| With office parties, family travel, preparing for and | | | | possible stores that may have them. |
| throwing family get-togethers packing in on the | | | | 2. Call ahead to see if items are available. |
| schedule and budget, it's no wonder that 85% of | | | | 3. Consider shopping when the stores first open, or |
| Americans complete their gift shopping 10 days before | | | | the last hour that they are open. |
| the holidays. And oddly enough men and younger | | | | 4. If you spouse is deployed, let the stores ship the |
| shoppers, according to a 2003 report by American | | | | items for you. |
| Express, are now leading the holiday rush.While some | | | | 5. Shop at online stores and take advantage of their |
| are a bit ashamed of the appearance of | | | | gift wrapping and shipping options |
| procrastinating, others consider it quite fashionable to | | | | 6. Buy store issued gift cards such as Starbucks, Bed |
| delay gift giving. The thought of facing a crazed | | | | Bath & Beyond, Macy's and Best Buys |
| shopping mob, spending 60 or more on 10 gallons of | | | | 7. Buy prepaid gift cards from credit card issuers like |
| gas and losing hours of much needed rest driving from | | | | DiscoverCard and MasterCard prepaid debit gift cards |
| store to store does little to discourage procrastinating. | | | | 8. Shop online and save gas and hours driving from |
| One study reveals that only one in four last minute | | | | store to store |
| shoppers (25 percent) finds the task pleasurable.It | | | | 9. Take advantage of online reward programs |
| goes without saying a frugal shopper can save | | | | 10. If you must venture out to shop take time to do |
| hundreds, even thousands waiting for post-holiday | | | | comparison shopping online first.That said, Fimark, a |
| clearance sales and sending belated gifts out in | | | | web business marketing firm located at , encourages |
| January. Still many are just not content to put off | | | | consumers to take advantage of price comparison |
| in-season gift shopping no matter what the savings. | | | | shopping in the online marketplace. What can you find |
| To that end how can last minute shoppers save both | | | | when comparison-shopping online? Customer reviews |
| time and money finding the right gifts?10 Time Saving | | | | are often the best guide for determining which stores |
| Shopping Tips1. Make a list of your gift ideas and | | | | to trust. |