8

Finding the Bargains

The typical US shopping mall is a wonderful place to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Christmas season. But when it comes to wisely spending your holiday cash according to your holiday spending plan, you’ll be surprised how much farther your money will stretch when you stay out of the mall.

Mall Alternatives

Art supply stores. These are great places to find stationery items (mine sells lovely writing paper and matching envelopes by the sheet and also by the ounce or pound), imported art brushes ideal for makeup, fine writing instruments at reasonable prices, photo albums, and all kinds of wonderful portfolios. Chalk, crayons, pads, modeling clay, and packets of construction paper make terrific gifts for kids.

Office supply stores. These stores offer memo books, calendars, pens, and pencils. An appreciated gift for anyone would be a nice box (or other unique container, even a new wastebasket) full of those items you need around the house but can never seem to locate: colored paper clips, staples, tape, labels, Sharpie pens that write on anything, coin wrappers, index cards, Post-it notes, yellow pads or any kind of writing paper, and a personalized rubber stamp. Rubber stamps are fairly cheap and can be specially ordered.

Hardware and home-improvement stores. These are your best bet for all kinds of gadgets and widgets. For the home chef, try an eighteen-inch-long, two-inch wooden dowel for a professional-style rolling pin, a large unglazed terra cotta tile for a pizza/baking stone, or a new paintbrush for a pastry brush. A collection of screws, cup hooks, small tools, etc., can be packed in a small toolbox for a homeowner. Stroll the aisles and you’ll get all kinds of great ideas for holiday gifts and supplies, including unusual wrapping materials such as wire and painter’s tape. Let your mind wander. Your gift will be quite a hit.

Here are some other alternative shopping locations for your consideration:

Online Shopping

As gasoline becomes more expensive and malls become more crowded, the internet is fast becoming the shopping spot of choice. Staying debt-free, however, gets a little tricky as the only wise way to pay for online purchases is with a credit card.

So what makes a retail website really great? First, the site must be user-friendly and easily navigated. To be great it must offer customers good value for the money, excellent customer service, reasonable shipping rates, and a generous return policy.

As convenient as internet shopping can be (no business hours, no parking problems, no cranky salespeople), you have to be aware of the hazards. While some buys may look good, on closer scrutiny they end up not being as great as we first thought. The simplicity of online shopping can blind us to potential pitfalls.

Here are safety tips you should follow to increase the likelihood that your online experience will be satisfying.

Beware of hidden costs. The quoted price may not be the full price. Make sure you read all the fine print, especially regarding shipping and handling charges. Look to see if there are restocking fees on items returned. And who will pay the return shipping costs?

Know the return policy. While many do, merchants are not obligated to accept items for refund, exchange, or credit unless the item is defective.

Exercise discipline. Entering a sixteen-digit credit-card number is so easy that it can pose a serious hazard to your wealth. Keep track of your spending by maintaining a separate list of the gifts you’re buying online together with a running balance of your purchases.

Do not use debit cards. Never use a debit card to make an online purchase. It’s just too dangerous. Once you input that card’s number, two things have happened: (1) You’ve shouted your number to untold numbers of people in cyberspace, and (2) you’ve just paid for that purchase. Debit cards do not carry the same consumer protection features required by federal law for credit cards. A thief, using just your debit-card number (no PIN or signature required), could go on an online shopping spree and empty out your checking account and all other accounts attached to it while you sleep. If your bank can prove that you delayed reporting fraud (you didn’t check your statements for a few months or watch your account closely online) or were negligent (you wrote your PIN on your card or allowed others to see you input it at an ATM), then you can be left holding the bag.

Use a zero-balance credit card. If you are carrying a balance on a credit-card account, you do not have a grace period. The second you use a credit card that has a revolving balance, you begin to rack up interest charges. If, however, the card you use online has a zero balance at the beginning of the billing cycle, you will have twenty-one days or so (depending on the terms and conditions of your account) to pay before interest charges kick in.

Create your own “debit card.” What if I told you there is a way you can have a fully functional debit card without any of the problems and hassles mentioned above? You’d say, “Mary, this is brilliant!” Well, get ready, because that’s exactly what I have for you.

