Holiday Shopping Guide

1. Save Money

A house in California is worth 7.5% less than it was a year ago. Regular gasoline costs 92 cents a gallon more now than it did last November. Milk, bread and pasta are more expensive too. For most of us, money matters. You don’t have to spend all you have and then some. The experts, including the pros at the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Los Angeles, have many words of no-nonsense advice:

* Limit your holiday spending to what you net -- that’s after taxes -- in three working days. That way you can (theoretically at least) pay it off by the end of January.

* Pay with cash and go home when you don’t have any more.

* Write your holiday budget on a piece of paper and carry it with you, consulting it often. The total should include travel expenses, postage, decorations, seasonal clothing, eggnog fixings and “White Christmas” DVD rentals. Add up purchases as you go (downloadable budgeting forms are available at www.bydesignsolutions.org/budgets), and when you reach your limit, STOP.

* Walk, ride your bicycle or take the bus to the store or mall. You won’t be able to purchase more than you can cart home. You can always pedal back if you need something else. (Of course, when you return, it may be gone. Then you’ll save even more money.)

Spend with style

Presentation is key when you’re pinching pennies, says Lili Munson, a Fallbrook, Calif., mother of five who budgets with panache. Every year she buys a pile of presents for friends, her two daughters and their friends, and her sister (usually 10 to 15 gifts), limiting her spending to $10 a person. She shops wherever the price is right -- and the packaging over the top. And free.

Over the years, Munson has found deals at Victoria’s Secret (lotion, five bottles for about $20, wrapped in pink), at Wet Seal (clearance-sale tank tops at $2.99 each that came in a diamond-shaped box) and at Restoration Hardware (red glass candle holders, packaged in what looked like a hatbox and, at 75% off, were $6.99). Last year she found fingerless gloves at Nordstrom in a buy-one-pair-for-$9.99-and-get-one-pair-free deal. So pleased was Munson that she treated herself to a martini while a clerk boxed her purchases with silvery tissue and a beautiful bow. “They even put a little Nordstrom sticker on the tissue as they fold it perfectly over your $5 gift.”

The best part? Strolling back to her car with five huge holiday bags slung over her arms. “I spent less than $100,” Munson says, “and people looked at me like I was a big shopper.”

Stores get stingier with their fancy boxes as the season winds down, Munson warns, especially if your goal is to spend $5. “The key,” she says, “is to go early.”

Try outlet malls

Creative consumers abound in Southern California, and some of them swear by outlet malls. At Ontario Mills recently, the Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet was selling a St. John jacket for a tenth of the original price and the Levi’s Outlet was offering a denim miniskirt for about the price of a greeting card. Warning: Much of what you’ll see isn’t much of a bargain, and a lot of it is made specifically for the outlet store. But if you have the time and energy, you can get lucky.

Just ask Robin McQuay, a kindergarten teacher and avid outlet shopper. The Pasadena resident bought her nephew a Polo shirt at Citadel Outlets five years ago for $5. “I still see him wearing it,” she says. “My friends and relatives think I’m way more generous than I am.”

Of course you don’t have to go to an outlet mall to find markdowns. Across the retail landscape, stores generally are expected to cut prices earlier and deeper than ever this year. For our money, the key piece of advice is this: Keep your wits about you.

Retailers are counting on you to do plenty of impulse shopping, which by some estimates accounts for about a quarter of holiday sales.

Fool them this year. Tamp down your inner personal shopper, the spendthrift prone to pillaging a gift budget before the first present has been identified.

Anthony Fitzgerald is one who is often a beneficiary of his own largesse. “I am so guilty of buying things for myself,” says the 23-year-old actor. “I think, ‘Someone would really like this -- and so would I.’ So then I’ll get two of them.”

At least he doesn’t just buy for himself.

--

2. The spirit of the season

The winter solstice custom of exchanging gifts dates to the ancient Romans, but in this day and age the season should be, many believe, at least as much about spirituality as splurging.

