Budgeting has never been your forte. (Hence the countless overdraft charges diminishing your checking account and the disappointed tone in your mother’s voice.) To say the least, you’ve got very little to spend on your loved ones this holiday. (But you’re not afraid to throw that account into negative.)

Put down your debit card. You can spread holiday cheer without going into debt:

Get crafty. Even if the only thing you’ve ever made is a Popsicle stick photo frame, you can learn how to make cute gifts – quickly. Buy some how-to-do-it-yourself books or ask artistic pals for some tips. Turn old T-shirts into skirts and halter tops or a cheap mirror into a mosaic of photos or tiles.

Think big. Mega stores like Target and Wal-Mart have everything packed into one place, not to mention to-die-for weekly sales, especially during the holidays. Navigating through hordes of shoppers and ridiculously long lines will be worth it in the end. And don’t forget about the outlet malls – crowded, yes, but also chock-full of fab bargains.

Lump relatives together. Screw originality and place everyone into a themed group. Sorority sisters and actual sisters: earrings and necklaces. Cousins and aunts: beauty products. Uncles and brothers: socks. Don’t forget about other simple ideas: T-shirts, hats, ties or books.

Shop after the holidays. For those family members who are far away, shop after the 26th. Many stores slash prices right after Christmas, so you can send gifts to Grandma in Oklahoma the priority-mail way (same price as regular ground shipping!). She’ll never know how long you really waited.

Shop Online. EBay has only improved over the years, and sites like Overstock.com and BizRate.com only simplify your product hunts. Snagging a genuine Ralph Lauren polo for $20 feels even better than buying it full price in a department store.

After a little searching, you’ll have plenty of money left over to splurge on a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Cr&#8217me Latte when you’re done.

Few things compare to finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list. So what if you could find the perfect present and make a donation to your favorite charity at the same time? Good news: you can! Make the world a better place by purchasing products with a conscience. Pick from the list below to support:

The Global Fund (fights AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa): So, pretty much everyone has an iPod these days. But an iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition? You don’t see many of those while you’re walking to class. On top of holding more than 2,000 of your pal’s most favorite songs, the nano has room for 25,000 pictures. Holiday tip: Buy this gift for your crush. After he sees what a great gift-giver you are, chances are, he’ll want to make all 25,000 pictures of you!

Support Our Troops organization: Log onto kennethcole.com so your revolutionary sister can peacefully protest in style, donning the latest Kenneth Cole T-shirt that reads: “In war, is it who’s right or who’s left?” Even cooler than this super-trendy tee is the fact that the designer donates all of the profits from the T-shirt to our troops. No matter what your stand on Iraq, you can help send the men and women of our armed forces some love this holiday season.

The National Arbor Fund: No gift ideas for your environmentally conscious roommate? Go www.arborday.org to have a tree planted in his or her honor. It only costs $5, and the organization will send a beautiful card telling your friend about your gift.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation: These days, there are about a million ways to “think pink” and support finding a cure for breast cancer. Target carries a wide variety of pink products that make you and your pocketbook feel good. Is your suite mate about to get her own place? She’ll need tools. The pink Apollo 135-piece tool kit will help her hammer and screw in style.

Talk about happy shopping!

Ah, the holiday season. A time for giving, receiving and sharing your sultry sex tales with us.

Pardon-ez moi? You ask.

Don’t worry. We don’t expect you to disclose your intimate endeavors for free! We’ve teamed up with BootyParlor.com to give you (our lovely subscribers) a little taste of their fun and fabulous collection of designer sex toys and bedroom treats. Just tell us the sexiest way someone has ever seduced you and you’ll qualify to win one of Booty Parlor’s deluxe LoveKits – sure to spice up any sex session.

