When I was about 6 months into couponing I thought I had it all figured out! But then the Holiday Shopping Season snuck up on and me and realized I didn’t know how to save money on all the gifts I was about to purchase. I quickly began to research how I could save money without having to step foot into those crazy stores! I decided it was about to go down by shopping online! With a little help from my friends at Swagbucks, I began to create a game plan and was earning points towards gifts cards by doing so. You see when you search the web with Swagbucks you get rewarded with, well, Swagbucks. You can cash these bucks in for gift cards to places like Starbucks, Amazon, Target and even cash deposits at Paypal. Plus, they have lots of other goodies too!
So I started by Swagbuck search with finding a site for Black Friday ads. I found my favorite Black Friday website, BFAds.net. I signed up for the emails as the deals and Black Friday preview ads began to roll in.
Next, I quickly made a Holiday Gift Giving List. This list was going to help me budget for everything I needed to buy and also I was sure not to leave anyone out! Once I began to see items on my list that were going to be on sale I was marked down the store name along with the sale price and whether it was a doorbuster item or not.
Then, I signed up for a free website called Ebates.com. This online site pays you for shopping online. This is no joke! All you do is head to Ebates.com before you make your online purchases. You can easily search the site by using the upper right corner of the site and type the store name you are looking for. Into the search box You’ll notice the percentage for each store and a orange SHOP NOW button. Once you click the shop now button you will then have a second window pop up of the retailers website and you can begin to shop!
I received a $10 deposit for making my first purchase with Ebates.com and ended up with another $40 in cash back the first of the year for my online purchases I had made from October to December. This also allowed my dollars to stretch even further. Not to mention the site is also helpful for online coupon codes! So be sure to keep an eye out for the free money promotion and bookmark the website!
I soon realized that if I was going to save money that I needed to sign up for my favorite retailers email alerts. I signed up for stores like Walmart.com, Target.com, Kohls.com, ChildrensPlace.com, and ToysRUs.com. I did this because I’m able to receive weekly ads, discount codes, coupons and free shipping offers throughout the year. In the instance you don’t want your inbox flooded with these types of mailings you may want to consider making a “deal only” email address and checking it frequently!
Another favorite online retailer of mine {and probably yours too!} is Amazon.com. I made a Wish List with all the items I needed to purchase. This ensured that if I didn’t have my Holiday Gift Giving List on hand, I was still able to gather items while still scoring the best deal.
I also found a great little website called PriceGrabber.com. This helped, to see at a glance, where the best prices were on the day I was making my purchases. Although I had already done my homework, with the help of BFAds.net, I still wanted to be sure I was making the right purchases.
Now it was time to do what I do best, SHOP! The day to score the best deals during the Holiday Season is Thanksgiving Day. I get up extra early on Thanksgiving Day, throw the bird in the oven and open up the laptop. So as I drink my coffee in my PJ’s I’m saving money and getting the deals the crazies were going to fight over in the stores later that evening or in the morning.
Within a few days the front porch was drowning in packages. I did have to quickly put away the gifts before the children arrived home from school otherwise I would’ve ruined the big Christmas Morning Santa surprise! I was sure to wrap the gifts as well so I wasn’t scrambling at the last minute.
The last tidbit you’ll want to take with you when you shop online is to hit up the clearance sections of the website. Then look for the Sort By toward the top of the page and sort by Price: Low to High. By doing this you’ll yield better deals and more items! These are typically great for stocking stuffers or that little extra something to go with the cute new outfit you just bought.
Now you know how to maximize your savings and get paid by shopping online this Holiday Season! Be sure to drop in and let me know how your savings are tallying up. I can’t wait to hear all about it.