I frequently hear people complain about how hard it is to buy gifts for people – even people they love and know well.

The biggest obstacle to buying gifts for people is that they are used to buying everything they want when they want it, leaving virtually nothing for people to give them as a gift.

So give all of your friends a break! From now until after Christmas, if you don't need it with a certain urgency, don't buy it! Instead, put it on your Christmas list and let someone give it to you. If they don't, you can buy it for yourself after Christmas.

And learning to delay your gratification is a useful lesson as well!