With office parties, family travel, preparing for and throwing family get-togethers packing in on the schedule and budget, it's no wonder that 85% of Americans complete their gift shopping 10 days before the holidays. And oddly enough men and younger shoppers, according to a 2003 report by American Express, are now leading the holiday rush.

While some are a bit ashamed of the appearance of procrastinating, others consider it quite fashionable to delay gift giving. The thought of facing a crazed shopping mob, spending 60 or more on 10 gallons of gas and losing hours of much needed rest driving from store to store does little to discourage procrastinating. One study reveals that only one in four last minute shoppers (25 percent) finds the task pleasurable.

It goes without saying a frugal shopper can save hundreds, even thousands waiting for post-holiday clearance sales and sending belated gifts out in January. Still many are just not content to put off in-season gift shopping no matter what the savings. To that end how can last minute shoppers save both time and money finding the right gifts?

10 Time Saving Shopping Tips

1. Make a list of your gift ideas and possible stores that may have them.
2. Call ahead to see if items are available.
3. Consider shopping when the stores first open, or the last hour that they are open.
4. If you spouse is deployed, let the stores ship the items for you.
5. Shop at online stores and take advantage of their gift wrapping and shipping options
6. Buy store issued gift cards such as Starbucks, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's and Best Buys
7. Buy prepaid gift cards from credit card issuers like DiscoverCard and MasterCard prepaid debit gift cards
8. Shop online and save gas and hours driving from store to store
9. Take advantage of online reward programs
10. If you must venture out to shop take time to do comparison shopping online first.

That said, Fimark, a web business marketing firm located at http://www.fimark.net/ , encourages consumers to take advantage of price comparison shopping in the online marketplace. What can you find when comparison-shopping online? Customer reviews are often the best guide for determining which stores to trust. Shopper