Step 1. To do this, you need a credit-card account with a zero balance. This should be a MasterCard or a Visa that has no annual fee.

Step 2. Transfer the money you have set aside for online Christmas shopping into this account. Do this by check or online as you would if you had a balance and sent in the money to pay it off. This will result in your account showing a credit balance. For example, if you send in five hundred dollars, you will see a credit balance of minus five hundred dollars on your next statement or online when you check your account. It’s like making a deposit into a bank account, only you are depositing it into your credit-card account.

Step 3. When you shop online, use this “debit card” (which is really a credit card) instead.

Step 4. In two or three days, when you check your account online, you will see the purchase show up on your account as a charge. Your credit balance will be reduced by that amount with no fees or additional charges. If your purchase was for $3.73, your $500 credit balance will be reduced accordingly, to -$496.27.

Step 5. Watch your account as you would any account. If you see a fraudulent charge, you have all of the protection of federal law that regulates credit cards. Call customer service.

Step 6. When your credit balance runs low, deposit additional funds. Just keep in mind that this is not a savings account. A provision in the law states that a creditor must make a good faith effort to refund a credit balance that has remained on an account for more than six months.

Step 7. If you need to get your credit balance refunded, call customer service with your request. By law, they must send it to you in full within seven days of your request.

There you go. And yes, it is brilliant.

Get the best deal. Use a shopping site such as MySimon.com or Froogle.Google.com to comparison shop. Take your time and check thoroughly.

Use online coupons. Before you buy, check sites such as CurrentCodes.com and RetailMeNot.com for a coupon code for the website you are using. You may find a code for free shipping or an additional discount. Many sites offer a first-time-buyer discount.

Order early. You want to avoid expensive overnight shipping, which can be very steep.

Track your order. Know when the product will ship and how to track your order.

Keep good records. Be sure to print a copy of your order confirmation for your records. Save any email receipts.

General Merchandise

Amazon.com. Amazon began as an online bookstore, but it has expanded tremendously to offer every kind of general merchandise you can imagine through its network of affiliate merchants. Hint: Click on the gold treasure box at the top of the Amazon home page for “Today’s Deals.” Caution: Like all shopping centers, Amazon is a place you can go broke quickly if you are not extremely disciplined. Keep that spending plan handy at all times.

Overstock.com. Quite possibly this author’s favorite place to find high-quality merchandise at rock-bottom prices, Overstock.com hits a home run in most areas of online shopping. Here you will find everything: furniture, bed linens, clothing, jewelry, toys, and household items. Shipping rates are fantastic and change often—even a flat rate for your entire order as low as two dollars every now and then, no matter the size or weight (flat-rate shipping can change from day to day). Customer reviews based on the five-star method offer especially helpful insight.

Shoes

Zappos.com. Imagine a shoe (and clothing) store that carries thousands of name brands and has over ninety thousand styles, six hundred employees, a customer service call center that is staffed 24/7, and two million pairs of shoes in stock and ready for immediate shipment. That is Zappos.com. A unique feature of this shopping site is that customers rate shoes they’ve purchased and write helpful reviews using the five-star method. Free two-way shipping is standard at Zappos. If you need to return a purchase, simply print a postage-paid label from the Zappos website for a no-questions, postage-paid return on unworn items for up to 365 days. Click “On Sale” for offers on thousands of styles at discounted prices. Beware: Zappos is not a discount site. In exchange for a generous return policy and free two-way shipping, you’ll be paying full price.

6pm.com. Part of the Zappos family of companies, 6pm is like a Zappos merchandise outlet. You’ll find great deals and excellent customer service. Just know going in that you will pay for shipping both ways and that the return policy is not quite as generous as that of Zappos.com.

Shoebuy.com. This is another shoe site that competes with Zappos and claims to be the world’s largest site for shoes, with two billion dollars of inventory. That’s a lotta shoes! Shoebuy also offers free two-way shipping and goes the extra mile by including sales tax in the price of shoes. If you find a lower price elsewhere within ten days of purchase, Shoebuy will refund 110 percent of the difference (auction sites don’t apply).

