'Tis also the season for retailers to get "into the black" by selling you all of the gifts that you give to others. They know this, and do anything and everything to get you into the stores.

These types of ridiculously good deals are in very short supply, and for the 95% that arrived at 4 AM rather than 3 AM, they missed out. There were only 24 available.

But hey -- they were still at the store! And they stood in the cold for 3 hours while they waited for the store to open, so they might as well get some stuff...

That, and if you have second thoughts about the multicolored CD burner that you purchased in a moment of disoriented weakness, then you'll be waiting for an hour while 15 gazillion other people are returning the stuff they didn't want on December 26th. Just one more reason to keep it!

• If you go for one of these too-good-to-pass- up loss leaders make sure you're focused and know what you want from that store before you go there! Get the Tickle-me- Spongy-Bubba for a dollar, then get out while you're ahead! Knowing what things cost goes a long way.
• Online retailers are giving great deals and extra perqs like $1.00 shipping, free gift wrapping, and so forth. These have value, and you're not fighting with lots of other shoppers. There's EBay, and there's also rebate sites like ButterflyMall that are great for saving money as well!
• If you're not sure what to get someone, think carefully before getting gift certificates unless you really know that they'll be used. The store has your money and usually won't give it back.
• Consider waiting until after the holidays to shop for some items so that you can hit the inevitable sales.
• Homemade gifts or gifts of time don't cost much money -- and often mean lots more! Especially if they take the form of a big concession of some kind. My wife says that one of her gifts from me can be getting rid of my Commodore computers that are currently in our garage and our living room. Just for context, this is like telling Eddie Van Halen to sell his guitars!)
• Above all, in the end, the real reason for the season costs us nothing and was given freely ( Isaiah 9:6). Everything else with the holidays is secondary.