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11/16/09

Washington Post/Associated Press:US Consumers: Shoppers, small businesses planning to spend less - by Tari Arbel

For the complete report from the washingtonpost.com click on this link

A third of U.S. adults said they would spend less this year than they did in 2008 on gifts, while 49 percent would spend about the same amount, according to a Consumer Reports poll on holiday shopping. Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of respondents said they were planning to "cut back" on total holiday expenses, which include travel plans, presents and holiday decorations. More Americans are also "regifting," or passing on a gift they got to someone else - 36 percent of adults this year say they've done so, compared with 31 percent last year and 24 percent in 2007. The survey polled 1,000 U.S. adults from Oct. 15-18.

It its worth noting, though, that Americans who plan to spend less doesn't always do so. The survey found that of those Americans who made a budget for last year's holiday gift buying, 44 percent spent more than they had intended. The poll also said 6 percent of adults still carry holiday debt from last year, unchanged from last year. If extrapolated to the broader population of the country, that implies 13.5 million consumers are still carrying debt from last year's holidays.

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