Holidays

Karen and Michele Ceurvels, 41-year-old twins from Rockland, said they opted to spend cash on Friday for birthday and holiday gifts at the Abington Wal-Mart.

"I don't want to be in debt," said Karen Ceurvels, a bank film processor in Quincy.

As far as racking up credit-card debt, Michele Ceurvels said, "It has happened to everyone at some point."

Mike and Paula Moriarty of Abington expect to spend about $1,200 this season on holiday gifts for family and friends. They spent $125 at Wal-Mart on Friday, bringing this year's total so far to $550, said Paula Moriarty, a teacher at Williams Middle School in Bridgewater.

"We'll pay off the credit cards immediately," she said as she unloaded a carriage full of games, toys and kitchen appliances into her minivan.

The Moriartys expect to spend less this year on gifts than they did last year.

"Last year we got a big-screen TV. This year we're getting off cheap," said Mike Moriarty, a manager for a medical device manufacturer in Andover.

According to the Consolidated Credit survey, about 44 percent of consumers plan to spend more on holiday shopping this year than last year, while 26 percent plan to spend less and 30 percent say they will spend the same.

Brockton resident Brian Zaleski, 42, and his 16-year-old son, Greg, took advantage of a zero-interest credit card offer from Sears at Brockton's Westgate Mall to get Mrs. Zaleski an unspecified gift.

"I think you take advantage of all the zero-percent credit card offers you can," said Brian Zaleski, a credit manager, after using both credit cards and cash on Friday.

Many of the large, chain stores offer low- or no-interest credit cards for 12 to 18 months, said Ganim-Barnes. But they do so with some limits on returns and swapping, she said.

"They wouldn't be offering these deals if they didn't make money," said Ganim-Barnes.

She warned against getting "credit card after credit card."

But as long as people have a plan in place to manage their credit card debt and pay it off, credit cards are not a bad thing, she said.

"The trick is managing your credit. It's not that credit cards are bad, it's not managing your credit that's bad," she said.

Paying off the debt immediately to avoid interest costs is the best way to spend, and that's the way Mario and Magaraita DeBarros and their 12-year-old daughter Melanie plan to handle Friday's purchases of a television and portable CD player.

"As soon as the (credit card) bill comes, I'll pay it," said Mario DeBarros, 46, of Brockton, as he struggled to load a television from Best Buy at Westgate into his car.

Massachusetts retailers expect a 4 percent increase in holiday shopping season sales this year. The state's Boston-based retailers association predicts Massachusetts sales will total $20 billion in November and December, with $5.5 billion of the total associated with holiday gifts.

The projected increase, which is based on a survey of the association's 2,500 members, would fall below the 5 percent rise posted for the state last year. But it would surpass the 2 percent growth in 2002, and exceed the current inflation rate, the association said this week.