In these tough economic times, you can give good quality holiday gifts without breaking your budget.The National Retail Federation reports predict that US consumers will spend on average this holiday around $682.74 per person. During last season American consumers spent $705 per person on average. That is a decline of 3.2% from 2008 holiday shopping season.
With the national unemployment rate over 10% most consumers are planning on spending less on gift giving this year. In a recent survey 8 out of 10 consumers plan on purchasing their gifts with cash only.
Since the US consumer makes up 70% of the US economic activity, the impact of consumer spending on this Black Friday will have an important impact on our overall economic recovery. The US consumers are expected to spend $437.6 billion when compared to last years spending of $442 billion. That is a decline of 1%.
So the question for our readers of this article is, how do you survive the holiday shopping season The answer to that question is the following;
1) Do your research on line prior to hitting the malls and the madness of Black Friday. 2) Combine the use of coupons, with promotional codes, and local & on line sales
3) Set your children expectations by talking to them about how much you can spend on per child
4) Do not buy on impulse, bring cash instead of your credit cards & debit cards. Stick to your list.
5) Purchase your holiday gifts throughout the year during holiday sales.
6) Utilize on line web sites such as; http://www.overstock.com, http://www.Amazon.com, http://www.Ebay.com
Here are some coupons and promo codes web site that would be helpful;
http://www.blackfriday.com,http://www.blackfriday.gotadeal.com, http://www.couponcodes.com, http://www.currentcodes.com,http://www.couponchief.com, & http://www.promotionalcodes.com
One of the ways of saving money for holiday shopping is to make your own holiday gifts for your family and friends. For an example I gave my nephew a gift of baseball cards in a photo frame. The photo frame in the shape of baseball diamond. I had all the position players in the infield, outfield, and catcher and pitchers diamond. My nephew loved the cards and the photo frame. The photo frame was purchase at a flea market. The baseball cards I already had in my possession.
By the way you can always re-gift gifts that you do not want to keep. Just make sure that you do not re-gift. To the person who gave you the gift. With proper planning, utilizing researching the internet, coupons, promotion codes and sales, you don’t have to go into debt to purchase good quality gifts.