DanskoOutlet.com. Dansko offers its factory seconds at bargain prices online. Factory seconds are shoes made in exactly the same way as first-quality merchandise but that have cosmetic flaws. Not every style, size, or color is available. Inventory changes often, so you need to check frequently. Returns and exchanges are allowed, but they must be preapproved.

Books

Half.com. This is a subsidiary of the auction site eBay and a place to buy and sell previously owned books, textbooks, music, movies, and video games. There are no fees to list items for sale. Instead, the company takes a commission of every completed sale.

AbeBooks.com. This is a secure and easy-to-search database for more than 13,500 booksellers. This great selection delivers value for all. Readers find bestsellers, collectors find rare books, students find textbooks, and treasure hunters find books they’ve been seeking forever. Sales occur seamlessly through checkout with payment made to AbeBooks.com.

BooksPrice.com. No books for sale here. BooksPrice.com is a comparison site for books, DVDs, and CDs. It includes Amazon.com and Half.com. Search results show the price plus cost of shipping, so you know your total before you even proceed to your book site of choice.

Electronics

Woot.com. Wild and just a little wacky, Woot.com is an online store that sells cool stuff cheap—often half the price of the cheapest retail price available online. But rather than a store jammed with all kinds of merchandise, Woot offers only one item. Per day. Woot-life is twenty-four hours. If an item sells out before that time, the site sits idly waiting for the next day.

DeepDiscount.com. This site sells DVDs at discounted prices and ships for free. You may find cheaper prices for isolated titles elsewhere, but overall the prices are great and the selection is extensive.

GotApex.com. This is a portal to the day’s hot deals on electronics, computers, and software but also on flowers, jewelry, and housewares from time to time. I don’t know how these guys do it, but Apex comes up with deals that are so random and so otherwise unknown that it makes me wonder if they have a sixth sense. The site offers coupon codes and secrets for how to combine discounts, so buyers end up with some pretty amazing deals.

Clothes

SierraTradingPost.com. Just wait until you see all the great bargains on name-brand outerwear, boots, shoes, sandals, sleepwear, and men’s and women’s clothing for hiking, biking, and camping. Expect to see brands you recognize such as Birkenstock, Earth, Puma, Sebago, Columbia, and North Face. Discounts of 30 to 70 percent are fairly standard. Need a kayak? They’ll send that too, for about one hundred dollars in shipping.

LandsEnd.com. At the home page, click on “Sales” and prepare to be amazed. You’ll find serious bargains on women’s, men’s, and kids’ overstocked clothes and merchandise with “itty-bitty flaws” marked down as much as 85 percent. Click on “On the Counter” for low prices—they are posted on Saturday and discounted throughout the week. The company’s unconditional guarantee applies even to overstocked and flawed merchandise: “If you’re not satisfied with any item, simply return it to us at any time for an exchange or refund of its purchase price.”

Bluefly.com. If you’re into designer clothing, handbags, and accessories, Bluefly.com is your resource. While the prices aren’t cheap by most standards, you will find significant discounts on designer brands such as Prada, Diesel, Gucci, Kate Spade, Coach, and Vera Wang. The selection, variety, and discounts are impressive. Shipping is a flat $7.95 per order.

Specialty

DiscountDance.com. Whether your dancer needs a leotard or tap shoes, here is the online source for discounts. The site carries a wide variety of dancing supplies, including shoes, men’s and women’s dance clothing, leotards, tights, etc. Beware: Special orders, tights, and sale items cannot be returned. Others may be returned with a receipt within thirty days. For exchanges, expect a $4.95 reshipment charge.

Etsy.com. Think of Etsy as a craft fair where more than ten million talented artisans offer their homemade wares for little more than a song. Finally, the opportunity to own an original piece of art. The site is hip and cool and a great place to find gifts.

Jewelry

SilverJewelryClub.com. This is a site that is almost too crazy to be true. The site features only silver jewelry, offering four pieces of jewelry every ten minutes. If you want an item, you have to quickly fill out your shipping information, and for $6.99 (the cost of shipping and handling), you get a nice piece of silver jewelry worth forty to fifty dollars. That’s the pitch. In truth, I have found the jewelry to be of a quality somewhat less than the stated amount but always, in my opinion, more than the cost of shipping. You may have to watch for a long time to come upon something that fits your standards and style, but it’s likely to happen.

