(WTNH) – Things are about to get busy when it comes to holiday spending. We are Stretching Your Dollar with why now is a good time to refocus that spending.

As we head into the end of October, family finance expert, Andrea Woroch says it’s important to rebalance your budget before the busy holiday season.

“I really like using an app like Mint, it categorizes all your expenses. They link all your financial accounts in one place and we actually suggest a budget for you,” Woroch said.

Woroch said to prioritize paying down any credit card debt before the expensive holiday season rolls around so you don’t dig yourself into a deeper hole. If you want to pay off debt faster, apply for a zero-percent balance transfer card.

“These offer up to 21 months for you to pay down your balance without any interest piling up. So that will help you get out of debt faster and save more money over time,” Woroch explained. “You can compare balance transfer cards at card rates dot com. I would look for the one with the longest no interest term as well as the one that meets your credit rating.”

With holiday gifting, preparing now is key to avoiding debt later. Draft a gift list with an approximate budget per person and tap into apps like Santa’s Bag to manage purchases and total spending throughout the season.

Shopping now is wise as you can take advantage of popular deals like Amazon Prime Day which happened on Oct. 10 and 11

“And then we know competitors like Target and Walmart even Best Buy are going to be hosting their own sales around the same time. So this would be a really good opportunity to jumpstart your holiday shopping,” Woroch said. “And what I like about buying gifts early in the season is that it spreads out purchases over a few weeks, several weeks leading up to Black Friday so that you don’t feel that entire pressure in your budget come December trying to buy everything at the last minute.”

She also suggests socking away $25 a week starting now for each kid, which will give you $300 to spend on each child.