WASHINGTON -- Given the state of the economy and your bank account, purchasing gifts for certain friends and family may not be possible this holiday season.

But no need to worry if that is your situation. Surely you have nice but unused gifts stashed around your home. If so, pull them out to do what in the past might have been unthinkable -- regift.

More Americans this year are planning on regifting or passing on a gift they received from someone else, according to a Consumer Reports survey on holiday shopping. The poll found that 36 percent of U.S. adults said they would recycle a gift, compared with 31 percent last year and 24 percent in 2007.

There should be no shame in this money saving strategy, says Jodi Newbern, author of "Regifting Revival! A Guide to Reusing Gifts Graciously" (Synergy Books, $16.95).

"With resources becoming scarcer and the economy becoming rockier, now is the time for regifting to be resurrected as a wonderful, wise, and responsible way for all of us to fight against the continued waste of unwanted gifts," Newbern writes.

Amen, sister.

I've always advocated regifting. So I've chosen Newbern's book for the December pick for the Color of Money Book Club.

Newbern has written a fantastic how-to guide that just may win over many opponents of regifting. The glossy 161-page book is part persuasion, part regift manual. She promises -- and delivers -- a "definitive source for all things regiftable."

Cate Williams, vice president of financial literacy for Money Management International, a nonprofit credit-counseling agency, notes that regifting is becoming a phenomenon. "Instead of going broke this holiday season, consumers should consider bringing unused gifts out of the supply closet," she said. Continued...