Three first prize winners will win The Seduction Kit, which has travel sized versions of Don’t Stop Massage Oil, Add Magic Lubricant, a Light My Fire Candle and I’m So Sexy Lipgloss. Three runners up will win The Intimacy Kit, which is a fab little box filled with sleek “minis” of the massage oil and lubricant, plus two condoms and a vibrating couples ring!

To enter to win, simply submit your juiciest seduction moment to seduction@collegecandy.com by midnight of December 6th!

Keep those pretty eyes peeled, because we’ll announce the winners and display the winning submissions (anonymously, of course!) in our December 13th newsletter.

How will the lucky winners obtain their sexy kits?

Booty Parlor will ship them in time for the holidays! It is the season of giving after all and you deserve a little lovin’.

Happy Holidays!

xoxo

CollegeCandy & Booty Parlor

Click here for all the delicious details!

I am best friends with this guy and I really like him. He knows how I feel and always says really sweet things to me (not friend things), but he is always hooking up with other girls. The other night, I wanted to make him jealous so I took a random guy home. While we were hooking up, my friend called six times! What is his deal?

It sounds like his deal is that he wants to have his cake, and have sex with it, too. Basically, the fact that he called you six times shows that he is into you. So that mystery is solved. But the fact that he is hooking up with other girls just shows that he is a guy. See, until we are completely tied down and committed, we will hump anything that smiles at us. What girls have trouble understanding is that guys can have feelings for one girl and still hook up with random girls without batting an eye. It’s a gift.

My suggestion is to make a move on him. Take off your shirt and tackle him. The next day, when the booze has worn off, ask him if he is into you. If you want an exclusive relationship, be upfront about it. Because if you don’t, he is going to think that he can do whatever he wants.

But he is into you. You just have to find out if he is into being monogamous.

If it’s the most wonderful time of the year, why are you suddenly feeling the urge to scream into your feather pillow?

Exams, holiday parties, trying to find the perfect gift for your not-quite-a-boyfriend-but-definitely-more-than-a-friend boy: It’s all stressing you out. This year, let’s keep the anxiety to a minimum so that you can feel the good old holiday spirit.

Take a hike: Any type of exercise, from running to that Budokon class at the gym to a brisk walk through campus, will help you blow off steam. Working out is one of the best forms of stress-relief. So get moving!

Enjoy the great outdoors: Start a snowball fight with that cute guy who lives across the hall. You’ll get some fresh air as well as a healthy dose of the Vitamin D from the sun. This super nutrient boosts your immune system and keeps those wintertime runny noses at bay.

Unleash your inner “om”: If the mention of meditation evokes a spontaneous eye-roll, you might want to rethink your preconceived notions. You don’t have to chant or dress like Mr. Miyagi from “The Karate Kid.” Sit in a comfortable position and focus on your breathing. Only 10 short minutes of meditation can make you feel revitalized.

Let laughter medicate you: Sometimes nothing is more satisfying than a funny holiday flick with your girls. Hit the theater to see “The Holiday.” Or pick up “Love Actually” at your local Blockbuster. If the laughter doesn’t get your heart pumping, Hugh Grant probably will.

Be someone’s Santa Claus: Help a family in need. Short on cash? Volunteer at your local shelter or soup kitchen. Short on time? Log on to www.target.com/stjudewishlist to order a Christmas gift for a patient at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Short on time and money? Log on to www.makeachildsmile.com to send a card to a child with a life-threatening illness. You’ll get a great karmic boost.

You never were much for Park Place (you prefer Rodeo Dr.), and you never had much interest in owning the B and O railroad (it always sounded too stinky for sweet-smelling you). All you really liked about the game was passing go and collecting $200. The rest was a venerable snore-fest.

Well, snore no more, my stylish friend, because Sephora has recently launched a game that’s so beauty-licious, you won’t even mind if it cuts into your eyebrow-tweezing time.

The beauty product Mecca has teamed up with gamesters at Mattel to create a Monopoly that understands your penchant for all things cosmetic. Go to jail for having a bad hair day and fill your stores (formerly known as properties) with products and beauty experts. The mission: to bring in as much beauty booty as possible in a quest to take over the Sephora empire one store at a time.

