Layaway for Christmas Gifts??

[ReineV]

What's your take on this? I know K-Mart (God bless them!) is allowing this now, but so many other retailers did away with it. Do you guys think this is a good idea? Or should I just go ahead and head to the races on black Friday??

[Ms_Speedy_Elf]

Reine , I prefer using lay away . There are a lot of people who can't afford to pay it all up front. Not with the economy the way it is .

I couldn't believe that Wal Mart did away with their lay away.Or at least the one did here.

[ReineV]

The ones here did too and I was upset! I definitely can't afford allll the Christmas gifts I want to get for people up front, but I think I can make it a Merry Christmas for everyone if I do layaway...just nervous about there being a "catch".

[sugarplum fairy]

I used layaway all the time at WalMart until they did away with it. I loved it. Considering I get paid once a month, it was great for me.

[Sunshine73]

I used to use layaway a lot for Christmas. Personally, I think it's a great way to ensure you "get" the things you'd like to get without having to pay for them all at once or without resorting to the use of a credit card which will charge you interest.

[Christmasstar]

a lot when my kids where small. As a single mom on a very limited income at the time, it was the easiest way to set aside a little each payday to buy them their gifts.
There is no place here where I live that does it. Walmart does, but the nearest store is 30min drive away.

[ReineV]

I think that's what I'm definitely going to do. My fiance has some pretty expensive stuff on his Christmas list this year! lol

[kgstyles]

I think it's a good idea. My wife is big on it but not me(she was furious when Wal-Mart did away with it). Most of the time I just use credit cards and then pay them off with tax return money in Januaury.

[Trinityjae]

I think this is a great idea if you can still find retailers that allow it. When I was a kid, my Mom (who still works at Kmart) would do layaway ever year to ensure that we all had the best of gifts! Not only would we have what we wanted before the supply could no longer meet the demand but it was a little easier on her pocket to be able to make payments ever week. I also agree that it's better than charging it and having to pay the interest a year later! Good Luck!

[Santa's Helper]

I use K-Mart layaway all the time. I have one there right now. I used to use Wal-Mart until they did away with theirs. I wrote them about it and was very upset about it. They said that there are a number of ways to purchase your items without using layaway, one way they suggested was with the Wal-Mart credit card! So, instead of making payments on something without interest now I'm supposed to pay interest on the items and run up credit. There are a lot of people who use layaway for Christmas shopping for their kids but, also for school shopping as well. Some people can't afford to buy stuff all at once and it's nice to be able to grab a bunch of stuff while it's still on the shelves and reserve it. Then you can pay it off without using your credit cards to do it. It was easier that way for a lot of people and I feel that Wal-Mart turned their backs on their customers by doing away with their layaway. Problem is that Wal-Mart is so big that it doesn't matter, everyone will still shop there. K-Mart needs to keep their layaway to keep up with Wal-Mart, in my opinion. If they do away with theirs I don't think they will survive.

[miller4plusmore]

Yes, I was quite disappointed when Walmart did away with their layaway. I used it every year for Christmas! I have always liked Kmart and I would hate it if they went out of business (especially since I have one less than five minutes from my house!). I put a Playstation 2 in layaway at Kmart for my sons for Christmas. Couldn't afford the Playstation 3--lol! They are only six and seven years old so I'm sure this will be good enough. I've already informed them that there will be no violent games bought for it! It did come with the new Lego Batman game which is what they wanted. I just really think that layaway is a good thing--especially for the holidays. Some of us really need to be able to make payments (interest free) on stuff and layaway allows us to do it.
:))

[trackrebel]

so does that allow You to pay later? or pay it off bit by bit every month?


ps..the PlayStation 2 is a good bargain...to me...the 3 is too realistic...because it doesn´t look like a game no more...The Play Station 2 is great and has many games for all ages and tastes....especially the sports game are a lot of fun...and of course the driving games

[Santa's Helper]

so does that allow You to pay later? or pay it off bit by bit every month?


ps..the PlayStation 2 is a good bargain...to me...the 3 is too realistic...because it doesn´t look like a game no more...The Play Station 2 is great and has many games for all ages and tastes....especially the sports game are a lot of fun...and of course the driving games

Usually how it works is that you get 8 weeks to pay it off and they divide up the payments equally so that you will make a payment every 2 weeks on your layaway. And they make you put 20% down when you open the layaway. So, if you have $100 worth of stuff, you have to put $20 down and then your payments would be $20 every 2 weeks. Interest free, nothing on your credit card (unless you use your credit card to make the payments which is defeating the purpose!)