Crafts

SmileysYarns.com. If you knit or crochet and have all the yarn you need, do not—I repeat, do not—go to this website. With quality name-brand yarn at 50 to 75 percent off retail, the temptation will be too great and you could find yourself committing yarnicide. Prices are cheap on brands you’ll recognize such as Bernat, Lion Brand, Cervinia, Rowan, Karabella, and Plymouth (many for just $1.25 per ball), and selections are decent. Beware: Put one skein into your shopping cart and you’ll need to add quite a few more to reach the fifty-dollar minimum purchase requirement. Shipping is always a $12.95 flat rate per order, which means you cannot get out of here for less than $62.95. Still, for the serious knitter, this place is like a secret gold mine.

Artbeads.com. Here’s an amazing collection of jewelry findings and beads from alphabet to wood, Swarovski to glass, and everything in between, all at wholesale pricing! Order a single bead or dozens. Shipping is always free for orders of ten dollars or more, and there are no minimum purchase requirements. All but clearance items of five dollars or more are refundable for up to sixty days from purchase. Items less than five dollars may be returned for store credit.

Save-on-crafts.com. This is a beautiful website with simple navigation and rich with photographs. You will find deeply discounted craft supplies for scrapbooking, beading, floral design, sewing, quilting, and wedding decorations. Save-on-crafts offers an extensive collection of free projects and inspiration with excellent instructions. Beware: Many items come in multiples of twelve without the option to buy fewer. Watch out or you could end up with a dozen bottles of glue, not the single bottle you intended to buy.

Bargain Finders

MyBargainBuddy.com. This is a helpful site that keeps track of current coupon codes you can use on other sites, features current bargains on the internet, and even sends out an email three times every week to tell you what’s new.

Nextag.com. This bargain finder will help you comparison shop for everything from shoes to electronics. It does an excellent job and captures a whole range of prices and sites with customer ratings too. Don’t waste your precious time going from site to site. Let this bargain-finding site do that for you.

SundaySaver.com. This site collects the Sunday sales circulars from the newspaper and puts them in one place so you can click through them with your computer mouse. Look up sales by store and by product and run internet product comparisons that pick up the best deals.

NaughtyCodes.com. You will find discount codes here for thousands of online stores. When you click on a store to search codes, the site pulls up the codes and the website for that store.

Miscellaneous

PropertyRoom.com. Started by former police officers, this no-frills site allows you to bid on unclaimed items in the stolen property rooms of police stations.

FatWallet.com. Here’s a way you can make some money online. This site will give you a rebate if you go through its portals on your way to shopping at name-brand sites. They get a commission on what you buy and agree to share it with you. FatWallet is more generous than other rebate sites. Check the site for details on how to sign up and which merchants cooperate with them. Another such site is eBates.com.

PlasticJungle.com. Got a gift card you can’t use? Trade it for a card you can use or sell it for cash at PlasticJungle.com. You can also buy gift cards at a considerable discount. Make sure you check a card’s expiration date and maintenance fees before agreeing to buy it.

An eBay Primer

Think of eBay (ebay.com) as the mother of all garage sales with bargains galore for every purpose imaginable, including Christmas gifts. Millions of transactions occur each day involving individuals, big companies posing as individuals, liquidators posing as home-based businesses, and a few shysters and scam artists thrown into the mix. Want to play? Follow these basics to make sure yours is a pleasant experience.

Do your homework. Learn as much as you can about the item before you bid. Read the description carefully and check measurements. Still have questions? Ask the seller.

Know your prices. Do a quick online search to see if the item or something similar is available new. It’s amazing how many people pay more for a used item than a brand-new one at competing retail sites.

Set your boundaries. Based on your research and the condition of the item, determine the most you will pay—the point at which you will stop bidding.

Know your seller. Study the seller’s feedback, reports from other buyers who’ve done business with this seller. Assume you’ll be treated the same way.

