Holiday shopping can get expensive fast. Between gifts, sales, and all the little extras, it's easy to spend more than you planned. But saving money during the holidays doesn't have to mean skipping everything you want to buy or spending hours hunting for deals.
There are a few simple things I do to shop smarter, find savings, and avoid unnecessary purchases. Here are six easy ways to save money on holiday shopping that you can start using today.
1. Make a holiday shopping list before you browse
One of the best ways to save money when shopping is to have a game plan. When you know who you want to buy for, what you want to buy for each person, and how much you want to spend, holiday shopping is a lot easier.
When you have a game plan, you can look for the best sales and the stores with the most of the best deals. And you’ll be ready if a store or brand starts their deals early or has a pre-sale. Plus, you’re less likely to overspend.
Easy action: Spend 10 minutes making your list of who you’re buying for. Write down gift ideas and a spending limit for each person on your list.
Related post: Holiday gift guides for the whole family
2. Compare prices before buying
During these end-of-year sales, many of the same items will be on sale, but not all of the sales will be the same. So, before I buy something, I spend a few minutes to make sure I’m getting the best deal.
You can do this by
- Checking at least two stores to see the item price by searching the product name
- Not just comparing prices but also comparing shipping costs and pickup options
- Seeing whether a coupon or promotion actually lowers the total
One tool that I will sometimes use to comparison shop is the Rakuten browser extension. Once you download it and turn it on, it can alert you if the product you’re looking at is cheaper elsewhere.
3. Check for coupons and cashback offers
Finding the best deal isn’t a manual process anymore. You can use several sites, online tools, and apps to find out what’s on sale or create a deal with coupons or cashback.Online sites like RetailMeNot can be used to find coupon codes to reduce the purchase price. You go to the site and search the retailer or brand you want to shop at. The results will show you if there are active coupons or not.
Cashback offers are another way to save some money when holiday shopping. These are offers that may return money after a qualifying purchase. One of the more popular sites for cashback offers is Rakuten. When you sign up, you can earn cash back on your online qualifying purchases at major retailers.
Receipt rewards are something not talked about much when it comes to holiday shopping, but they can offer points that can be cashed in for money, gift cards, or other rewards. The receipt reward apps I use are Ibotta, Fetch, and Receipt Hog.
Before you hit that purchase button, check one coupon source and one cashback option.
4. Sign up for sale alerts from stores you already shop
Most of the sales I’ve shopped were discovered via an email or text alert from my favorite brands. I’ve found out that my favorite hair brands are on sale at Ulta via text alert or an email when my favorite skincare brand is on sale at Target.
Sometimes you may also get early access to a sale with some brands and retailers when you’re signed up for their emails or text alerts.
The downside of the alerts is that they can get overwhelming and start to feel like spam. To avoid that
- Choose your top two or three stores or brands for holiday shopping
- Sign up for relevant emails, texts, or app notifications from those three brands
- Unsubscribe or turn off alerts when they're no longer useful
Related read: My Must-Shop Black Friday Sales Roundup
5. Check price match policies before checking out
Here’s a little secret: some stores will match the in-store or online prices of their competitors. If the retailer you’re shopping at price matches, this allows you to shop where you want and still get the lowest price.
Now, not all stores do this. The ones that do have policies in place, so look up the store's current price match policy before asking for an adjustment.
6. Avoid buying something just because it's on sale
It can be so tempting to just shop, shop, shop when there’s a sale. I’m not a big shopper, but even I sometimes find myself adding things to my cart when I see it’s on sale.
When I find myself doing that, there are a few things I do to determine if it makes sense for me to buy the item. You can do these things too:
- Wait 24 hours before buying
- See whether the item was already on your list
- Check your remaining budget
Need a few gift ideas?
If you're shopping for hair, beauty, home, or everyday finds, you can browse my LTK shop for products and shopping inspiration. I share finds from different retailers, so you can see what catches your eye and compare options before buying.
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