[trackrebel]

alright....doesn´t sound too bad...since You don´t spend more than You can....and that is always a great thing...but You are still able to buy what You want

[kelly ann]

I think its a good idea too to be able to pay for things bit by bit. Over here we have Hampers, like Park who provide a similar service but we pay for it all year. We can order say, £300 worth of gift vouchers and use them in almost everyshop. We only pay for what we have, no interest or anything. Or we can order food Hampers which I dont do.

[kerst]

We don't have that system here at all. Even if we would I still prefer to pay immediately and save up front. Whether you save your "100 USD" in advance or you pay it in instalments afterwards it comes to the same thing in the end but then at least you are sure you have the money.

Even our credit card system is different from yours. The charges get deducted from your bank account at the end of the month without any interest. This is to protect users against debt. Only since last year or so they are easing up and you are able to get full credit on your credit card and pay back in instalments but with interest.

[MissFrissmas]

In Australia, we call it Lay-By and all stores have this system so we are extremely lucky. I don't know how I would do Christmas if Lay-By wasnt available.
I generally lay-by the bulk of my presents from around August and pay them off buy Christmas. I currently have 7 lay-bys totalling close to $1000.
In fact, I picked a lay-by up yesterday. The trick is remembering to pay them off as you go. $5 or $10 here and there is do-able but coming up with $100 is hard.
I am relieved that due to lay-by I avoid the need for a credit card and I could imagine it would be hard for those who don't have access to lay-by.

[scottish*mama*claus]

I wish we still had layaway! We don't have Kmart in this area (they closed down) and I remember when my kids were small I used layaway at Walmart. It's too bad, I could really use it! I wish Target had it! I'm not a fan of Walmart anymore (they really went downhill in my area), but I LOVE Target! Oh and I wish Hollister and American Eagle had layaway too!! :)
Instead I have to take my last paycheck before Christmas and go out and buy everything I need. It really keeps me to a strict amount of money (and limits my selection) but with the kids getting older now and their wants being more mainstream and available (except for the Wii!) it's getting easier to get what they want with cash.
Annie

[miller4plusmore]

so does that allow You to pay later? or pay it off bit by bit every month?


ps..the PlayStation 2 is a good bargain...to me...the 3 is too realistic...because it doesn´t look like a game no more...The Play Station 2 is great and has many games for all ages and tastes....especially the sports game are a lot of fun...and of course the driving games

Kmart's normal layaway plan is 8 weeks and you pay 25% the original balance due over 8 weeks. Right now, they're doing the Christmas layaways which you have to have out by December 5th. If you just placed the layaway last weekend, like I did, you would basically have 4 weeks to pay it off. It's a pretty good set up, I think!

Yeah, I thought PS2 was a good deal. I got the system and two games (Lego Batman--which is a new game) for $150. If you buy the system without the game bundle, it's $130 so you can't beat getting two games for 20 bucks!

:thumbsup:

[Ms_Speedy_Elf]

We don't have that system here at all. Even if we would I still prefer to pay immediately and save up front. Whether you save your "100 USD" in advance or you pay it in instalments afterwards it comes to the same thing in the end but then at least you are sure you have the money.

Even our credit card system is different from yours. The charges get deducted from your bank account at the end of the month without any interest. This is to protect users against debt. Only since last year or so they are easing up and you are able to get full credit on your credit card and pay back in instalments but with interest.

They need this here in the US .

[Ms_Speedy_Elf]

Kinda gettin a little off topic ,but I think that anymore it is bad to have credit card's .They should be used for emergencies and at times like Christmas and for school.These day's people use them for everything . :rolleyes:

Some people don't know how to be responsible with them.

Seems you have to have a c/c for everything now day's ,even the majority of motel's/hotel's allow you to pay only by plastic.