Know the total cost. Add together your maximum bid, shipping cost, and tax, if any, which will be disclosed up front. This is your full price.

Beware of debt. Like all online payments, you need to handle your eBay transactions with a credit card (not a debit card). And that opens the door to creating new debt. Discipline yourself. The minute you complete that transaction with your credit card, write out a check for the full amount and send it to the credit-card company. Paying the bill will not preclude your ability to dispute the charge should something go awry with your eBay transaction.

Place your bid. Let the competition begin. And good luck!

Outlet Shopping

Remember when “outlet” meant a mostly secret area at the back of a factory, where the manufacturer sold overruns and slightly irregular and discontinued merchandise? Nowadays, “outlet” means a fabulous mall loaded with name-brand stores and promises of bargains galore.

But is it all hype? Do manufacturers really make enough mistakes to fill acres of high-end outlet malls in nearly every area of the country?

Of course, there’s plenty of hype, but credible research reveals great bargains on high-quality merchandise plus a remarkably pleasant experience if you know the secrets of how to shop right. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or for those on your Christmas list, here are specific guidelines to keep in mind.

Know your outlets. A couple of outlet mall developers maintain detailed and useful websites: PremiumOutlets.com and TangerOutlet.com. For other outlet centers, try doing a web search using your general location—Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for example—plus the word outlet. Before you take off on a summer vacation, check these sites for outlet malls that may be on your route.

Wait for the big sales. While outlets regularly shout “Sale!” they follow the same calendar as regular stores. You can count on the best deals around President’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving weekend, and Christmas. January is an especially good time to find bargains at the outlets, as they have to clear space for spring inventory—something that may be of interest if you are really planning ahead on your holiday shopping.

Know your merchandise. The more familiar you are with a manufacturer’s merchandise in its regular store, the better you’ll be at spotting a true bargain at the outlet. Some goods are manufactured specially for the outlet, and these lines never show up in the regular store. Only a few manufacturers clearly label their outlet lines as such. The Gap, for instance, used to label its outlet line “Gap Factory Store.” Now the labels only say “Gap,” but you will find three small squares under the logo on the sewn-in label on items that are outlet exclusives.

The only way to know for sure whether you’re looking at first-quality, name-brand merchandise or lower-quality goods made specifically for the outlet is to ask. Salesclerks in outlets are usually quite forthcoming and open about their products’ origins. As for whether the outlet has the lowest price, that’s something you must determine.

One reader wrote that the sweater she bought at the outlet went on sale at the regular store for much less than the outlet price. Due to the outlet store’s “all sales final” policy, she was stuck and angry. Buyer beware.

Understand irregulars. If an item is marked “irregular,” that means there’s a mistake somewhere. It may be quite visible, or it could be difficult to detect. Perhaps that beautiful blazer was cut off-grain. You can’t see the flaw, but it will never hang correctly. If you cannot see why an item is marked irregular, ask the clerk. Even then it may be difficult to detect. Proceed with caution.

Use coupons. The major outlet developers (Premium Outlets and Tanger Outlets) have loads of downloadable coupons on their websites for bonus discounts on top of any low prices you will find at the outlet stores. Some offer to send you an email alert for specific sales and offers. You can even sign up to receive discounts on specific name brands. You will need to register at these sites, but the coupons are free.

Join frequent-shopper programs. To get even bigger discounts and saving bonuses, you can join an outlet’s frequent-shopper program. Clubs and coupons are typically free, although Tanger charges a one-time ten-dollar membership fee.

Use other discounts. Are you a AAA member? A senior? Many outlets offer discounts for members of various organizations and groups. At Chelsea Premium Outlets, Tuesday is senior discount day.

Inquire about out-of-season merchandise. Want to check out seriously marked-down merchandise? Ask a clerk where they have the out-of-season items. You’ll likely be shown to a room in the back of the store where the remains of last season await a willing buyer. Expect to see picked-over goods at rock-bottom prices.

Finally, a word of caution about bargain shopping: The best bargain in the world is way overpriced if you do not need it. Before you make your final decision, step back and make one last assessment. Do you really like the item, or are you justifying the purchase because it’s so cheap? Will it be a great gift, or is it more likely to land in your recipient’s next garage sale? Be wise, be cautious, and above all pay with cash. That’s the way to make outlet shopping work for you.

