Holiday Saving Tips
Lot of people are probably shopping this weekend for the holidays. I will be going out of the country in a couple weeks (which I will talk about as time gets closer), and I have to buy gifts for all my relatives. I thought I would share some of the things I do to try and save some money or at the very least not break the budget. These tips can also be used through the year.
Avoid Peak Times
Whether it be a whole day or the 5 hour sale, I try to avoid these times as much as possible. If I have looked through the ads and there is something I just need to get, then I will just walk straight in, buy it, and walk straight out. During these peak times, stores will try to play on the fact that everything is on sale. They will usually keep the hottest items on display where everybody can see and usually there will just be a few items left. The first instinct for everybody is to quickly grab it and buy it before somebody else can. The only problem is that you walked in the store for something else and now you are stuck with the item you bought and, even worse, you might of broke the budget.
To prevent this problem from happening:
- keep a detailed list of what you need and stick to it
- shop online or see if you can have the item(s) ready for you at the customer service (best buy and circuit city do this)
- do not rush; stores count on the fact that people shop in a hurry
Have an Intention
One of the reasons people spend more then they intend to is because they don’t know what they are buying before walking into a store. Lot of times when people don’t know what gift(s) to get they think that just by walking through stores they will come up with ideas. My family is real good at doing this. Although you might figure out what to get somebody eventually, most likely you probably are going to end up spending more then you would like.
It usually goes like this:
You walk into a store and want to find gifts for 3 people. As you walk through the store you see a camera that would be perfect for Uncle Jesse (yes that is Full House). You were expecting to only spend $150 on him, the camera was on sale for $175. Your brain (although you might not know it) is processing that since you didn’t know what exactly you were going to get you might of budgeted to low for Uncle Jesse, so you get the camera. But wait you also have to get a memory card because the 1 mb one that comes with the camera just won’t do, so you spend another $15 on the card.
Now you are nearly $50 over on just one person. Say you did that for the 2 other people you were shopping for and now you are around $150 over you budget.
To prevent this problem from happening:
- Make sure you know what you are buying before going to the store. Almost every store is online now, so use the site as a resource and research before you go shopping.
- Before you check out, go back over everything you just bought and compare it to your budget. Worst comes to worse at least you now know what you want to get and you can go back home and research online for cheaper prices.
Think about the discount
Around this time many stores will have certain displays that are showing their “discounted” items, but, before you rush to the display, think about the actual sale. Most of the time these sales are just illusions. Now this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it at all, but it shouldn’t limit your opportunities.
A good example is the 2 shirts for $30. On most occasions you probably wouldn’t even pay $20 for the price of one of them, so why spend $10 more on 2. So if you really want to spend $30, then find one thing of better quality for $30. Another ploy are rebates. Make sure you will have or want to spend the time on filling out the rebate.
To prevent this problem from happening:
- For the real sales or discounts, check the back of every section. The stores obviously don’t want to put priority of the real sales over the more expensive items.
- Inquire about the rebate. Some people hate them and others like them. For me personally, I love rebates. In most cases, a rebate requires the form, copy of receipt, and the cutout bar code from the box of the item. When checking out make sure to ask the cashier exactly what the requirements are and ask them for another copy of the receipt, so all you should need is the cut out of the bar code.
These are just some of the main things I could remember on the top of my head. Are there any methods you use to try and save or stay in budget?
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