The Monday following Thanksgiving and Black Friday has been known for a while as "Cyber Monday." That's the day when people who are sick of the story crowds, or, like my friend Tom Barlow, never ventured into them, go shopping online. But now that so many of us have high-speed internet at home, will the trend materialize?

The term, coined in 2005 by shop.org, has always been somewhat dubious. It is really busy, but not the busiest day. Last year, according to comScore, online shoppers spent $700 million on Cyber Monday; that's about as much spent on Thanksgiving and Black Friday combined. So there is a definite bump.

The premise of Cyber Monday is that people go shopping online once they get back to their fancy work computer with high-speed internet access. But are we really the technologically behind that we need to go into an office to have a fast computer? The Pew Internet and American Life Project says more than half--55%--of Americans now have high speed internet at home.

Now that I've self-identified with the "frugalista," it's already time to buckle down and start budgeting for the rest of the holiday season. Frugalistas are known for spending little on typical consumer goods (think expensive decorations, electronics and clothing) but maybe a little more on good food (that they cook themselves, natch) and what I like to call "vital luxuries"; maybe a couple of hand-made wooden toys for their children, or a top-of-the-line food processor (the easier to make great dinners at home instead of going out).

So: what is in the frugalista's budget this year? Here's how my Christmas spending plan breaks down:

• Christmas tree: Purchased from a local charity I believe in, $40
• Food: Extra organic cream, some direct-trade shade-grown chocolate, and a heritage turkey from a local farm, plus a couple of splurges on cheeses and cured meats from my favorite farmer's market vendors, an extra pound of coffee for my dad, about $200
• Toys: One or two hand-made wooden toys for each of my three little boys, $120
• Crafty: Four skeins of yarn to complete knitted Christmas gifts, $60
• Stockings: A trip to REI to get socks and new bike lights for my boys' stockings, $50
• Husband: New fenders for his bike, $30

It adds up to $500 all told (and my husband has already earned the money working more than usual in November); I'll make gifts out of materials I already have for my sisters and nieces, and each of my boys will get a new handmade stuffed toy. I'll wrap my gifts in recycled paper from years past, or newsprint that the boys paint for me; we'll make holiday cards out of one of a million different Martha Stewart-inspired recycle-y ideas. That's how this frugalista plans to spend her holiday money; how about you? What does your holiday budget look like?

Beyond giving birth, moms make sacrifices for their children. Maybe they do without the regular trip to the hair stylist so their kids can go to the right preschool. Or they stop watching soap operas in favor of cartoons or a trip to the park.

This Christmas season, more moms are sacrificing for their children by not buying things for themselves and instead spending the money on toys for the kids, according to a New York Times story.

The Times reports that in September and October, sales of women's apparel fell dramatically compared with the same months the year before. They were down 18.2% in October, compared with an 8.3% drop for men's apparel, according to the SpendingPulse, a report by MasterCard Advisors.

My wife and I have differing philosophies when it comes to Christmas cards; she likes to choose beautiful cards and send them to everyone we know, whereas I look for cards in bulk and try to shave the list down each year. Because of my Christmas card habits and the fact that I am constantly turning off the tree to save electricity, I've been dubbed "The Grinch" in our household. But this year my "heart grew 3 times larger" when my wife shared her new idea to save money on sending out cards!

Amber had a great idea, to write out all of our cards before we go to Thanksgiving celebrations this week so that we can hand them out when we see our families on Thursday. Since my parent's families are large enough that they could each field their own football team, we'll save quite a bit on postage. We'll also be handing out cards to friends as we get together over the next month, rather than having the mailman deliver them.

The Post Office will still be delivering cards to people who live far away, but we'll be hand delivering close to 80% of our cards. On top of saving over $20 in postage, hand delivering the cards is another great excuse to catch up with friends and family. If you plan to save postage this year, you only have a few days left so you better get writing!

Target wants to be sure it gets your holiday business this year. The retail giant has seen its profits take a nosedive this year, as shoppers cut back to just the essentials. Nearly half the store's revenue comes from nonessentials, though, like fashion and trendy housewares. To be sure they move items like this over the next month, Target will be offering some serious bargains.

The company says that it will match prices with its chief rival, Wal-Mart, in local markets, and will offer daily rotating value items on its website, while aggressively cutting prices on popular national brands. Though Target has cut prices around the holidays in previous years, Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel says the company is really ramping up its promotions for 2008, and expects to be the price leader on many gift items.

