It's hard to believe, but it's time to start easing into holiday shopping mode.
The first step is deciding how much you'll spend — without going into debt. Then make a shopping list. Will someone on your list be upset because you didn't buy them something that will take you a year to pay off? Then maybe you shouldn't be buying a present for that person, because they don't really care about your well-being.
Next, start comparison shopping to find the best prices for your money. Your military exchanges have options, so include them in your comparisons: ShopMyExchange.com, run by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, and MyNavyExchange.com are both open to authorized shoppers from all branches of service. One advantage right off the bat: You don't pay sales tax in the exchanges' online stores (or their brick-and-mortar stores, either).
The Navy Exchange has upgraded its website, making it easier to search and also dropping the standard shipping cost to $4.95, down from $5.95.
There's a "one-time authentication" process, which means you have to enter your military ID credentials just once. You create a username and password to log in each time after that initial authentication.
The site also has added more items — more brands and categories, as well as increased items available within existing brands. More items and more features will be added over the next few years.
New categories include children's shoes, women's underwear and shapewear, costumes, men's grooming items and sports nutrition.
Other additions:
■ Athletic shoes: added items and wide widths.
■ An expanded selection of baby items.
■ Women's shoes: added BCBG, Jessica Simpson, Vince Camuto, Toms, Anne Klein, Intensify, UGG.
■ Beauty products: added Estee Lauder; increased number of items in bareMinerals, Too Faced, Philosophy, Bliss; added professional hair care products.
■ Women's clothing: added I.N.C. International Concepts, Lucky, Miss Me Denim, Vince Camuto, Karen Kane.
Keep an eye out for NEXCOM's Blue Holiday season, kicking off Oct. 13, the Navy's 239th birthday. There will be a variety of promotions and sales online and in stores, including a drawing online and in stores where customers can enter to win one of 1,000 $100 gift cards. Sailors and Marines at sea will have a sales event designed for them from Nov. 23-26, with information provided directly through their commands. More details to come on some of those sales.
Layaway
Navy Exchange customers get a free $5 NEX gift card for new layaways opened through Dec. 15. That offsets the required $5 nonrefundable layaway fee. A minimum deposit of 10 percent of the purchase price is also required. If you cancel the layaway, you'll pay an additional $5 fee.
Layaways are a good way to work within a holiday budget. Clothing, accessories and shoes can stay on layaway for up to 45 days with three equal payments; general merchandise for 90 days with three equal payments; jewelry and watches can be on layaway for 180 days with six equal payments (requires a $500 minimum single item retail price).
Where are those catalogs?
A reader asks: Where are those two big-book print catalogs that the exchanges used to issue? The Army and Air Force Exchange Service no longer publishes its two big-book print catalogs each year, but it still publishes smaller specialty print catalogs. This year it published seven 36-page catalogs: bridal, spring, summer, sleep, autumn, bridal fall and holiday.
"We've been focused on cutting costs," said spokesman Judd Anstey. With people increasingly shopping online — and with online shopping selections expanding all the time — the cost to print and mail the big-book catalogs has gotten prohibitive.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
