The snow is falling, the steam from your mug of hot chocolate is steaming, the holiday music has been steadily playing and all your decorations are finally up– you are officially in the holiday mood. All is well, except for one thing, Christmas is weeks away and that holiday shopping list is causing nothing but ulcers. The holidays are that time of the year when there is nothing but good cheer and stressed out budgets. Many people find themselves either stretching their budget extensively this month or struggling to scrape together a gift that would make the Jones’ envious. No matter which camp you fall into this holiday season, I’ve got your game plan.
Dear Over Spender,
Make your gift giving budget and check it twice. One you have your number, buy that amount in Visa or Amex gift cards. Then use said gift card to buy all your gifts. When the gift cards end, so is your shopping. The last step is to immediately run home (before you’re tempted to buy more) and wrap those gifts because your shopping is done.
Pro tip: Buy your gift cards on discount sites like Raise or Cardpool with a credit card that gives you rewards. Start at a site like Ebates and earn even more cash back. Ebates gives 1% back on Raise purchases, if your credit card also gives 1% that’s 2% off in addition to buying a card on sale. You can maximize this in two ways – For example, let’s say you planned to buy a pair of shoes for your sister from Overstock.com. You can buy a gift card on Raise worth $50 for just $45.16 (a 9.7% discount). Then log in to Ebates which gives 4% cash back on Overstock purchases and use the purchased gift card to buy those shoes, spending a total of $43 plus any additional rewards your credit card offers. You could also start at Ebates, go to Raise and buy said gift card and get cash back off your Raise purchase (good idea if making multiple gift card buys) plus the discounted gift card price savings.
If you’re doing any shopping online, link your email account to an app like Slice which tracks any price drops and automatically works to get you a price adjustment.
Dear Perpetually Empty Pockets, Redeem those rewards! You’ve been working hard spending all that money on yourself all year, now share your rewards with others. Check how much you’ve saved up in credit card rewards or points from bonus sites and redeem, redeem, redeem. And yes, a gift card is a perfectly acceptable gift but if you want to do a little more, check your own unused gift pile or the chocolate section of the Dollar Tree and wrap one up with the gift card. In general, use your resources wisely and your gift giving budget could be $0.
Pro tip- Utilize sites like Swagbucks or Bing that reward you for searching. Spend 5 minutes each day and watch how it adds up. (Also, using the referral links in this post get you an additional sign on bonus!)
What other shopping tips do you use? Share in the comments below.
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