When the holidays roll in and our wallets threaten to roll over in agony, we all confront a crucial moral dilemma: to re-gift, or not to re-gift? Many people consider the practice of re-gifting to be an underhanded cop-out for bad gift givers, but before you condemn it, consider what happens to gifts that aren’t re-gifted.

On holidays, my grandparents can’t give presents the typical way. They live in Israel, so the person who gives me their gifts is usually the mailman. Nearly every time, I get books. The idea sounds kind of lame, but I love it.

Okay, I lied—I don’t always love it. Last year, an interesting phenomenon occurred. For my fifteenth birthday, my grandparents sent me a book that told the story of a woman and her horse. Though the language sometimes got difficult (the book is in Hebrew, and my Hebrew has deteriorated over the years), the read was satisfying. I placed the book on my desk, hoping I’d be able to find it and read it again later.

This is where I realized that you’ve got to be careful about what you hope for, because I received the same book for Passover.

And Rosh Hashana.

My grandparents aren’t senile, I promise.

But senility aside, the two extra books are now sitting side-by-side on my shelf’s top tier and they are no doubt depressed that no one has bothered to read them. I’m sure many people have had similar experiences of receiving duplicate gifts for birthdays or holidays. Really, what is the use of having two, three, or—Santa forbid—five identical videogames? Worse yet, what about gifts you don’t even like? Without re-gifting, all of these valuable presents would be abandoned. No gift giver wants his present to end up as a meager dust collector. It’s better to give the gift to someone who would appreciate it more than you ever could.

Despite what the stigmas may say, re-gifting is not sketchy—it’s efficient. Think of it as recycling. Instead of pouring more money into the over-commercialized holiday industry, you are giving something you already have a new use. The value of a present shouldn’t depend on how much you paid for it. That’s not what the holidays are about.

There is, of course, re-gifting etiquette to consider. In all honesty, re-gifting something that’s obviously used or still has a price tag is just tacky. Similarly, presents of sentimental value shouldn’t be given away thoughtlessly; your girlfriend’s hand-knit scarf and your great grandfather’s old watch probably mean much more to you than to anyone else. But if your cousin who hasn’t talked to you for six years buys you an iPod skin when you don’t even own an iPod, give it to your friend who does. She’ll thank you.

Perhaps, as a gift giver, you feel hurt when your presents are re-gifted. But chances are, whoever re-gifted your gift isn’t telling you you’re inadequate. If you find yourself tearing up at the thought of someone giving your gift away, just ask your friends and family what they would like beforehand. Giving a bad gift isn’t that big of a deal—no one sensible will hate you, and you’re not going to purgatory. You simply gave the gift of not having to go out and buy one, and sometimes, that is the greatest gift of all.