So spend time instead of money. And spend it in new ways. Delve into your own faith. Show respect for those of others. Visit a mosque if you’re a Jew or a Quaker house of worship if you’re a Mormon.

“It doesn’t really make a difference what train you’re on,” says Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, “as long as you’re headed for the right station.”

For the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, the season underscores the need for love and optimism. “I think it’s a time where all of us should show compassion and respect for people who hold to a positive faith.”

Buddhist teacher Lama Surya Das of Cambridge, Mass., says he takes time during the season to “read the Gospel and think about Jesus’ true message and apply it: forgiveness, compassion and unconditional love.

“Christmas is about the birth of love and a new, unselfish and beautiful way of being in the world,” he says. “One can do something with these times to make our life more meaningful.”

--

3. Tips when you ship

Stumped about shipping? FedEx suggests that you call its “packaging lab” at (800) 633-7019 and consult with a “packaging engineer.”

United Parcel Service has different advice: its “transit calculator” ( www.ups.com), which lets you figure out how long it will take something to get where it’s going using one method of delivery versus another. UPS’ busiest shipping day, in case you’re curious, is Dec. 19. The company expects to move 22 million packages that day, 47% more than usual. For more info, visit ups.com/holiday.

The U.S. Postal Service offers tips too, at www.usps.com or (800) ASKUSPS (275-8777).

A few more suggestions:

* Use sturdy new boxes with plenty of padding. If a box is used, remove old labels.

* Use packing tape, not masking or duct tape, and don’t wrap the outer box with string that can get caught in automated processing equipment.

* Put the address on the outside and inside of the package. The one on the outside should be placed on one spot, not all over the box.

To get it there in time, FedEx suggests that, when using its ground transportation, you ship by Dec. 17. Or by Dec. 22 with FedEx Express. The deadline for shipping out of Los Angeles International Airport (at 11221 S. Hindry Ave.) is 6 p.m. Dec. 22.

UPS says you should generally ship by Dec. 21 to get something to its destination on Dec. 24.

The U.S. Postal Service wants you to mail by Dec. 9 if you’re using parcel post. Generally, first class takes three days, priority mail, two days; express mail is delivered overnight. That means it’s possible to wait until Christmas Eve -- so long as the weather cooperates.

Sometimes a carrier in a Santa suit drops off packages Dec. 25, spokesman Larry Dozier says. “You should see the looks on children’s faces when they see that.”

--

4. Save time

It seems like everybody’s always short on time, including Malik Rasheed, a recording industry executive. When he’s not on a conference call or scouting for talent, he’s schmoozing with music producers or in meetings. When he hits the mall -- which he says won’t happen until the last minute -- Rasheed will carry his cellphone, his BlackBerry and his gift list.

“While I’m shopping, I can send e-mails and make calls,” the 31-year-old West L.A. resident says. “It’s all about time management. Always.”

Not everyone needs our help in this category. An estimated 40% of Americans began buying presents before Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation.

For the rest of you, to avoid crowds and long lines, shop early -- or late -- in the day. Late will take on new meaning when stores and malls extend their hours for holiday shoppers.

Our experts agree that the first day of the workweek is usually the least busy for stores, so we recommend shopping before noon on Mondays. (But if all of you follow our advice, this no longer will be true.)

Another way to avoid time-sapping congestion is to show up at a store after 6 p.m. on the day before an advertised sale. You probably will be able to buy the item for the lowered price:

Seven more time-saving tips

* Take advantage of the gift-wrapping tables manned by volunteers who will do up your purchases in ribbons and bows for a fee, with the proceeds going to charity.

* Drop off your presents at It’s a Wrap in West L.A. or at the Wrapper at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. The Wrapper’s prices start at $7.95 while It’s a Wrap charges $7 for one shirt, $25 for a baby car seat and $125 to cloak a car in cellophane.