You’ll soon be on your way to fame and fortune, beauty product style. And there’s no doubt you’ll look great doing it.

You’ve been known to change your mind from time to time. Last week, it was Tom. This week, you may just give Ben a go-around.

For a gal like you, choosing a fragrance that satisfies your complicated taste is as hard as finding a comfortable pair of stilettos. Talk about mission impossible (Tom Cruise, eat your heart out).

Sensing your struggle, the Body Shop has recently released a DIY kit fit for fickle fragrance junkies everywhere. The nine-scent set is specially designed for mixing to create the perfect eau de you. And if the thought of all that DIYing just doesn’t suit you, have no fear. The Body Shop has been kind enough to provide a fragrance guide book to foster your scintillating scent-creating.

Talk about Scents and Sensibilities! Now if you could only find a way to mix Ben’s sense of humor with Tom’s breathtaking biceps.

This time of year, as many of us fill up our plates and get ready to give thanks, we simultaneously begin to contemplate the gym (lots of calories to burn if you&#8217re going to indulge on those pieces of pumpkin pie).

But beware: it is possible to overdue, and maybe evern become addicted to, your work-out sessions.

As soon as you start avoiding friends, school work and class to dedicate more time to the treadmill, your healthy habit has become a full fledged disorder. Over-exercisers insist on making exercise their first priority and obsess if they must miss a workout, often becoming angry or anxious, feeling guilty and compensating in unhealthy ways — such as severely cutting calories.

This problem is prevalent on college campuses where students have to adjust to a lifestyle where they are solely in charge of managing their class work, meals and they miss the convenience and structure of high school sports. And like anorexia and bulimia, there are real consequences: over-exercising can seriously strain your joints and weaken muscles denying the body the crucial repair time that it needs post workout.

So by all means go and work up a sweat, but remember the golden rule this holiday season: enjoy a little of everything (even exercise) in moderation.

I absolutely hate playing games. Do I really need to wait two or more days to call the guy I’ve just recently started to date?

Okay, that all depends on how long you’ve been dating him. Are we talking two dates or four dates? Because there’s a big difference. Two means you’re still in that still-feeling-each-other-out phase. This is the time when you’re actions are crucial. Acting too aggressively may ruin any chance of a relationship. So hold off on calling him for a few days. You don’t want to appear too anxious. It will just scare him away. Play it cool.

After the third date it pretty much goes without saying that the two of you have a “thing.” You’re into each other. So by the fourth, you should feel free to call him whenever you want, as long as you don’t take over his incoming call list.

So even though it may be hard not to give in to your urges to pick up the phone and dial his digits, hold off. Let him chase you. Then once you know you’ve got him hooked, let him catch you.

Sure, it’s the time for giving, but it’s also the time for receiving. So forget about all those other people you need to buy gifts for, and buy yourself a new accessory for your iPod.

While your iPod is fun on its own, the new OhMiBod vibrator connects to any mp3 device for quite the sexual experience. All you have to do is plug the splitter into your iPod, then attach your headphones into one end and the vibrator to the other. You not only hear the music; you feel it. Literally.

OhMiBod says the vibrator is more than “just a pleasure toy” but a way to “bring a higher level of acceptance and openness about sexuality in a fun and liberating way.” To put it in a far less exotic way … you’re getting off to your iPod. How hilarious and awesome is that?

There’s even an entire world created around this vibrator. An online community called Club Vibe (www.ohmibod.com/clubvibe) allows you to anonymously talk to other OhMiBod lovers to trade tips and music lists. You can use the vibrator with any song, but certain ones have better rhythms, so why not chat with others to find the best ones?

For your sake – and your partner’s – check out this vibrator at their website, www.ohmibod.com. After all, who doesn’t need some good vibrations?