What I’ve Been Up To

How many of you still have items left on your shopping lists at this point?

A survey from the National Retail Federation released on Wednesday found that most people still had half of their shopping to complete, and 37% hadn’t even started. Less than 10% were done, so it’s safe to say there are a lot of procrastinators out there. And I should know — I still have many items on my list, and there aren’t many shopping days left.

However, just because you’re starting to really feel the pressure of time does not mean you have an excuse to blow your budget. It’s during this week that people make the most money mistakes: you pay for extra-speedy shipping, forgo coupon-clipping in the name of time-saving, and even spend more money per person than you originally allocated.

Yesterday, I went on the Today show to talk about how you can stick to your budget, even during crunch-time. Here are a few of the tips I shared:

• Shop at home first.  Make sure you take a rundown of what you’ve already purchased, so you don’t double up.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought “the perfect gift” for someone in the fall, stocked it away in my basement, and forgotten about it. Don’t let this happen to you.
• Shop off line.  This has been the season for online shopping but the closer you get to the holiday itself, the more you’re going to end up paying to get those items shipped to you. In fact, the bulk of retailers require an order by today – December 20 – if you want to ship standard and receive it by Christmas. This is also when free standard shipping promotions will generally expire.
• Consider alternative payment methods.  Do you have frequent flyer miles? You can buy things with your miles or you can gift enough for a plane ticket or hotel room. Unused gift cards? Use them to pad your holiday budget. If you have fully unused cards – say a $25 value – you can re-gift the card itself.
• Beware of “slicing and dicing.”  Some stores have different return policies for different items. Amazon, according to ConsumerWorld.com, has 30 different ones. Electronics have to be returned, for instance, in 30 days. And if televisions are missing the UPC codes, they won’t be accepted. Watches and jewelry worth more than $75 have to be returned via a trackable shipping method. The point isn’t that there’s something wrong with these policies – they’re actually laid out very clearly on Amazon’s site – but there are a lot of them so you need to read carefully to be sure that you do it right.

And most importantly, remember that the price isn’t everything. A new piece of research from Stanford University (published in this New York Times article) shows there is no correlation between the amount of money spent on a gift and the appreciation the recipient feels. In other words, you DO NOT have to break the bank to be appreciated.

Now here’s a look at some other headlines of the week:

Buzzwords or buzzkill?

Whether you’re job hunting, longtime employed, or itching for a change in your career, a new year is always a great opportunity to check in with your resume. Is the stellar project you completed this year highlighted? Has your contact information changed? Is your word choice reading as less inspired and more tired?

According to a new survey by LinkedIn, the most overused buzzword on profiles and in resumes is “creative,” followed closely by “organizational” and “effective.” You can read the full list here — how many do you use?

If your resume lights up like a Christmas tree when you search for these words, don’t fret — it’s a fairly easy mistake to overcome. My alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, lists some great action verbson its Career Services website. You can use the list to revamp your resume. So instead of “began work on a creative project,” you “initiated an innovative editorial change.”

Spreading holiday charity and cheer

I saw this story passed along the interwebs last week and it put such a big smile on my face that I couldn’t help but pass it along to you. I don’t want to ruin anything, so I’m not going to say more than this: As the woman in the story shows, it doesn’t take much to make someone else’s holiday wishes come true.

Looking for participants…

As some of you may have seen on Twitter or Facebook, I’m starting a new TV project and am looking for participants who are in their 50‘s or older and live in the New York/New Jersey area. Specifically, if you have questions about making your money last in retirement, paying for college, or boosting your credit score, and you’re willing to be featured on TV, I’d love to hear from you — email me atjean@jeanchatzky.com. If you don’t live in the immediate area but have questions about those or any other money topics, please still send them through! The show will take live call-in questions, so there will be plenty of opportunities to receive answers. I hope to hear from you!

A video holiday greeting just for you!

I wanted to take a minute to actually “talk” to you, so go ahead and press play!

Have a very happy holiday,

Jean