Not everyone who uses such services wants others to know that he or she took the easy way out. Some men say, “Don’t do such a good job, I want them to think I did it myself,” says Gloria Spivak, owner of It’s a Wrap. (She also offers this tip: “If a woman wants a date, they should come here Dec. 24. That’s when all the men are here.”)

* At the mall, seek out the concierge. Staff can help you brainstorm ideas, hold your bags or make restaurant reservations.

Ditto valet parking, which at some malls can shave 30 minutes off your expedition (just looking for a space can take that long). Starting Nov. 23, Glendale Galleria will offer free valet parking for hybrid cars; otherwise, the fee is $8.

* Make a detailed gift list -- and by detailed we mean sizes, allergies, favorite colors, what you gave a person last year -- and put it your wallet. And keep a copy at home. Even better, ask the people on your list to make online wish lists with their favorite retailers. At computer-equipped kiosks in Target stores, you can print out their lists (and make your own too).

When Vanessa Mendoza, 25, makes her lists, she eliminates all doubt by attaching pictures. The Santa Ana resident has been using other people’s wish lists for the last couple of years to save time and to make sure she doesn’t disappoint. “Ever since then, it’s just been easier,” says Mendoza, an Orange County Transportation Agency secretary. “They still don’t know exactly what they’ll get, but I know it’s something they want.”

* While you’re at it, keep an envelope in your purse or pocket to hold coupons and receipts. If you rip an ad for an on-sale item out of a newspaper, be sure it includes the name of the store so you’re not wandering around in Gap looking for something that’s selling at Old Navy (really, this happens).

* If your spouse spends a lot of time in high-end stores, you can really save time. “So many of our customers have these very personal relationships with their sales associates” who are likely to know which earrings will go perfectly with that dress your spouse just bought, says Ginger Reeder, a Neiman Marcus spokeswoman. “The really good ones have encyclopedic knowledge of what their customer has bought,” Reeder says. All you have to do is ask. And pay.

* The easiest thing to do is grab that bottle of Chardonnay that somebody brought to a dinner party you threw, tie a nice big bow on it and write a lovely note singing the praises of the wine and the recipient.

“I have regifted those many times, I have to admit,” says Kim McGrigg of Money Management International, a nonprofit financial educational organization. “That’s something that’s always well received.”

McGrigg offers one warning: Make sure the bottle hasn’t already been opened. That would not be well received.

--

5. Joy to the shopping world

It’s easy to be glum in November and December. And it’s possible to have fun.

Notice the trouble people took to make stores look festive. Trim the tree with your family even if you’re all grown up. “Our tree, when you look at it, it’s just like a big old mess,” says Stacey Chappius, 25, a dental hygienist from Huntington Beach who meets siblings at their parents’ house in New Jersey. “It’s so much fun.”

Remind yourself that major DVD rental stores will be open Christmas Day. Movie theaters will be selling tickets too. (Hollywood has figured you out. “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” and “Charlie Wilson’s War” open Dec. 25.)

Still feeling down? Check out Hunky Santa and the dancing Candy Cane Girls at Beverly Center Nov. 23 through Dec. 23. Or, if your idea of fun is masochistic, set your sights on Black Friday. Retail experts predict there will be more “midnight madness” sales and early-morning “door busters” than ever.

Springing out of bed before dawn isn’t on Anthony Fitzgerald’s to do list. But on the day after Thanksgiving, “I’m out there with everybody,” he says. “I like the energy, the hustle and bustle that gets you into that mindset.”

That’s the spirit.

--

6. Shop in your slippers

Curl up with a pile of catalogs. And your laptop.¶ You have no doubt noticed that catalogs are still showing up in your mailbox, despite the widespread acceptance of the Internet. Some people still prefer the tactile experience of flipping through physical pages of glossy paper, which we think explains the return of Sears’ famous Wish Book after a 14-year hiatus. That, and this fun fact: Catalogs are key drivers of online sales.

