The Office of Fair Trading is urging us to rein in our spending this year, to avoid running up Christmas debts.

The OFT says every January it seems to be dealing with an increasing number of people who've approached staff for debt counselling help.

To help people manage their Christmas spending better the OFT has produced a list of six top tips and has a series of interactive money management tools on its website.

These include an interactive budget sheet to help you draw up and keep an eye on your budget this Christmas, which can be accessed on the website, gov.im/oft.

Copies of the top tips can be obtained from the OFT at its office in Lord Street Douglas, telephone 686500.

OFT Chairman Bill Henderson MHK says, "There are all sorts of financial and particularly social pressures on people at Christmas.

"These include peer pressure, embarrassment of not being able to buy as much as others and succumbing to personal pressure to throw caution to the wind."

He says it's easy to overspend but by following the tips and drawing up and sticking to a budget you can prevent a lot of grief for yourself and your family come January.