you a fortune. Use felt, ribbon, glitter or even pine cones - whatever you can find.

It's not just decorations that can be home-made; Tesco sells make-your-own-cracker kits for £2.92 for six. Stockings, place settings and wreaths are easy to make at home too.

Cards are the other big way to save money by doing it yourself. It's far cheaper to make your cards, and many friends and relatives will appreciate the effort you've made - particularly if the kids get involved.

The last posting date for Christmas is 19 December, but you can save by paying second-class postage if you get everything off by 16 December. If you do miss that deadline, it might be worth making a trip to Superdrug, the high street chemist, which is selling cut-price stamps. A book of 12 costs £3.64, a 20p saving, while books of six are reduced from £1.92 to £1.82.

BE CREATIVE

Once you've made your decorations and cards, think how you can be creative about presents too. The best gifts aren't necessarily those that cost the most. Friends and families would far rather receive something personal than something they know will cause you financial stress.

One option is to give people vouchers they can redeem with you in the new year - anything from offering breakfast in bed to something a bit more saucy for husbands and wives.

Everyone laughs at how very small children often ignore costly gifts and insist on playing with the packaging instead. So why not decorate a large box, fill it with brightly coloured paper - and forget about the present altogether.

The green charity Friends of the Earth is running a campaign to persuade people to cut down on Christmas waste. Wrapping paper is a good example - using anything from old maps to newspaper to glossy magazines is a good way to recycle waste and save money.

PLAN AHEAD

The best way to save at Christmas is to plan ahead. There are all sorts of possibilities. Cards, presents, decorations and other festive items will all be on sale at hugely discounted prices in January, so stock up now.

Similarly, start saving for the cost of Christmas 2007 as early as possible in the new year, by putting a small amount by every month.

Santa's little helpers: credit cards can save you money

* The object of a money-saving Christmas is not to run up large debts - but that's not to say that credit cards aren't very useful at this time of year.

* The first option is an interest-free credit card deal - this will allow you to spread the cost of a Christmas on plastic over an extended period without paying any borrowing costs. Robert Kenley of the price comparison service Moneysupermarket.com says that currently 43 cards come with an introductory offer of interest-free periods on purchases.

* The three best deals at the moment are GE's transformation card; Marks & Spencer's &More card; and Halifax's One card - all of which offer 0 per cent on purchases for 12 months. The GE and Halifax cards both offer 0 per cent for 12 months on balance transfers from other credit cards. However, GE will charge you a 2.5 per cent transfer fee, while Halifax will charge you 3 per cent.

* The &More card may suit you if you do a lot of your shopping at Marks & Spencer. As well as offering 0 per cent on purchases for two months, you earn points for every pound that you spend, and double points for money spent at M&S. These can be exchanged for rewards or in-store discounts. Amazon has a similar credit card to this and is offering new subscribers a £25 voucher if they sign up before Christmas and use their card before April next year.

* Shoppers who are certain that they'll be able to pay their bill in full in January should go for a cashback card rather than an interest-free deal - this plastic will refund up to 3 per cent of everything you spend.

* Kenley says the best current cashback deal is American Express's Platinum card, which pays customers 3 per cent for the first three months and up to 1.5 per cent thereafter, depending on how much you spend over the year. Morgan Stanley offers 3 per cent until 1 April 2007, when the rate switches to 1 per cent.

* Finally, while credit-card experts generally pour scorn on store cards, they may prove useful in some circumstances. When you sign up, many stores will offer you a big discount on any purchases made in-store and they may also offer introductory interest-free periods. However, with rates reaching as high as 30 per cent, don't use store cards unless you're certain that you can pay off your balance before you start accruing any interest.