The Associated Press has this report at MSNBC: Holiday retail season may end before it begins.

A snippet:

It wasn’t supposed to be this bad. Stores, which typically place orders about four to seven months in advance, had cautiously planned their holiday inventories about 15 percent below last year’s levels.

But because of the free fall in consumer spending, stores are now stuck with about 15 percent to 20 percent excess holiday inventory, estimated Burt P. Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group. …

The financial crisis, the meltdown in the stock market and cascading job losses have sent shoppers into full retreat. Even before the holiday season, stores were reporting the biggest drops in sales in decades.

How bad will the season ultimately be for stores? Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Corp., expects total retail sales to fall 0.5 percent for November and December. That would be the first decline in holiday sales since 1982.

What does this mean for you, the holiday shopper?

As long as you pay attention to the prices and promotions while you are shopping, you’ll do well.

I wouldn’t get too freaked about having to find THE LOWEST AVAILABLE PRICE ON EVERY ITEM. Just make sure that you are doing the best you can to get reasonable prices for as many holiday purchases as possible.

After all, I’ve learned that sometimes the best you can do is the best price of the day – rather than the best price of the week or the best price of the season.

Besides, there is more involved with having a frugal lifestyle than just shopping for retail deals. If you’re new to Monroe on a Budget, spend some time going through my archives.