Shay Rockhold would love to give her four children the Christmas of their dreams. But she knows she would regret busting her budget by overindulging.

“I’d like to spend $500 on each kid absolutely - but I can’t do that,” said Rockhold, who lives outside of Charleston, S.C. “I’m not going to pull out the plastic for Christmas.” Instead, she sets a budget and sticks to it.

It’s a plan many would do well to emulate, according to financial planners who caution that acquiring credit card debt at the holidays can take months, even years to pay off.

Before hitting the malls, experts recommend making a list of expected expenses, trimming your gift-giving list, and determining whether to pay by cash or credit card.

Set a budget for Christmas or Hanukkah spending that you can absorb without impacting your monthly bills, said Liz Pulliam Weston, whose newest book, “Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life” (Pearson Prentice Hall), comes out in December.

A person who has no credit card debt and is saving for retirement could spend 1 percent to 1.5 percent of their income on the holidays, she said. That’d be $1,000-$1,500 for a family earning $100,000 a year.

“Sticking to your budget means you won’t have to despair over January bills,” and that makes for a less stressful holiday, she said.

Rockhold, who sells gourmet foods at in-home parties, uses her income from September and October for Christmas spending. “I set that money aside and go out and do the majority of the shopping in one day,” she said.

Others make monthly bank deposits in holiday savings accounts, often called Christmas Clubs. The accounts, which can be opened in January through late fall, are designed to help people save for short-term financial goals, said Virginia McGuire, spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association, in Washington.

The key to managing holiday spending is creating a budget that covers as many potential expenditures as possible - not just gifts, Weston explained. Other costs include decorating, entertaining, traveling, clothing, charitable donations and eating out.

If you need to scale back, start with your gift list. Weston suggests cutting anyone for whom you buy a gift card. If you don’t know them well enough to select a gift, she asked, why are you giving them one?

Let people know early that you’re downsizing your holiday gift list. Although suggesting an end to a gift exchange may seem awkward, you might be pleasantly surprised by the reactions from people on your list. They’re likely being pinched by the same economic forces you are: higher gas prices, ballooning mortgage payments, rising insurance costs.