HOLIDAYS : Shopping as You Go : Presents can be purchased while you do errands at the grocery store, garden shop or pharmacy.

This time of year your to-do list is as long as your forearm--and gets longer by the hour. In addition to grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, buying a new faucet and stopping off for a quick bite to eat, you have only 23 shopping days until Hanukkah and 28 until Christmas.

Don’t panic. You might be surprised to learn it is possible both to do errands and holiday shop at the same time. A little advance planning is all it takes to piggyback these two seemingly unrelated activities.

Take Barbara Campbell of Van Nuys. She’s a crackerjack errand runner/gift shopper who figured it out on a trip to her neighborhood Thrifty store.

“I ran into Thrifty last summer for something and noticed there was a close-out on some Lucite chip and dip,” recalled Campbell, who couldn’t believe the reduced price of $1.99. “I thought it was a misprint--you would find something like that in a department store for about $25 to $30.”

She ended up buying six chip and dip sets and is ready to wrap them up for Christmas gifts.

Campbell discovered a couple of timesaving shopping strategies for busy people everywhere.

* Take a few minutes to shop in a place many wouldn’t consider gift-worthy. - Buy items in bulk that you know would make great gifts for a number of people.

Other sanity-saving ideas for holiday shoppers include:

* Buy good deals in bulk as soon as you see them; they may not be there when you return.

* Shop by phone whenever possible.

* Think services. Most people can usually use some sort of service--from a manicure or a facial to housecleaning or baby-sitting.

* Always inquire if complimentary gift-wrapping is available and take advantage of it when it is. If not, at least get a box so you’re ready to wrap when you get home.

Holiday chores can be done more efficiently if you do some shopping at stores you have to frequent anyway.

Next time you are in a pharmacy or a grocery, for example, take a look at the merchandise. Christmas decorations, a great gift for a newlywed couple or someone just starting out, are also in plentiful supply in these stores during the holidays.

Northridge Pharmacy (9167 Reseda Blvd., 818-349-7000)--which gift buyer Shirley Pascal describes as “a department store with prescriptions”--is chock-full of potential gift items.

Pascal, who shops gift shows around the country, makes sure there are plenty of Dickens Village pieces, which are among the store’s many popular collectible lines.

Hard-to-find Caron scents and Clarins cosmetics--rarely seen in drugstores--are also available here. Another unexpected gift item: hand-painted silk neckties from Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Orders may be phoned in for free delivery within a five-mile radius (tipping is optional). Open 365 days a year, the store will even deliver on Christmas Day.

Grocery stores also are often overlooked spots for holiday gifts.

Aside from the usual poinsettias and holiday floral arrangements, many also sell baskets that can be filled with wine, cheese and crackers--items that usually cost more at liquor stores and specialty food shops.

Lucky Food Centers, with more than a dozen locations in the Valley, offer a variety of fruit baskets this holiday season, for example. Some Lucky stores even offer to wire arrangements to out-of-town friends and relatives. For more information call your nearest Lucky store.

Trader Joe’s--with five Valley stores--is another good holiday shopping haunt for gourmet food and wine. A good buy for holiday food gift baskets is imported French brandied cherries, which the chain sells for $6.99 for a 19-ounce package, about one-third of what they usually cost in gourmet shops.

Camera stores are also sources for a wide range of gifts. Valley Photo Service in Valley Village (12466 Magnolia Blvd., 818-762-0355), for instance, stocks expensive items such as state-of-the-art automatic focus binoculars--the perfect gift for beach-going wildlife enthusiasts, bird-watchers or sports fans--selling for about $200. The store also sells more reasonably priced things like photo albums ($20-$25) or simple metal frames that sell for about $12.

Been putting off repairing that leaky faucet? When you stop by the plumbing supply store you might be surprised at the wealth of elegant bathroom accessories appropriate for gift-giving. Fancy Faucets in Westlake Village (3649 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., 805-495-2816), for example, sells the standard bathroom cup and toothbrush holders as well as top-of-the-line style of Esquema in black onyx and 24K gold. Prices for these items begin at $75 for a cup and holder.

The shop also stocks bed and bath linens, including some by The Purists, which are all-cotton and tint- and formaldehyde-free. They are sold individually; a standard three-piece set of bath and hand towels and facecloth adds up to $56.

Garden stores should not be overlooked in the holiday buying department.

Next time peat moss is on the list, stop by a place like the Chatsworth Garden Nursery (10538 Topanga Canyon Blvd., 5818-341-5600), which stocks gifts for gardening enthusiasts, like a watering can filled with tools, gloves and other useful items. They also have such items as outdoor wood-burning fireplaces, ranging in price from $65 to $100.

It’s even possible to stop while you’re dining out. Many restaurants offer gift certificates, perfect presents for people on fixed budgets who might not otherwise treat themselves.

Several national restaurant chains, like Olive Garden, Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus, Red Lobster, Sizzler, Rusty Pelican, Benihana of Tokyo and even McDonald’s, offer certificates that are good at locations throughout the country, making them ideal gifts for out-of-town recipients. Many locally owned restaurants also have gift certificates. For more information, contact individual establishments.

Need some leather cleaner for the car? A trip to the auto supply store might result in a pair of sheepskin seat covers for Mom, a custom car cover for Dad or a set of mats to spruce up the kids’ used car. Boulevard Motoring Accessories in Sherman Oaks (14321 Ventura Blvd., 818-907-6777) offers all these items as well as hard-to-find leather conditioners, window tinting and detailing services.

Gift givers might consider the expediency of providing gifts of service. At Bettye Blue Domestic Employment Agency in Encino (16733 Ventura Blvd., 818-986-0464), skilled individuals are available for a variety of tasks. For instance, you could hire someone to clean your brother’s messy apartment ($35 for the first four hours), iron for your sister ($10 an hour, no minimum), arrange for care of your elderly grandparents ($50 a day and up) or serve as a butler ($10 an hour with a four-hour minimum) at your holiday party.

Another timesaver: Buy in bulk, like Campbell did at her neighborhood Thrifty store. Trolls, those nostalgic, primitive-looking dolls of the ‘60s, are making a comeback this year. For example, at Puzzle and Troll World in Northridge (19350 Business Center Drive, 818-727-7725), trolls--many available for less than $10--are being purchased as presents between schoolchildren or for teen-age baby-sitters, as stocking stuffers and as silly gifts for baby boomer office pals.

An example of a more substantial item bought in bulk is the VCR-PLUS. One Woodland Hills woman purchased five of the units, which simplifies VCR programming, for people on her list.