Gift Cards

Gift cards have taken the US by storm and hang on racks at checkout counters everywhere. These days you can buy gift cards (the modern replacement for the gift certificate) for just about every store imaginable. You can even buy bank gift cards that work in most stores. They are convenient, and for many people, gift cards appear to be the perfect gift solution. They’re not. Why? I will tell you.

A gift card is a worthless piece of plastic until purchased and passed through a machine that loads the magnetic strip with the dollar value, the time and date of activation, plus all the details about where the card was purchased and other insider information.

A gift card is not “just like cash.” A gift card buys store credit. It is subject to store rules and store policies that vary greatly from one card to another. You cannot exchange it for cash; in fact, you can’t even get cash in change if you do not spend it down to the last penny.

Retailers make their own rules. They can impose as many conditions and limitations as their customers will tolerate, provided those conditions are not prohibited by law in the state of issue and are disclosed at the time of purchase. For example, it is unlawful for gift cards issued in California after 1997 to expire (except in some very limited circumstances).

Store gift cards are usually issued fee-free. However, Visa and MasterCard gift cards carry up-front fees of $5.95 or more for the buyer of the card. And if you order by mail? Expect a hefty delivery fee as well.

You may assume that while it is unsafe to send cash through the mail, a gift card is okay to mail. No way! Gift cards are stolen all the time, and unless you have been careful to keep the receipt and the card’s identification number, you are out of luck. Even then you or the recipient loses if the thief has spent the balance or the store decides not to honor your documentation. They don’t have to.

But here’s the most annoying thing: Most gift cards start losing value, some as soon as six months after activation. That can come as a huge shock if you hang on to a gift card. For instance, Visa’s Mall of America gift cards purchased before August 22, 2010, came with a plethora of sneaky fees. There’s a $2.00 activation fee at the time of purchase. The card magically shrinks by $1.50 per month starting in the thirteenth month after the card’s purchase, not when you receive it (this inactivity fee is not applicable to Visa’s Mall of America gift cards purchased after August 22, 2010). If you give a gift card you purchased a year ago, it could be worth a lot less than you think. Some cards charge inactivity fees after a period of nonusage has elapsed.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the money on gift cards that are lost, unused, or just plain forgotten? The research and advisory firm Tower Group predicts that of the $91 billion in gift-card sales in 2010, $2.5 billion (about 3.1 percent) will never be redeemed.[6] Wow! Two and a half billion dollars can’t just disappear. So do stores get to keep it? Payments News, an industry watchdog, says that’s exactly what happens. After the passage of a sufficient number of years, the retailer can remove the gift-card liability from its books. That means the money is theirs. It is estimated that Walmart could have close to $1 billion of unused gift cards in circulation. Ka-ching! The highest percentage ever recorded for unused gift cards (called “spillage,” “spoilage,” or “breakage”) was 10 percent of all gift cards purchased in 2007.

A gift card is not the same as cash. It’s the same as store credit. That’s what you are giving as a gift. The store gets to write the rules for how it will handle your recipient and its store credit. And should that store fall into financial trouble, the gift card will become worthless, even if it has no expiration date. Over one hundred million dollars in gift cards was rendered useless or compromised in value in some way in 2008 because of the bankruptcies of Sharper Image, Linens ’n Things, and other failed retailers with outstanding gift cards. Gift-card holders lost another seventy-five million dollars in 2010 due to store and restaurant closings. Did I mention that a gift card is not the same as cash?

Have you ever tried to spend exactly fifty dollars to the penny at any store? It’s impossible! Either you have to dig into your pocket to subsidize the cost of your purchase, or you have to leave a few bucks on the card because stores don’t give change when you use a gift card.

Another reason to be careful is that gift cards do not command the same respect as real money. They are more easily lost or misplaced than, say, a fifty-dollar bill.

