This year I did practically all my Christmas shopping online. I never entered the mall. I never saw the inside of Wal-Mart and you never have to either in this electronic age.

This is really information that I should keep away from my sister, she is a professional shopper. We are seriously looking into a twelve step program for her. If she knew how easy this was I think it might be her downfall.

The joy of clicking through a website, be it eBay or the actual business’s website, and choosing exactly what you want. Then three days later, a truck shows up with your stuff. Better still, its gift wrapped. And you did it all in your bunny slippers.

No circling the parking lots trying to find something closer than Siberia. No ducking and weaving through hordes of people to try and find what you are looking for knowing there is every chance you never will.

The absolute best part of the whole thing is that there is no waiting in long checkout lines.

Some people enjoy that sort of thing during the holidays, the hustle, the bustle, socializing with others who are in the same crazy boat as you are. Bonding over the endless lines and people bumping into one another like bumper cars. “Excuse me”, “Oh Sorry, excuse me.” “No, no excuse me.” It doesn’t take very long before you really don’t mean it.

If you are like me and have a short fuse and even shorter attention span, you have to investigate the online alternative.

Now a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you need a credit card for that.’

Sometimes that is true, but did you know that you can get a MasterCard/Visa gift cards in denominations of up to $200 and use them online? Yes, just check out those wonderful displays we have now with hundreds of different gift cards, you can get them for just about every business and now credit cards as well. No fuss, no muss, no looming bill on the horizon.

For my eBay purchases I use PayPal. Very secure and all I have to do is transfer funds from my bank account to my PayPal account and I am in business and I can also receive money into that account as well so returns are pretty painless.

With all of the options for payment out there, I bet you wish you could just use your debit card for everything. Well, it won’t be long before you can do just that. There are already businesses online that are set up for just such a transaction.

My son and I use TELUS Pay and Talk phones, and you can actually top those up using your debit card.

I know! I was flabbergasted, finally something that everyone can get behind. There are a growing number of online businesses that are accepting Interac now, its amazing.

Now if I can just keep this information from getting into the wrong hands, (namely my sister) I can keep her out of debtors’ prison.