Dainty compared with the 1993 version, which ran 832 pages, this year’s 188-page Wish Book is separated into themes (“Gifts for the Do-It-Yourselfer,” “The Inner Athlete,” etc.). Online, you can electronically “flip” through the pages and zoom in and out on items of interest.

The heftiest Sears catalog -- at 1,810 pages -- landed on American front porches in 1965. The first catalog, published in the early 1890s, sold only watches and jewelry. By 1895, it had swelled to 532 pages and included an expanding array of merchandise, including guns, saddles and fishing tackle. Shortly after the century turned, the most popular items were horse buggies and bicycles. In 1910, the first fake Christmas tree appeared in the catalog -- selling for 23 cents.

In the early days, people kept the book all year long, hauling it out when they needed to buy, well, almost anything, including a house or a baby chick, spokeswoman Kirsten Whipple says. Most folks wrote out their orders and mailed them in.

Now, “a lot of people will place orders for goods online with a catalog on their lap,” says Pat Kachura, senior vice president of ethics and consumer affairs at the Direct Marketing Assn. “These days consumers want to talk to you in ways they find convenient. And they will decide what they find convenient.”

Pam Roberts finds online shopping so convenient that she no longer sets foot in a mall unless her job demands it (the West Los Angeles resident co-owns Pitch Press, a fashion-industry public relations firm). “You don’t have to deal with parking, waiting to be helped, which I hate more than anything,” Roberts says. “Then, the biggest disappointment of all -- they’re out of it.” Of course online retailers may also be out of what you want, she acknowledges, but at least you don’t have to waste gasoline finding out. “With the cost of fuel, you’ve got to really think about ‘Is this really cost-efficient?’”

Merna Trachsel started surfing the Web two years ago after her son gave her a computer for her 79th birthday. The Portland, Ore., resident now buys almost all of her holiday gifts online even though she lives near the large Washington Square shopping center.

“You don’t have to go out of your house,” says the retired medical secretary, “and the mail is dropped at your door.”

Shop.org, an association for online retailers, and the National Retail Federation advise keeping these things in mind when ordering online:

* Beware of auction sites. Some people post pictures of things they don’t own and then steal from a retailer when they get a bite. “Once they have a buyer, they’ll see what they can do to fill the order,” says Daniel Butler, vice president of retail operations at the National Retail Federation.

* If you’re not comfortable paying with a credit card, consider PayPal, Google Checkout or Bill Me Later.

* Be sure you understand the retailer’s return and exchange policies. And find out who pays for return shipping.

* Check for shipping deadlines and for promotions that allow faster shipping. (Note: If it’s too late to ship, you can often buy what you want online and then pick it up at the store’s customer service counter.)

Many retailers will offer free shipping this holiday season, some with conditions, such as spending more money than you’d planned to. More than 40% of them will ship at no charge, no strings attached, to drive sales.

* Read the fine print; details such as warranty information often are displayed in small type.

* And don’t forget: Print purchase confirmations and keep them on file.

--

7. Skip the mall, go to Maui

Why shouldn’t shopping be a vacation?¶ In Portland -- the biggest city in Oregon, where there is no sales tax -- some hotels offer special rates during the holidays. And you can fly to the City of Roses and back for about $300. The Heathman Hotel’s “Shop Til You Drop” deal includes a $100 gift card from Nordstrom, which is just down Broadway. When you redeem it, your purchases will be shipped anywhere in the state at no charge (OK, so this doesn’t help if you live in California). The Benson Hotel package comes with a $100 gift card from Macy’s, in the old Meier & Frank building across from Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Joy Pendergrass, who likes paying with cash, wouldn’t think of shopping outside Oregon. She hates dealing with the change that accumulates when sales tax is involved. “You’ve got so much coinage,” says Pendergrass, 57, a retired Portland high school teacher. “I always feel I should go to Vegas.”

