Gift purchases weren't the only thing fueling holiday spending. Seventeen percent of those who purchased gifts said that they had also made a fairly large purchase for themselves or their household. Of those, 10 percent bought home electronics, five percent bought a major appliance and another five percent bought furniture or a mattress. That pushed total spending to an average of $942 among gift buyers.

Fortunately, 66 percent of those whose generosity caused them to overspend say they are able to pay off their debt by the end of this month. Still, one in five of those asked will not clear their debt until March or later. (In an earlier poll, we found that six percent of respondents carried that debt for an entire year.)

Intriguingly, almost 20 percent of those asked did not buy any gifts for the holidays—people 65 and older and those with household incomes of $50,000 or less dominated this group. Now that's a hangover cure.

—Mary H.J. Farrell

In case you missed the earlier polls:

• October: Shoppers are tightening belts, not buying them
• November: To Black Friday and beyond
• December: Are you a planner or a procrastinator?

Methodology: The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a random-digit-dialing telephone survey of a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households.  In all, 1,023 interviews were completed among adults aged 18+.  Interviews took place from January 7 – January 10 2010.  The margin of error is +/- 3.2% points at a 95 percent confidence level.