A very useful website, ScripSmart.com, tracks and rates gift-card data from retailers all over the country according to ease of redemption and other criteria. Each gift card is given a numerical rating on a scale of 1 to 100. If you need to know anything about a gift card, this is the place to look. You will also find ratings of each state according to their gift-card laws. You’ll be shocked by how many states receive a grade of F.

I have a great idea for a major retailer who’s interested in building goodwill among consumers. They should announce that instead of pocketing the windfalls from unused gift cards, they will donate those funds to charity. Now that would get my attention. And you know what? I think I could even warm up to the idea of purchasing gift cards from that merchant. Well, maybe.

Which brings me to this question for all gift-card enthusiasts: What’s wrong with a gift of money—beautiful currency? It’s always the right color and size, it works absolutely everywhere, and you can be sure your recipient isn’t going to accidentally throw it out with all the wrapping paper. Too impersonal, you say? Cold and tacky? I don’t think so, but just to be on the safe side, you could always fold those crisp new bills into cute origami shapes to show your recipients just how much you really care.

Google “money origami” to find websites where you can learn quickly how to turn currency into fun gifts that will be far more unique and infinitely more practical than gift cards.

I can hear all of you Starbucks-card lovers screaming in horror. You adore the Starbucks cards (or Target or Bloomies) you get from students, parents, and co-workers. You are a regular customer, you combine your cards, you see them as more precious than cash, and you are more likely to lose your youngest child than your gift cards. Your gift cards give you permission to be frivolous and buy something for yourself you would never buy with cash. Okay, okay. I’m not saying there are no exceptions here.

This is a compromise I can live with: Give a gift card because it is at the top of your recipient’s wish list, not because it’s an easy default for you.

If you give a gift card:

If you receive a gift card:

These days as more businesses are filing for bankruptcy, consider this fact: If a company files for a reorganization type of bankruptcy in which it stays in business but under the guidance of the judicial system, which steps in to deal with the company’s creditors, it is quite likely that the judge will decree that all outstanding gift cards for that store are null and void. It could happen for the cards you are about to purchase or even for the ones in your wallet, because it’s happened many times already. So again, buyers and recipients, beware. Get rid of those cards as quickly as possible because, unfortunately, you need to use them or you might lose them.

If you cannot reasonably use a gift card, trade it, sell it, or give it away. Just don’t let it evaporate. Websites such as PlasticJungle.com and Cardpool.com will take it and give you cash back, credit your PayPal account, or give you an Amazon gift card for up to 92 percent of the original gift card’s value. Yes, you’ll be “losing” money by selling it at a discount. But if you weren’t going to use that gift card anyway (or you were going to use it on something you didn’t really need), it’s probably still a better deal.

Return Policies

Whether you shop in a brick-and-mortar store such as Walmart or Target or an online store such as Amazon or Overstock, the merchant’s return policy should be front and center in your mind.

Be forewarned: Returns are not what they used to be. Retailers who collectively lost an estimated $13.95 billion from return fraud[7] have had it up to here with immoral and unethical shoppers who take advantage of return policies. Good, honest consumers like us pay for their crimes in higher prices.

Many big retailers are now depending on software to help them reduce losses that occur when customers abuse store return policies. Companies such as the Retail Equation offer retailers software that allows them to track returns in an effort to reduce fraud. One thing the software looks for is “excessive returns.” Of course, we don’t know what “excessive” means, as that can vary from one retailer to another, but when that store’s threshold is met, the software kicks in and prohibits that customer from making returns until sufficient time has passed. Every time you make a return, the clerk scans your receipt and/or swipes your driver’s license. If the company thinks you’ve been making too many returns, you can be blacklisted without notice. Retailers are able to do all kinds of surveillance because software is cheap and the technology is quite amazing.

I applaud any return policy that says “No way!” to the person who buys a new camcorder on Friday, shoots a wedding on Saturday, and then returns it for a full refund on Monday. I’m happy to support any policy designed to stop the practice of “wardrobing”—buying clothes to be worn to a specific event and then returning them for a full refund the next day.

Sure, tough return policies act to preclude all of us from buying something willy-nilly, assuming that if we change our minds we can just bring it back for a refund whenever we get around to it. And what’s wrong with that? Maybe we’ve become too cavalier when it comes to shopping. Tightening up our selections on the front end is probably a good thing.