Why not? In Las Vegas there are countless ways to unload spare coins. The gambling oasis-cum-shopping mecca is also a haven for pampering, and Sin City’s marketers know how to cash in on a season. At the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa, for example, you can indulge in a yam or pumpkin facial for $135, a Sugar Plum Scrub for $75 or a Candy Cane scalp and hair treatment for $105. Not to be outdone, the Bathhouse Spa at the Hotel at Mandalay Bay offers an 80-minute Hot Spiced Rum stone massage for $205.

Marilyn Black, a retired personal manager, and her husband Bob Kaplan, an entertainment industry attorney, flee during the holidays to Hawaii, Mexico, Aspen or -- this year -- Palm Springs. Before leaving their home in Santa Monica, Black ships presents to family members on the East Coast. “If you’re not going to spend it with family,” she says, “it doesn’t matter if you open your gifts on Christmas Day or not.”

Palm trees bore you? The Merrion in Dublin, which Conde Nast Traveler magazine recently named Best Hotel in Ireland, promises an “old-fashioned Christmas” with ice skating, concerts, lavishly decorated trees and late-night shopping. You-know-who shows up on Christmas Eve.

You can keep the go-away concept close to home too. Several discount malls have teamed up with hotels and bed and breakfasts on shop-and-stay packages. Courtyard Marriott in Oxnard discounts room rates and gives each guest a $50 gift card good at any store at Camarillo Premium Outlets. Hilton Garden Inn Carlsbad Beach offers a cut rate, a free ride to the Carlsbad Premium Outlet and a coupon book that can save you more money once you get there.

Or take a day off work and spend it with your paramour in Beverly Hills or Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Hire a limo if you’re feeling flush (The three-hour minimum fee for the smallest limousine at American Limousine is $239.) Pace yourselves, interrupting purchasing with a movie, a manicure or a massage. Wear comfortable shoes. It’s hard to gaze moon-eyed at someone when your feet hurt.

Why don’t you just go to Paris and send everyone on your list a postcard? The weather may be damp and chilly, but you won’t care.

--

8. Charity: It’s better to give

Make your SUV earn the gas it guzzles. Fill it with scooters, skateboards and sweat shirts and deliver them to the Catholic Worker in Santa Ana, Para Los Ninos in Los Angeles or Arrowhead United Way in San Bernardino. While you’re there, make a donation in the name of everyone on your list and present them with cards or letters explaining the gift you’ve given them, and why.

The world could use more miracles, and it’s up to us to make them happen. “Every human being has the potential,” says Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“We cruise the entire year saying, ‘I wonder what God’s going to do?’ And God’s in heaven saying, ‘What the heck is man going to do? He’s my partner.’ ”

Leia Smith, who with her husband, Dwight, runs Isaiah House, the Catholic Worker homeless shelter in Santa Ana, suggests making contributions of movie tickets, jeans and shoes -- or gift certificates to Payless so children can pick out their own.

Or, you can help stock the Union Rescue Mission’s Christmas Store in L.A., where homeless parents and children can select presents for one another Dec. 13 and 14. For information call (213) 347-6300 or go to www.urm.org.

There are many Internet sites where you can support a cause in someone else’s name. That’s what Sheila and Leland Smith are doing instead of buying gifts for someone. “I’d rather give the money to Darfur than give it to Macy’s,” says Sheila Smith, a retiree dental hygienist who lives in Carmel Valley. (She likes www.darfurstoves.org /stoves.html.)

Here are “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of,” according to Charity Navigator:

1. The National Christian Foundation ( www.nationalchristian.com)

2. CARE ( www.care.org)

3. PATH ( www.path.org)

4. Conservation International ( www.conservation.org)

5. City of Hope and Affiliates ( www.cityofhope.org)

6. American Red Cross ( www.americanredcross.org)

7. Mayo Clinic ( www.mayoclinic.org)

8. Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America ( www.hadassah.org)

9. Save the Children ( www.savethechildren.org)

10. International Rescue Committee ( www.theirc.org)