A lot of us stayed home this season and did most of our Christmas shopping without ever leaving our chairs. Online shopping was more popular this year than ever with Amazon recording its biggest day ever with $4 million in sales on December 11.

The season was disappointing for retailers though, so many are slashing post-holiday prices in an effort to make up the lost sales.

And as retailers further discount high-ticket items consumers will be out looking for presents for themselves. And, why not? There’s no better time to get a great deal on that luxury item you have wanted all year but resisted the urge to purchase. Post-season savings could even make it affordable.

Christmas is over. ‘Tis the season to be selfish.

I hope you liked all your Christmas gifts this year, because retailers are determined to keep you from returning them.

You can’t blame them. Every year retailers lose part of their holiday profit on returned items. Electronics that are returned in opened boxes often cost them most, as they may have to discount the items for resale. To combat this, many retailers are imposing a “restocking fee” on certain returned items, to cover the cost of repackaging and any loss they may suffer on the resale of the item.

Other retailers are keeping track of just who returns what and how often. Wal-Mart, for instance keeps track of the number of returns for any one person and if a shopper exceeds the limit they are disqualified from any further returns.

Receipts will definitely be required. Easy refunds and store credits are a thing of the past. Retailers have been burned once too often. If you have your receipt you shouldn’t encounter any difficulty, but be prepared for long lines.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Christmas morning will be a flurry of fancy wrapping, bows and ribbons flying, a symphony of “oooh”s and “aaahh”s, a festival of feel-good gift exchanging, a surfeit of festivities.

Then comes the sobering chill of January. No, I don’t mean the weather. I mean the bills. Suddenly the true cost of all this merry-making will start to arrive in the form of credit card bills and disappointingly low balances on checking account statements. Is it already too late?

It’s never too late to turn over a new leaf when it comes to your attitude towards finances, although at this time of year it may be more out of necessity than good planning.

If you haven’t made that budget with us yet, now is the time to do it. Finding the funds to pay off this extra debt may seem impossible, but if you are serious about repaying your holiday debt, you can do it.

Start with a few New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Make a budget and stick to it

2. Place a moratorium on your credit card spending, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it

3. Be consistent about making payments towards credit card debt. If you are in over your head, contact creditors to make payment arrangements that could save your credit standing. Generally, it is best to pay off the highest interest debt first.

4. Start saving on luxury expenses you can do without. It may mean small sacrifices such as going without those morning coffee shop stops or making your lunch instead of eating out. Modify your cable TV choices - give up those premium channels and look into renting movies (or borrow them - even cheaper).

If you’re running out of time for shopping this year and you can’t even seem to find a bad gift, no strange objet d’art like a fish head clock or even a fish head tie, then you will probably end up purchasing a share of the $80 billion worth of gift cards being sold this season.

But know that about 10% of those gift cards’ values are never redeemed and are kept in the pockets of the retailers. Some recipients just aren’t the type to go shopping unless they really need something and others might think that not using the card saves money for the giver.

If you give a card this season, be sure you choose one that the recipient will use. Encourage the recipient to spend the full value of the card and to do it soon, as many cards now carry expiration dates.

Do them a favor by only choosing cards that have safeguards against scams. Don’t buy cards displayed on a rack where scammers could take down the numbers from the card or the envelope and spend the card’s value before your loved one has a chance to.

If all of that seems far too complicated and you are sill shy a gift - consider regifting the fruit cake Grandma sent last year.

Happy Holidays!