I hate to think of all the times I intended to take something back but just didn’t get around to it. The unused appliance or clothing item sat in a cupboard or closet through several seasons of procrastination before coming to its final resting place in a yard sale or the Goodwill bag. Perhaps being more keenly aware of a less-than-generous return policy in the beginning would have discouraged me from being so careless with my cash in the first place.

The way I see it, tighter return policies will go a long way to stop immoral shoppers and at the same time make good consumers even better.

Planning to return any holiday gifts? Remember these tips.

Keep your receipts. You need to keep all of your receipts. But you will need more than that. For electronics, make sure the box is sealed—that means not opened, not tested, not used. Clothing? Better have the tags attached and not even a hint that the item has been worn. Many stores now give, in addition to a sales receipt, a gift receipt on request. Always ask for this. Gifts returned with a gift receipt are often treated in a different manner, making the return transaction quite easy.

Watch the calendar. If you miss the window of opportunity to return an item for a refund, you’ll be out of luck and reduced to trying to unload the item on eBay. Best Buy has a fourteen-day return period on all things digital. Amazon needs to receive your return within thirty days. Target has a somewhat more generous ninety-day policy for most things but just forty-five days for electronics, DVDs, and so forth, provided they are still sealed in their packaging and you have the receipt. The popular shopping website SmartBargains.com makes no bones about its return policy: “Returns that do not meet our requirements will be sent back to you and no refund will be issued.”[8]

Find out about restocking fees. If you’ve got all your packaging and your dates in order, even then you could be charged a restocking fee (Sears charges 15 percent on a long list of items), ending up with store credit instead of the cash or being tagged a frequent returner. A designation of frequent returner could result in you being banned from returning at certain stores altogether.

Pay with cash whenever possible. Of course, I am referring now to purchases made in walk-in retail stores, not those you make online. Paying with cash is good for your financial future because you can’t create debt when you pay with cash. Also, cash sales are not tracked in the store’s computer, making it easier for you to make a return for a refund.

Shop thoroughly. The prospect of returns being more carefully scrutinized behooves us to become more careful shoppers. It’s easy to get in a rush and skip trying things on in the store, simply taking several colors and sizes on approval, assured that all of it can be returned. Not a good idea. You sure don’t want to get stuck with all of those items and be forced to dispose of them at a garage sale for ten cents on the dollar.

Make it your business. Above all, inquire about a store’s specific return policies before you make a purchase. If this matter of excessive returns is not addressed in the written policy, ask about it. Inquire how the store determines what is an excessive number of returns.

Several years ago, I started a tradition with my kids that they have outgrown but refuse to let me give up. I purchase twelve pairs of mittens when they go on sale after winter each year, usually at two pair for a dollar. On Thanksgiving weekend, I pin the mittens on a ribbon that I attach to the window in our dining room.

Then I look through the local newspaper and choose free or inexpensive activities in the community that I want to enjoy with my family, such as church Christmas concerts, the community Christmas tree lighting, the hometown Christmas parade, the high school Christmas play, or the community orchestra concert. I write down each person’s favorite breakfast food. I choose four activities that serve the needy people in our community, such as serving a meal at a local homeless shelter, taking candy canes to a nursing home, delivering pet food and homemade pet treats to the local animal shelter, or Christmas caroling at the great-grandparents’ houses. I also list inexpensive activities we can do at home, such as game and movie nights, story time, homemade pizza making, or cookie baking.

I type each of the twenty-four special moments on individual pages and decorate them. Then I roll them up, tie them with a festive ribbon, and put one in each mitten. Starting on December 1, my kids race to the “Advent mittens” each morning to see what special thing we will be doing that day. After Christmas, we take the mittens to the local homeless shelter.

My children are now both teenagers, but they beg me not to give up the Advent mittens when I suggest they may have outgrown them. Most of the time, they turn down offers from their friends to do things during the holidays, because they don’t want to miss a thing. It never ceases to amaze me that knowing you will be having French toast and hot cocoa for supper will keep you excited all day long.

Corena L., Texas