‘Tis the season! With the holidays right around the corner, we turned to our featured editors for some advice on finding the best gift deals to save a little extra cash this season. Yahoo! Finance’s personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi gave us the scoop on the best ways to save on gifts, find deals, and avoid the dreaded “credit card hangover.”

Where are the best places to find deals on gifts?

Stores like T.J. Maxx and Marshalls update their discounted inventory daily, everything from clothing to toys to household items. Find in-season goods at a fraction of the price. For those who like to online shop, Sites like dealnews.com, shopittome.com and dealcatcher.com can give you a daily rundown on deals and steals.

For those who are really strapped for cash, what are some good gift ideas that won’t break the bank?

Wrap Your Skills - Gift your skills in a thoughtful way. Are you a web developer? Build a website for your friend or sketch out a plan for their new blog.  A photographer? Offer to take some portraits of your friends for free.
Give the Gift of Charity - With all great gifts, it’s the thought that counts. Consider donating to a charity in the name of the person you are gifting.
Grab Free Gift Ideas off the Web - The Internet is a vast resource. For a musician friend, find sheet music of his favorite songs. Create web albums of your friends’ favorite music videos/jokes/resources/etc. and compile them.
Give the Gift of Time - For your friends who never have time for themselves because they’re busy taking care of everyone else or are bogged down with work, give them a well-deserved break. Offer to baby sit kids or a pet. Help run some errands or tidy your friend’s place so he can have a breather.
Pay with Points - If you have a credit or debit card that rewards you with points to use towards shopping, use them to purchase gift cards or gift certificates for your loved ones. Depending

What about for the shoppers who are strapped for time? What are the best kinds of gift cards to buy?

The most useful gift cards are the ones that can be redeemed at stores and restaurants your friends and relatives will actually want to visit -- either their favorite restaurants or all-purpose stores and websites like Costco, Target or Amazon.com. If you know the recipient's tastes, get gift cards for a local retailer, it's both convenient and more thoughtful. At Giftly.com, you can even create a unique gift card for up to 3 local businesses based on the recipient's town or zip code.
Also, keep an eye on gift card fees. Experts at CardHub.com advise against buying general-purpose gift cards like the Visa gift card or American Express card, because they may carry purchase or other types of fees.  To compare general-purpose cards by fees, check out this chart by Bankrate.com.  Many of the cards listed do have, at least, purchase fees of around $4.

Any other tips for surviving the holiday season with our bank accounts intact?

Use Cash Only - It’s the best and only way to avoid credit card hangover in January. Credit cards give us a false license to spend more money than we have.
Stick to Your List - Narrow your options and avoid temptation with a list. Taking 20 minutes to jot down all the people you want to buy gifts for, a price limit and a few potential items will help you manage your time and stick to a budget.

Farnoosh Torabi is a personal finance expert and host of “Financially Fit" on Yahoo! Finance, the Internet’s leading finance portal, where she offers advice on topics including budgeting, saving, and spending smart. She    specializes in what the New York Times calls “perfectly practical” financial advice and easy-to-follow money saving tips for consumers. She is the author of the book Psych Yourself Rich: Get The Mindset & Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life as well as a highly sought-after speaker and frequent financial contributor to The Today Show and CNN, and her advice has been featured in Real Simple, Glamour, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

This post is part of a new “Ask the Editor” series on Yodel. At the end of every month, we will ask a different Yahoo! editor or Web trends analyst to share advice or insights on that month’s most interesting, (often themed) search trends. Stay tuned for our Year in Review edition next month.

Photos:Available from Fidelio via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogaby/5328553127/