Happy holidays: Time to lie, bicker or cover up

(MoneyWatch) If you can make it through the holiday season without bickering over money, lying about -- or hiding -- an over-budget purchase, consider yourself lucky.

A recent survey commissioned by the McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union found that less than a quarter of couples never disagree about how much to spend on holiday gifts. The remaining three-quarters describe their holiday bickering as anything from "rare" to "very often."

Notably, the biggest segment of those saying such disagreements are rare are in a committed relationship, but not yet married. Some 42 percent of unmarried couples said money disputes over holiday gift-giving was rare, beating the other couples' "rare" responses by 3 to 4 percentage points.

However, more than one-third of couples in all categories said they at least "sometimes" had disputes about how much to spend for the holidays. Among those in a first-marriage, about 10 percent said these disputes happened frequently.

Only about half of all couples never "fib" about what they spent, according to the survey. The other half used a series of cover-up tactics designed to hide the purchases, or how much they spent.

Among those willing to fib the most popular techniques were to pay cash (34 percent) or get a new credit card that the spouse didn't know about (31 percent). Another 14 percent kept vigil over the mail box, hoping to nab the errant credit card bill before anyone else would know. And 20 percent used some other technique not described in the survey.

An earlier survey may shed some light on what that "other" technique might be. A 2010 American Express poll asked respondents the most outrageous things they had done to hide spending from their spouse. The most common response: Leave the packages in the trunk until the spouse was away or asleep and then sneak them in the house. Several also suggested hiding the packages in the back of the closet for a few months. Then, when asked "when did you get that?" you can honestly answer, "months ago." A few claimed they had gotten the item for free or from someone else.