With this being the holiday season we’re all busily spending our hard-earned cash. There are certain things we can do though to make our Christmas budgets go farther. The important thing is to do your homework first. Make a list of whom you need to buy for and what your idea is for their gift. Next watch for your list of items to go on sale. As they do – go shopping online stacking your savings by using promo codes, cash back/rewards sites and paying with a rewards debit or credit card.
Here’s an example. Your item is on sale – fabulous! If you’re lucky enough, you’ll hit a sale when the website is offering a percentage off your entire purchase – those are the best deals. If not, it’s still a savings because of you hitting the item on sale. Next, hit the website with the sale. Find the item you’re looking for to make sure it’s in stock. Then hit the cash back/reward sites to see if that store is listed; comparing which site will give you the most cash back (or rewards) on your purchase. Next you’ll want to do a search to see if there is any promo code available for that store. For example, if you’re shopping on Urban Outfitters website, you’ll do a Google (or other search engine) search typing in Urban Outfiitters promo codes to see what they have for active promo codes. Some stores will allow you to use two promo codes. Use all that you can to get the most savings. But before hitting that check out button – think about how you are going to pay for the purchase.
For instance, a recent purchase I made for an iPad 4 (Retina display) for my father-in-law to give my mother-in-law for Christmas – I wasn’t able to hit a sale. They’re a new item and we all know they don’t usually go on sale; however, sometimes the purchase can bring you a gift card to use later (at certain stores). I could have gone that route however I fared better by going through a cash back site.
The cash back site I went through was offering 6% cash back at the website I was shopping – $30 is coming back to me. And, although I couldn’t find an active promo code for that particular store, I opted to use my rewards card for that store – saving me an additional $23+. Alternatively, I could have used my Mypoints credit card or Chase credit card. My Mypoints credit card would have given me 1 point per dollar spent, but after doing the math I fared better using the 5% rewards card and I would have saved nothing with the Chase card. When all was said and done, I ended up getting the iPad for $456.00 – roughly a $44.00 savings with free shipping. Plus, I had the benefits of no waiting in lines, no money spent on transportation and all while having a cup of coffee in hand!
This is just one example. If you’re shopping for clothing like at Threadless, be sure to look for Threadless promo codes. A code doesn’t have to be BOGO, or $20 off your purchase of $60. Even if it’s a free shipping promo code, you’re still saving money. If you find a promo code that you think others would benefit from – by all means share the promo code. Together we call all save money – making our almighty dollars stretch farther.