Welcome to Boomer411. We hope you will visit again. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.

By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Guest Blogger

Economic times are tough for boomer consumers.

By planning ahead and using smart shopping techniques, you can avoid debt and unneeded stress during the holidays.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission offers these tips when you’re holiday shopping at the mall, online, or by phone or mail:

Getting started

• Make a shopping list, including the people you plan to buy gifts for and the type of gifts you plan to buy.
• Create and stick to a realistic budget to avoid post-holiday debt.
• Add to your budget the cost of cash gifts, holiday travel, extra food, wrappings, decorations, greeting cards, and postage.

Shopping the holiday sale ads

• Shop around, to make sure the “sale” price is really the best.
• Read sale ads carefully and look for terms such as “quantities limited,” “no rain checks,” or “not available at all stores.”
• Call before you go shopping to make sure the item you want is in stock.
• Consider your time and travel costs by adding these costs to the price is you have to go across town for buy the item.
• Look for price-matching policies that some stores offer to meet or beat a competitor’s prices.
• Check out Web sites that compare prices.
• Keep shipping costs and delivery time in mind when you shop online.
• Consider carefully bargain offers that are based on purchases of additional merchandise, for example, “Buy Three, Get One Free” or “Free Gift with Purchase.”
• Use coupons if they’ll save you money on what you’re already planning to buy and if you’ve checked any restrictions.
• Ask about sale adjustments, for example, if you buy an item at regular price and it goes on sale the next week, can you get a credit or refund for the discounted amount.

Staying on track

• Keep track of your spending.
• Save your receipts because you’ll need them for returns and exchanges.
• Ask for gift receipts.
• Ask about refund and return policies because stores are allowed set their own policies.
• Keep good records, whether you’re ordering by mail, phone, or online.
• Ship early to avoid heftyt last-minute fees, if you’re sending gifts to out-of-towners, factor in extra time for shipping.
• Keep an eye on your wallet and purse and get your credit or debit cards back as quickly as possible during transactions.

Using layaway programs

• Use layaways if you don’t want to charge it and if you don’t have the cash to pay for the item.
• Get the store’s layaway policy in writing, including the terms of the layaway plan and the refund policy.

For more information, visit www.ftc.gov and www.MyMoney.gov.

Popularity: 20% [?]