With the weather getting warmer (in most cases) and summer on our minds, what better time is there to start thinking about Christmas? That’s right. You may not be hearing jingle bells, but Simple Dollar writer Trent urges people not to forget to start thinking about Christmas early so that it doesn’t, once again, sneak up on us in November.

Trent sites a few easy things you can start doing now to avoid bustling around and wasting money during Christmas due to lack of preparation. For example, it should be easy now to get the important people on your radar and kill off unwanted gift exchanges. Decide now who you are going to focus on and trim that list down to the essential people.

Now is also a great time to start looking for bargains. If you have already picked out what you’re going to buy someone, you have all this time to casually look for a bargain. You can also use sites like FeedSifter to sift through feeds of websites that list bargains related to your search.

Head over to Five Ways You Need to Think About Christmas…Now! for more tips on how you can make life easier on yourself come Christmas time by starting now.