| The holiday season is upon us! It can be a stressful | | | | more expensive ones also handle the $1.00 coins. Most |
| time for many reasons. In his article I'm going to help | | | | also come with the paper wrappers if you want to |
| you eliminate, or at least reduce, one common form of | | | | take the wrapped coins to the bank. Most people don't |
| holiday stress: how to decide what gifts to buy. Below | | | | have one of these. There are even some |
| are 5 sure-fire gifts to give during this holiday and | | | | wood-grained models for less than $100.00. |
| Christmas season:: | | | | 4. Books. Books on the person's favorite subject(s) is |
| 1. Emergency Car Kit These are the kits that stay in | | | | a good idea. You can "probe" them to see what titles |
| the back or trunk of your vehicle. Most contain basic | | | | they own and would be interested in. For Men, those |
| things such as: jumper cables; first-aid kit; and a | | | | "book of facts" books are a great idea. They contain |
| flashlight. The more expensive ones also contain such | | | | short snippets of information that most people may not |
| items as: Flares; fuses; food and water packets; and a | | | | know. For Women, a book by their favorite author, |
| small set of tools. This is a sure-fire gift since most | | | | especially the latest title they may not have bought yet. |
| cars don't carry an adequate emergency car kit, if any | | | | If you still can't figure out what title(s) to buy then get a |
| at all. It's not just a gift it also shows you care about | | | | gift card from a bookstore. I would suggest getting one |
| their safety. | | | | from a chain such as Borders because that gives the |
| 2. Gift cards. These are gaining in popularity. They are | | | | person flexibility to purchase from a location that's |
| a pretty good bet for those hard-to-shop-for people | | | | more convenient to them. |
| on your list. The one problem: what store to buy the | | | | 5. A Spare Bed I know that sounds a bit on the |
| cards from? Well, one thing to consider is a mall gift | | | | strange side but hear me out. A number of people |
| card. With these cards you can shop at any store in | | | | don't have an adequate bed or enough beds for |
| the mall. The recipient has to go to that mall to shop | | | | guests. The kinds of spare beds I'm referring to are air |
| but they have many more choices and can buy what | | | | beds or air mattresses. These are generally more |
| fancies them at the time. A couple of negatives of gift | | | | comfortable than futons, sofa beds, roll-away beds, or |
| cards. As their popularity increases they are being | | | | cots. You can even buy some beds that blow up to |
| viewed as more impersonal gifts. The recipient may | | | | the same size as an actual bed up to king size! These |
| feel you just didn't put much time into the gift. Another | | | | kind of beds are more comfortable and help ease |
| negative is that most gift cards go unused, mostly | | | | lower back pain better than most "regular" beds. Also, |
| because people forget they have them, or simply lose | | | | when not in use they can be rolled up and stored |
| them. | | | | away in a box and out of site taking up less space |
| 3. Coin Counters. Most of us have a problem | | | | than a roll-away bed. So, instead of buying an |
| managing our spare change. A coin counter can help | | | | expensive futon that makes an OK couch and a lousy |
| solve this. There are a number of non-commercial coin | | | | bed, you can buy a decent couch and a great |
| counters or home coin counters around. The cheaper | | | | low-cost sleeping option: a raised air mattress. These |
| ones can range from $15.00 on up. They can normally | | | | mattresses can start from around $50.00 on up to |
| sort 20 or more coins at a time. They'll separate them | | | | around $300.00 or more. |
| into different tubes based on coin size/value. The | | | | |