1 Christmas Shopping Guide

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING GUIDE 1 Manage your credit during the holidays Holiday shopping takes up a consid- more effectively manage their credit. up costing you more money if you get erable amount of time between Thanks- • Know what you can afford. Swiping to January and can't pay the balance in giving and Christmas Day. Shoppers now and dealing with the consequences its entirety. who scour in-store and online retailers in January is a recipe for a rocky new • Try not to juggle cards. Many in the hunt for the perfect gift annually year. In some cases, it can benefit shoppers juggle multiple cards to avoid spend hundreds of billions of dollars consumers to make purchases with building up too big a balance on one par- during such pursuits, and what they their credit cards as opposed to their ticular card during the holiday season. swipe when making purchases could debit cards. But that's an easy way to lose track of go a long way toward how their new For instance, when making purchas- how much you have spent. Rather than years begin. es online, it's often safer to use a credit juggling cards, use only the one with the Overreliance on credit cards to make card rather than a debit card linked to lowest interest rate. holiday purchases can prove crippling your checking and savings accounts, • Monitor your balances. Swiping a once the calendar turns to January. as using the latter can make your life's credit card is easy and hassle-free, and According to an analysis of statistics savings vulnerable to hackers. But don't many retailers both big and small now from the Federal Reserve, the average start swiping your credit cards until you • Resist retailer cards. When mak- accept various types of cards. Keep a household consumer debt in the United know what you can afford. Examine your ing in-store purchases, chances are close eye on your balances, checking States was more than $15,700 as of finances and only use your credit card the cashier will invite you to sign up for them online after each shopping trip. June of 2015. That's roughly one-tenth if you know you can repay the balance a retailer credit card, even offering an This can help you control your spending the average mortgage debt, suggesting before it incurs any interest. If you can't immediate discount if you do so at the and also can alert you to any fraudulent that many consumers are relying too pay the balance in full at the time the registers. While this discount may seem activity. heavily on credit cards when making payment is due, use a debit card so you too tempting to ignore, keep in mind Shoppers who must use their credit their purchases. are only spending money you already that many retailer credit cards come cards this holiday season can employ This holiday season, consumers con- have and not taking out what amounts with considerably higher interest fees several strategies to ensure they don't cerned about swiping their credit cards to a high-interest loan on your holiday on balances that are not paid off in full. dig themselves into a financial hole by too often can take the following steps to purchases. So that discount at the register may end the end of December. 2 THE BOWIE NEWS 2017 Help Santa round up his reindeer and you could win tickets to see The Nutcracker at the Bowie Community Center Help Santa Claus find Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, and Rudolph hidden in the Holiday Shopping special section. Circle each of the nine reindeer and bring your paper by The News office at 200 Walnut St. Bowie to be entered in a drawing for tickets to see The Nutcracker at the Bowie Community Center. Deadline for entries is Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. For more information call 940-872-2247. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING GUIDE 3 4 THE BOWIE NEWS 2017 CHRISTMAS SHOPPING GUIDE 5 Don’t forget to consider shipping options The holiday season can be hectic, • Ship early. Waiting to ship all gifts at and thanks to that sometimes frenetic the same time may be more convenient, pace, it can be easy to put things on but it can prove more costly as well. If the back burner. While it's OK to put off you typically finish your holiday shop- some things until the holiday season has ping just a few days before Christmas, come and gone, shipping gifts to loved then waiting to ship everything will cost ones does not fall into that category. more money than shipping gifts as you Shipping can be expensive, espe- buy them. cially for last-minute shoppers who want The longer you wait to ship gifts, to ensure their gifts arrive in time for the the more you can expect to pay if you holidays. But the following are a handful expect those gifts to arrive on time. of ways to ship smart and save both time Shipping gifts as you buy them, espe- and money. cially if you get much of your shopping • Ship directly to the recipient. Last- done early, can save you short-term or minute shoppers who are buying online overnight shipping fees, which can be can save money by shipping gifts di- significant. rectly to the recipient. • Comparison shop. Much like you While shipping directly to the re- can save money by comparison shop- cipient may seem less personal than ping for holiday gifts, you can save sending a gift you wrapped yourself, by comparing shipping costs as well. postal service, to see which offers the delivering gifts intact and on time, items many online retailers allow shoppers Pack-and-ship companies compete for best deal. are sometimes lost or damaged. to send gift-wrapped items directly to consumers' business during the height • Insure the items you ship. The holi- By insuring your packages, you're another person. Just be sure to have of the holiday shipping season, so day season is the busiest time of year ensuring you won't be out of luck should the recipient's correct address when compare the costs between the various for the pack-and-ship industry. While the your package be lost, damaged or sto- choosing this option. pack-and-ship companies, including the industry is often remarkably effective at len before it reaches its destination. 6 THE BOWIE NEWS 2017 Buying local helps your community Holiday shopping dominates many people's free time between the day after Thanksgiving and the final days before Christmas. While many people may shop 'til they drop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, those days still ac- count for a relatively small amount of the hundreds of billions of dollars that are within your community. If your local mall spent each holiday season. is a considerable drive away, chances Shoppers now have a bevy of op- are the chains within that mall are not tions at their disposal as they embark employing many of your fellow com- on holiday shopping season. Traditional munity members. in-store retailers are still around, and Local businesses in your community online shopping continues to grow in are more likely to employ residents of popularity with each holiday season. your town. But many holiday shoppers are look- • Shopping local may provide ac- ing to buy local this holiday season, cess to more unique gifts. In addition to and such a decision can pay a host of the economic benefits of buying local, dividends for both shoppers and the shoppers may find merchandise made communities they call home. by local craftsmen is more unique than • Buying local benefits your local mass-produced items found on the economy. Studies from Civic Eco- shelves of national retailers. nomics, an economics and strategics Recipients may cherish more unique planning firm, found that independent, items that they cannot find on their locally-owned retailers return a far own, and that appreciation may even greater percentage of their revenue spur them to visit more local retailers into their local economies than national after the holiday season has come and chain stores. gone, benefiting their own communities One such study examined the dis- in so doing. parity between revenue recirculation • Local business may provide a more among independent, locally-owned personal touch. Buying from national businesses in Raleigh, North Carolina, chains has its advantages, but customer versus four major national chains in the service is not always one of them. city. The former recirculated 51.1 per- Should your loved ones encounter cent of revenue into the local economy, problems with their gift that requires as- while the latter recirculated less than 14 sistance, they might be forced to wait on percent. the phone for extended periods of time Similar results were discovered in as they and thousands of others wait many cities, indicating that buying local for customer service representatives to not only benefits local business owners, answer their calls. but also the communities those owners Local businesses do not deal with and their customers call home. nearly the volume of customers as na- • Buying local creates jobs in your tional retailers and, therefore, are capa- community. One of the biggest ways lo- ble of addressing concerns more quickly cal business owners in Raleigh recircu- and personally than large chains. lated their revenue in the local economy Buying local not only benefits small was job creation. While national chains business owners, but it also pays divi- also create jobs, such jobs only benefit dends for their customers and the com- your community if the chains are located munities they call home.

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