Christmas may be over, but the holiday ceremonies are not yet complete: the day after you open all your gifts is the first day you have to send the bad ones back. Let the annual returning of the gifts begin!

See this dress? I recently returned it almost 48 hours after I bought it. I thought I could pull it off but in reality I looked like a fancy pirate.

Retail return windows are a handy bit of insurance in case you decide you don't want something you bought. However, when you're at the checkout counter, it's probably better if you pretend you can't return it.

There are plenty of stores out there with great return policies. Some are so good you can basically rent stuff from their stores. If you're not careful, however, those lenient return polices can actually trick your brain into holding onto items you don't actually want.