This makes Target very attractive for holiday shoppers this year. I remember doing most of my shopping there last year anyway, and I saved myself 10% extra by opening the Target credit card on the day I spent $500 on gifts for my family. Then I paid it off and closed the account. If you can exercise discipline, there's no reason not to go for the in-store credit card offers, especially if you can take 10 or more percent off a large purchase. With the Target credit card profits dropping sharply recently, I wouldn't be surprised to see the store offer even better incentives to qualified applicants. Don't forget to check the website for those rotating value items, too.

Imagine it's Christmas morning. You rush downstairs and first check your Christmas stocking to see what Santa put inside -- a gasoline gift card. Surprise! Merry Christmas!

In what is now an ongoing joke in my household, I buy my wife a $10 Christmas gift card at one of the finer stores in town: Longs, Safeway, McDonald's or Burger King. I see practicality, she sees a cheapskate. Now, with the economy in a recession, it looks like more people are coming around to the practical view, despite the lack of Christmas morning excitement they produce.

This holiday season, more gift card recipients plan to use them for necessities and not on luxuries, according to a new study released by Bankrate, Inc.

Residents of Colorado Springs need not reach in their pocket this year for change when they hear the familiar ringing of the Salvation Army volunteer calling attention to its donation bucket. In a test program, some Santas wil be equipped to take plastic.

For the test, done in cooperation with U.S. Bank, the volunteers (augmented, when necessary, with paid temps) will be equipped with wireless card readers, so donors can swipe to support the Army's homeless shelter and meal programs.

The program stands to bring in more money for two reasons; the declining value of change, and people's propensity to give more using credit cards than when forking over cash. It may also reassure donors skeptical that 100% of the donated funds will reach the Salvation Army, and will provide documentation for those who wish to claim a deduction on their taxes.

Still, the sound of a card swipe isn't as satisfying as coins plinking into the traditional red bucket. But if the difference brings shelter and food to those in need and Christmas gifts for their children, I can live with the change.

As the unemployed father of a 4-year-old daughter who is starting to notice the ads on TV and in magazines for Christmas toys, I worry about the high-priced gifts from Santa that she may soon start asking for.

And along comes the $95 Maru doll, which is supposed to be the hottest new doll of the year and received the 2008 iParenting Greatest Products Award. As a new dad, I don't know if $95 is out of line for a doll, especially a new and popular one, but I do know there are at least three other dolls in our house that could be used as doorstops because they're certainly not being used as playthings.

Maru is 8, incredibly realistic-looking with fashionable clothes, and has arrived in the United States from a country that isn't named to live with her aunt and uncle. She comes with a storybook (don't all dolls?) that details how her new friends are helping her adapt in her new country.

November is one of the biggest months for video game releases as publishers try to make their way onto holiday wish lists with big titles such as Gears of War 2, Mirrors Edge, Call of Duty, Brothers in Arms, Little big Planet and many many more. Even picky gamers can easily spend $300-$400 to snap up just the highest rated games, let alone any of the casual games set to invade store shelves in the next two months. With so many releases it is no wonder that the GeekDad at WIRED came up with 5 ways to stretch your gaming dollar this fall.

GeekDad offers the following 5 ways to save money on games this holiday season.

1. Know your release dates and what games you can wait to buy.
   
2. Read reviews to avoid the crud that many developers shovel out this time of year.
3. Play the demo; nothing helps you separate the wheat from the chaff quicker than hands on time.
4. Trade in and or buy used games, even new release used games are $5 cheaper.
   
5. Join a gaming community, which exist solely to help others find cheap video game deals.
   

These are some excellent ideas for saving on games. I've already prioritized my game purchases for the rest of the year, planning to pick up Mirrors Edge on launch day while waiting until after the holidays to snag a used copy of Gears of War 2. With the prevalence of demos and reviews these days there is no excuse for making an uninformed game purchase, even as a gift. While we are talking about gifts, let me be one of the first to say, "there is no shame in giving a used game as a gift, after all, used games play the same as new ones!"

'Tis the season for giving! At least, the calendar says it is... but all the latest report indicate that charitable giving is on the decline now as the economic downturn forces us to tighten our purse strings more than in years past.

To try to combat that trend, Kraft Foods is teaming up with Feeding America, the largest hunger relief charity in the United States, to launch a new fleet of mobile pantries. Kraft is providing the charity with money to purchase 25 refrigerated trucks that will bring food to rural and urban areas where grocery stores and food pantries are difficult to reach. With three trips per week, the mobile pantries should be able to distribute the equivalent of 1.1 million meals per year.

