When shopping, it is important to learn how to properly budget the costs of things. Shopping can get expensive, but it can also be manageable with the help of coupons, promo codes, and being on the lookout for shifts in the prices of things, especially during the holiday season.

A budget is a plan of using money wisely, and planning out what is on the shopping list is important.

Dave Ramsey, a businessman, radio show host, and author of Financial Peace, has tips on his website on daveramsey.com about Holiday shopping. On the website’s article 15 Ways to Save Money For Christmas, he mentions that an important thing to do now is to save money for Christmas early. “The sooner you start saving up for Christmas, the better (and less brutal) it will be.” The website also mentioned using free cash back apps like Ibotta and Rakuten to get cash back on your purchases.

Many companies at certain times of the year, especially on Black Friday through Cyber Monday, host huge sales stores wide or on select items, and they typically keep their deals for a few days.

Stores like Target had deals for 20% off of select items all throughout the month of November, and Target has a deal right now where consumers can save 10% off of a one time purchase by shopping online or in store, using their Circle program. When consumers go into Amazon, the main page they are greeted with already has select items with deals and discounts on them. By keeping an eye on these deals, looking at the select items with the deals, consumers can save money shopping. 

Some stores have deals where everything inside the store had a discount, Charlotte Russe being one of them. Charlotte Russe is a clothing retail store, and as of November 2020, they had a deal where everything store wide was 50% off. As of December 2020, their deal is that everything storewide is $15 or less, not including shoes and outerwear.

Not only do stores have their own deals, whether the consumer shops online or in store, there are also popular apps that are free to use for money off of purchases, like Honey. Honey is a free app that can be downloaded to a desktop browser, or even a mobile device, and has coupons and promo codes for 600+ stores.

Recently, I ordered presents for my brother on Gamestop. My parents got him a Nintendo switch, and I got him games for it. They had a deal where if I bought one brand new nintendo game, they would take $25 off of the next game I bought. My total ended up being $170, but with the use of Honey, I was able to drop my cost down to around $155, and I saved about $15 on my order.

And not only do these methods help throughout the holidays, but also help beyond that too. Watching out for deals in popular stores, using cashback and coupon apps and saving up for events like Christmas, Birthdays, etc, can help consumers save money while shopping. Budgeting for events like Holiday Shopping can help you develop more money saving habits throughout the year and even in life. Now that’s smart shopping!