Sanity-saving last-minute holiday shopping tips
— -- There are only about 10 days of holiday shopping left. But who's counting? All of the businesses trying to get you to shop and ship faster in honor of their made-up holidays, that's who.
Green Monday was Dec. 12 and Free Shipping Day is Friday. Should you care? Not really. Shipping deadlines are later than ever, and free shipping deals abound.
With 90% of retailers offering free shipping at some point this holiday season, "Every day is pretty much free shipping day," National Retail Federation spokeswoman Ellen Davis says.
And there is still plenty of time to shop and find deals, which will get better for some things as Christmas gets closer.
Some smart shopping — and shipping — strategies for the waning days before Christmas:
•Consider taking a day off from work — if you've got one to spare — and hit the stores a little after they open for any extended hours. That way you'll miss any before-work shopping crowds but will largely find orderly shelves and few lines. Many stores will be open as late as midnight — some even all night — and the crowds are also much thinner the later you shop.
•Proceed with caution. Do an inventory of what you've already purchased and how much you've spent before you shop more. Says ConsumerSearch.com editor in chief Christine Frietchen: "Don't start second-guessing your earlier gift choices and buying more stuff. If you've crossed someone off your list, they're done."
•Ask stores to hold your merchandise for you. While stores including Walmart and Best Buy have an "order online/pickup in store" option," many others will let you do it the old-fashioned way. Frietchen suggests calling ahead if you have a specific gift in mind or using websites' store-stock indicators so you know how fast you need to move to get what you want.
•Don't rule out Christmas Eve. Mall of America spokesman Dan Jasper says stores usually aren't crowded because most people are visiting with family. And, he says, "retailers usually do their markdowns the evening before a sale," which in this case would be for the after-Christmas sale. Besides, with Dec. 24 falling on a Saturday, there's an extra non-workday to shop.
•Consider buying products including bicycles, toys, HDTVs and desktop computers this month, according to DealNews.com, which did an analysis of the best deals last December.
Last year, some of the best bike deals of the year were in May and December, DealNews says. There were a "staggering number" of great deals on toys two weeks before Christmas last year, but some laptop prices increased an average of 7% from November to December, the site says.
While Black Friday is well known for great prices on the not-so-great HDTVs, DealNews says "top-brand sets will approach prices that are comparable to Black Friday" starting in mid-December through February.
•Check shipping deals and ignore all the various entreaties to "buy it now." Free Shipping Day, which is Friday, is "an irrelevant hoax," says Brad Wilson, founder of BradsDeals.com. A survey released Tuesday by NRF's online division, Shop.org, found about 95% of retailers' free standard shipping promotions will expire on or before Dec. 20. "Extreme procrastinators" will have until Dec. 22, when about 86% of companies' free expedited shipping promotions expire, Shop.org says. Check BradsDeals.com for retailers' shipping deadlines and NRF's CyberMonday.com for a list of free shipping offers.
•Speaking of shipping, it's a true waste of money if your gift doesn't arrive in one piece. So be sure to wrap fragile gifts in at least 2 inches of cushioning, says FedEx Office's Gino Scarpa, who recommends bubble wrap, not newspaper.
Jayne O'Donnell covers smart shopping for USA TODAY. Her Confident Consumer column appears Wednesdays. E-mail her at: jodonnell@usatoday.com. Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jayneodonnell. See an index of O'Donnell's columns.
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