This should set a spark under all of us as we prepare to shrink our holiday budget. We are still, after all, buying presents for our kids and pets. And while me may not feel we can afford to be as generous as usual when it comes to charities -- particularly food as prices keep going up -- we need to remember that there are people out there suffering from starvation. The donation of a couple cans of soup were easy to spare in past years, but it's not so now. Donations to food banks and soup kitchens is at a low point and demand is at a high, which is just a vicious circle as those who used to donate to the food kitchens are now turning to them for help instead, and charities across the country are struggling to keep up with demand.

In all, Kraft is putting $180 million into their efforts to combat hunger. If you have the means to help, think of your local food banks and soup kitchens this holiday season. These establishments can always use more volunteers to sort and serve food, and every donation helps, no matter how large or small.

Airlines are the squeaky wheel of the travel industry, and they get a lot of grease in the media, so by now we all know how to navigate ticket buying. But baggage fees are on the rise and airfares are an uncertain game of roulette, so many of us are choosing to go to Grandmother's house by land instead. Going over the river and through the woods isn't such a bad way to do it, either, because there are some sterling savings opportunities if you go by wheel instead of wing, as MainStreet.com points out in an article today.

Here's my take on some of Lyneka Little's suggestions:

ONLINE DISCOUNTS: Some suggestions are obvious to those of us who have been using a computer for more than a few months. Those include always checking the websites of your chosen carrier (Amtrak, Greyhound, and so on) to see if its online prices beat the ticket office. Don't stampede straight to the reservations search boxes, either, because most sites have a marked page of specials that shouldn't be ignored.

MEMBERSHIP PRIVILEGES: Make sure you milk every discount you can. I know plenty of people in their early 50s who squirm at their AARP eligibility, but when they realize that they can use that status to save some bucks, suddenly the card is waved with pride. Even young whippersnappers might have AAA membership, and that can bring some surprising deals (although it's a motoring organization, Amtrak will cut rates for it). Check your local AAA branch for a list of discount opportunities. Often, these price cuts will work even during the holiday rush, including at hotels.

I learned long ago that gift giving doesn't have to cost a fortune, especially when you are the family computer support guru. In fact, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in my family normally end with me fixing someone's computer. I learned long ago that a USB thumb drive with copies of my favorite applications was a holiday must have, particularly for my relatives still on dial up.

Since I don't get to spend as much time at home as I used too, I end up with fewer house calls in the days following Christmas, making PC repair gift certificates less practical. Not to be dissuaded, this year I plan to revive my role as the tech support Santa and give friends and family a collection of free software that should make their lives easier. Shh, don't tell them, I want it to be a surprise.

The software categories include:

• Office package
• Photo editing
• Instant messenger
• Anti virus
• Spyware removal
• Web browsing

The following collection of software is all free and fills the holes left by the trial software installed on so many new computers. That's not to say this software is any less useful or valuable, the collection of programs below include some of my personal favorites which provide a rich user experience and in many cases let users grow into their features.

Brace yourselves, parents. The Christmas catalogs are starting to appear, and before long you'll be noticing all those dog-eared pages that signify where you can find the toys on your kid's wish list.

But smart moms and dads know that it pays to shop around. It could be that one or two of your child's picks can be found in -- a dollar store?

While browsing through Family Dollar's Christmas Toy Book, I was impressed by the brand names I saw there and even more impressed by the prices. Most of the toys in this online catalog were reasonably priced at $10 or $15, with some even less, some a little more and one item in the electronics section that was $30. Here's just a sampling of what I found:

You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah. When i was growing up my family didn't have a lot to spend on gifts and Chanukah is celebrated for eight days with a tradition of giving a gift each night.

So to keep things in budget, my mom used to find small gifts for each of us (I have two brothers) and hide one gift for each of us while we were at school. When we got home we'd have a treasure hunt to find the hidden gifts. We looked forward to going home each day to find our gifts. If we found someone else's gift the rule was to leave it where it was and not say anything.

By making gift giving fun, we didn't even think about the larger gifts we were missing out on. As we got older if we wanted a larger gift we did agree to give up the idea of one gift per day during Chanukah and instead got one large for the entire holiday.

Remember it's the traditions you set within in your family. If you need to stay on a tight budget this year, why not plan some free fun and small gifts. You can still show your love and celebrate the holidays without increasing your debt levels.