TRIM HOLIDAY SPENDING
With a bit of planning and saving, and a little help from the Internet, you can keep your holiday spending in check. Here are some tips for trimming your holiday spending this year.
Plan ahead — Create a spending plan using an online budgeting tool or homemade spreadsheet. Make a list of recipients and establish a budget for each individual. Include gifts for family, friends, and teachers, as well as travel expenses, holiday parties, and items such as wrapping paper, postage, and holiday decorations and clothing.
Suggest a gift exchange – Gift exchange games can be an interactive and creative way to entertain guests, and to shrink the number of presents each person must purchase.
Forgo extended warranties – Most financial experts recommend skipping extended warranties. Shoppers rarely redeem them and, if they do, the average repair cost isn’t much more than the warranty cost.
Use coupon codes – Find thousands of coupon codes on the Internet, by searching sites like Tada, Coupons.com, RetailMeNot.com, Swagbucks, and many more.
Free Shipping Day – Visit FreeShippingDay.com to find out which eStores are participating, and search coupon codes for additional savings.
Look for Black Friday and Cyber Monday online deals – Many of these sales are available online for the same price as in stores. Also, Cyber Monday deals often start well in advance of that day, so shop ahead.
Purchase reduced price gift cards — Sites like GiftCardGranny.com and Raise.com offer discounted gift cards for many major retailers.
Use daily deal sites — Deal sites Groupon.com or LivingSocial.com offer deeply discounted offers on things like restaurants, jewelry, spas, hotels, golf courses, gym memberships, home supplies, and much more. Purchase a gift item or give an activity like a kayak rental or a weekend getaway.
Use mobile shopping apps — Find the lowest prices on holiday items with apps like Shopsavvy to scan the bar code or type in the product name, and the app scans for the lowest prices online or at nearby stores.
Open a Holiday Savings account — While the following may not help for this holiday season, for next year start saving money now by placing money aside each month into a separate account designated specifically for your holiday spending. Doing so will help you establish a budget and provide you readily available funds to pay cash instead of placing the costs on credit. Open a Cy-Fair FCU Christmas Club Savings Account and all the funds you place in that account will be transferred to your regular savings account on November 1st of each year, just in time to start your holiday shopping!