If you haven't already, check on flights home for Christmas break. No matter how much you hate your family, your college will probably close the dorm on you if you don't go home. 

You might already be too late for a good deal, but flights are also a strange exception to the prevailing notion of booking early. In this case, procrastination can pay. 

Everyone plans ahead for Christmas flights and airlines know that. They hike up prices a month or more away from the flight to take advantage of the all the responsible people. Slackers like you and me get the better prices in early December. 

Not all flights follow that rule, but you can be sure by checking your flight at Bing Travel. Microsoft bought a start-up called Farecast which provides Bing with technology that predicts when your flight will land at the lowest price. You can set up a simple email alert that will check the flights for you on a daily basis and notify you when it's best to buy. 

Bing is still telling me to wait it out on my flight from L.A. to Chicago and expects about a $90 price difference. So, I'm nervously anticipating the day I have to book it. What's the worst that could happen if my flight gamble doesn't work out? Road trip to Vegas for Christmas. 

[image via Kossy@FINEDAYS]