The task looms and we shrink back from it dreading the crowds and what we will have to face when the snow clears, Santa is gone and the Visa bills arrive.

Christmas shopping is a job that can be reduced to a very minor issue with a little organization. There is no law that says we can't allocate next year's Christmas present buying over as many months as we choose.

It goes something like this...plan your work and work your plan. What that means is you put a list in your wallet of the names of the people you always buy for. If there are some who get more than one present, put that number behind the name and leave more room under it.

Allow your self to pretty much forget the project most of the time. All that is necessary is to be more observant when you are in drug, specialty and department stores. As you're cruising through in search of an item for yourself, watch the sales tables. As you glance over them, think of those on your list and pick up items that will be suitable. It's possible to pretty much cut your costs in half. Also, when catalogs arrive, scan them the same way, go online and get that unique gift on special.

Always make a note of your purchase on the list in your wallet and place a sticky note on the gift indicating whom it is for. That's very important. When you buy over several months it's hard to remember what you have gotten for whom.

Allocate a special place in your home, probably under lock and key if you have kids, and place the gifts in that central spot. Glance at your list once in a while to see who is covered and who isn't so your scanning in stores can become more specific as you progress.

When the season arrives, pull all of your gifts out to see if you missed anyone. Once the system is used for a year or two, that won't happen very often.

Sometimes you will want to switch things around, come Christmas, because specific needs have come up over the year. And if you find you have gotten too much for one person, save it for a birthday present.

Many of the people who shop for Christmas this way have reported that they are done by the first of April. If that sounds impossible, it isn't. And remember, the whole plan saves time, because you are on other errands when you pick up the sale items, and money because you get things at outrageous prices.

Why not make a New Year's resolution to let yourself off the hook in 2007?