European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 14, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Done to let holidays bust your budget by Virginia Mai a Randall United press International shoppers and browsers at the Christmas Market in Munich Germany join the crowds worldwide looking for gifts. A amps fit with the holidays approaching january and the inevitable Bills it brings can t be far behind. But a Little preventive Medicine can ensure that a merry Christmas does not Lead to the new years Bill paying doldrums. Quot you should control your shopping before you re hit with the financial blues in 1993,&Quot says Frances b. Smith spokeswoman for the american financial services association a Trade group for the financial services Industry. Quot the key to controlling your Holiday budget is to spend More time planning your purchases so you la end up spending less Money Quot says Smith. Quot make a list of family members friends and co workers who will be receiving a gift from you Quot she advises. Quot once you decide what you re going to give each person put a Dollar figure next to each gift and Check the total to be sure it s within your  larger families should consider a grab bag approach to gift giving. Smith suggests drawing names among family members and having each member give and receive one special gift instead of several Small gifts. For neighbors and co workers Smith says Home made baked goods fruit jellies Herb vinegars and Mustard make Good personal gifts that Are especially appreciated around the holidays. But Smith says All the budgeting in the world wont help people who shop at the last minute. Shoppers faced with a rapidly approaching Holiday deadline will buy something a anything a to round out their gift list. Quot the temptation is to spend too much on something useless Quot Smith cautions. Unbudgeted Spur of the moment purchases Are another pitfall. Quot those extra Little gifts can add a lot to your total if you re not careful Quot she says. Smith suggests that shoppers keep a running total of gift expenditures so they can track it against their budget. Shoppers also should keep receipts for gift purchases. That will make it easier if gifts have to be exchanged or returned after the holidays. Quot the key to controlling your Holiday budget is to spend More time planning your purchases so you la end up spending less Money Quot says Smith. Planning involves not Only watching your budget but also starting Early to ensure the Best selection and prices. For some people the process begins right after the holidays when they take advantage of after season sales to get a head Start on their shopping. Credit cards get a real workout during the holidays. Robert Mckinley of ram research a Frederick my. Firm that follows the credit card Industry says Holiday spending generates 40 percent of the year s profits for credit card issuers. And Mckinley offers some advice to people who use credit cards for Holiday shopping. He says card holders who want to spread out their Overall payouts in the months after Christmas should Check with retail stores about special credit plans. Some stores will defer payments without interest charges for several months giving card holders some Post Holiday breathing room. But there is another school of thought on Holiday shopping. Its called Scrooge a the society to curtail ridiculous outrageous and ostentatious gift Exchange co founder Chuck Langham Calls Scrooge Quot a lighthearted Effort to de emphasize the commercial aspects of  the group advocates visiting hospitals and nursing Homes instead of shopping malls and suggests gift giving be limited to children and that most presents be homemade. Founded in Charlottesville va., in 1979 by Langham and co worker Terry Pettit Langham said Scrooge is Quot a Little joke that a lasted 14  Quot we done to advocate giving no one gifts a i done to mind getting a few myself a but not As an obligation or to people you no longer see or keep much Contact with Quot Langham says. Langham recommends a gift budget of no More than one half of 1 percent of annual income supplemented by handcrafted gifts baked goods or even the gift of time. Scrooge also advocates buying All gifts with Cash not credit cards. Quot if we have to pull out the Cash right at the Register we tend to think Over the Purchase for a while Quot says Langham. Despite the Scrooge Label Langham says members really like the holidays. Quot we done to Burn Down Christmas Trees and we like Church services and Holiday carols and visiting friends and dinners and eggnog even. But you done to have to bankrupt yourself Quot he says. Scrooge has 1,328 members who attend no meetings and pay no dues except a $2 membership fee that entitles them to an annual newsletter a a mimeographed four Page letter composed on a manual typewriter. Quot what did you expect Quot asks Langham. Quot look at our  of 12 Days of Christmas holding steady by United press International if you want to go whole hog this year and give your loved one everything from the song the twelve Days of Christmas be prepared to Shell out $15,581.96, up 0.82 percent from 1991. A provident National Bank in Philadelphia which has prepared the list annually since 1984, says the Cost of some items from the Carol like the Partridge in the Pear tree remained steady. Meanwhile five Gold rings came in at $300 a $112.50 cheaper than last year and the fourth year the Cost of Gold has dropped. In 1989 the rings would have Cost $750. Quot the Lack of demand for jewelry during the recession is primarily to blame for tumbling prices Quot said j. Patrick Bradley chief economist for the Bank. Cost of labor however continues to Rise with nine ladies dancing 10 lords a leaping 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming costing from 2 percent to 4.9 percent More this year. But because of the slowing Economy their annual increase was less than the 5.7 percent to 5.9 percent increase of 1991. The total Cost for the dancing ladies Rose to $2,606.83 from $2,555.72, and the leaping lords increased to $2,924.88 from $2,839.69. Charges for Union pipers Rose to $1,053, from $1,003.86, and for drummers it was up to $1,140.75 from $1,087.52. Eight maids a milking get minimum wage so they went up from $30.40 to $34 in 1991 but did not change for 1992. The Partridge remained $15 and the Pear tree was again $12.50. Cost of two Turtle doves was $50, three French hens $15. Four calling Birds $280, and six geese a laying $150, All unchanged from 1991. Price estimates come from the Philadelphia zoo said Bradley. Seven swans a swimming at $1,000 each for a total of $7,000, remained the most expensive item but was also unchanged. If you followed the repetitions of the song buying 12 partridges and 12 Pear Trees 22 Turtle doves the services of 40 milkmaid and so on you would have bought 364 gifts for a total Cost of $71,618.1. That was a 0.4 percent drop from 1991. Bradley said the Christmas list showed a lower inflation rate than the 3.2 percent reported by the Bureau of labor but both showed slower Price gains. The Christmas Price Index seems to Mirror the governments consumer Price Index Only More so Quot Bradley said. A Bradley said unlike recent Holiday seasons which were dismal for retailers Quot we re predicting a 3 to 5 percent increase in sales this  in other words a recent Post election surge in consumer sentiment says its beginning to look a lot like Christmas Quot he said. Page 16 a the stars and stripes monday december 14, 1992