Top 10 Holiday Shopping Tips

Make gift-giving great and avoid the New Year’s budget blues
by following these hints for the holidays

1. Stick to a budget
   Prepare a holiday budget before you shop. Pay with cash to keep from spending too much.
2. Use credit cards wisely
   If you pay with a credit card, use just one. If you pay by credit card, you get legal protections if you don’t receive what you ordered or if products are defective. Read the terms of your credit card agreement.
3. Get your R&R – refunds and receipts
   Check for a store's refund policy, or ask about them, before you buy. Some stores offer a full refund; others offer only a store credit or no refund at all. Save your receipts and ask for gift receipts. You or the person getting your gifts will need them for returns and exchanges.
4. Check for sale prices
   When you buy sale items, check your receipt before you leave the cash register. Make sure they did not charge you the regular price. If something you buy goes on sale later, ask about sales adjustments and you might get a refund or credit.
5. Get full value from gift cards
   If you receive gift cards, spend them promptly. U.S. consumers waste about $10 billion a year by not spending their gift cards. Also, you can redeem any retailer gift card for cash if it has a cash value of less than $10. Donated gift cards are exempt. The law forbids nearly all service fees on retailer gift cards. In California, most gift cards don’t expire no matter what the fine print says. (These rules do not apply to bank gift cards, which are issued by American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa and can be used at most stores.)
6. Read the fine print
   If you're making a big purchase, read the contract and understand it before you sign. Check the interest rate and the total cost of the item including interest. Make sure you can afford the total price.
7. Know the way to layaway
   Some bigger stores offer layaway. If you buy an item by layaway, get a full receipt with a description of the item, total price, amount of the down payment, amount and due dates of payments, length of the hold and the store’s refund policy.
8. Stay secure online
   When buying online, make sure the website is secure before entering your personal or financial information. Secure websites begin with "https://" rather than just "http://." They also display a locked padlock on the screen.
9. Protect your personal information
   Don’t be a victim of identity theft. Do not give personal information over the telephone or online unless you contacted that person or business. Do not write your address, phone number, Social Security, or driver’s license numbers on credit-card receipts. Before giving personal or financial information to a business, ask how they will use it and if it will remain confidential.
10. When you give, know where it's going
    Watch out for phony charities that use names that sound like the real charities. Don’t be fooled. Look closely and only donate to groups you can trust.