CONSUMER BRIEFS / SHOPPING

More Americans are planning on regifting, or passing on a gift they got from someone else, according to a Consumer Reports poll on holiday shopping. A total of 36% of U.S. adults said they would recycle a gift this year, compared with 31% last year and 24% in 2007, the survey found.

A third of respondents said they would spend less this year than they did in 2008 on gifts, while 49% said they would spend about the same amount.

Almost two-thirds said they were planning to cut back on total holiday expenses, which include travel plans, presents and holiday decorations. Clothing and electronics remained the top gifts to give, the survey said.

It’s worth noting that Americans who plan to spend less don’t always do so. The survey found that of those who made a budget for last year’s holiday gift buying, 44% spent more than they had intended.

The poll also found that 6% of adults still carry holiday debt from last year, unchanged from last year.

The survey polled 1,000 U.S. adults from Oct. 15-18. It was conducted randomly by telephone and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.