The stress of having to stretch the dollar for Christmas can take the joy out of shopping for many of us. To add to our woes, most national retail analysts including the Retail Council of Canada predict that retailers have been tightly controlling their inventories during the recession. For this reason we shouldn't expect the late season discounts as stores are unlikely to experience the excess stock of previous years.
Getting ready for the on rush of yuletide spending requires some thought:
- Set a budget and stick with it.
- Put aside the credit cards and use cash only for your purchases.
- Shop early.
- Do a family gift exchange so you only need to buy one gift and set a price range that everyone will agree to.
- Consult family and friends about what they want.
- Use the internet to research the gift before purchasing it.
According to a survey done for Google, almost 94 per cent of consumers are planning to ease Santa's load this year by buying gift cards. This is up from just 56 per cent in 2008. The reason for this jump according to the experts is that gift cards resonate with shoppers who do not like to waste money on gifts that will collect dust in a closet.
Most of us are negative to neutral about giving them and feel the same way about receiving them. But they provide higher practicality than the traditional gift that might not last long in someone's hand before it is re-gifted or shows up for sale on eBay.
Joel Waldfogel, author of the new book Scroogenomics states that most Christmas presents lose a fifth of their value as soon as they are opened, due to the recipients' lowered appraisal of their worth. The result, he says is that $25 million US is virtually being thrown away each Christmas around the world.
Here are a few more suggestions that could take some of the strain out of our gift giving:
- Use the internet classifieds for bargains. Many listings have photos attached so you can save time and money by not having to go all over town to find what you want.
- Sign up for online bulletins or newsletters for your favourite shops. They will often send notices of sales exclusively to online subscribers.
- Many stores including the most high end ones have "scratch and dent" sections that discount goods that can't be sold at regular prices. Do a careful inspection and decide if the small chips or dents are small enough to not effort the usefulness of the item you are purchasing.
Read the poinsettia leaves: don't let loose in the stores this year if you can't afford it. You'll regret it in the New Year when the bills start arriving.
