Halloween is on the horizon, which means the rest of the holiday season isn’t far behind. But if your budget it already stretched to the limit, the approaching holiday season may be causing feelings of dread, rather than good cheer. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to balance the holidays with inflation.

Plan Your Spending

It’s not too late to create a holiday budget and set money aside for spending on holiday gifts and activities. Use the next several weeks to cut back to a bare bones budget and use the money you save to fund your holiday activities.

You could also try picking up some gig work or a seasonal part-time job to make extra money specifically intended for holiday fun.

Don’t Go It Alone

Hosting holiday gatherings can be expensive, but it doesn’t need to be. Instead of planning formal, sit-down meals or glitzy parties, keep it simple and ask others to pitch in and help. Most people are happy to do their part to make celebrations festive and fun. Rather than going full potluck, ask guests to bring items within specific categories to be sure everything from ice to desserts is covered.

Get Back to Basics

There are many ways to celebrate the holidays don’t involve spending a lot of money. Considering going caroling door-to-door in your neighborhood, planning  a holiday light tour, or volunteering at a local nonprofit packing food boxes, serving meals or wrapping and distributing donated gifts. As long you’re together and doing something fun, you can make meaningful memories that are more precious than any expensive gift.

Rein In Gift Giving

Gift giving can be a stressful part of the holidays. It’s important to have open, honest conversations with the people in your life to establish — and then stick to — the expectations surrounding gift giving.

Chat with co-workers, friends and family to see where everyone stands and what their plans are. If you’d rather not give or receive gifts, you can be open about that. Or if you want to participate, but in a limited way, suggest something like a secret Santa, white elephant gift exchange or drawing names so you only need to buy one gift in your family or friend group, rather than several.

And don’t overlook regifting as an option. Just be sure to follow these unbreakable rules.

Look for Extra Ways to Save

The holiday season is the time to use all your tricks to save as much money as possible. When shopping online, wait for items to go on sale, search for promo codes, free shipping and other perks. Shop with discounted gift cards to save even more.

If you prefer shopping in person, look for sales, use store apps to find extra savings or rewards — like Kohl’s cash — and find ways to stack your savings and combine discounts whenever you can.

Heading off to see family or friends for the holidays. Here’s how you can save on holiday travel. Or if you’re having guests stay with you review these ways to host houseguests without going broke.