10 Tips for Smarter Holiday Shopping (Hint: Start Now!)
According to a recent survey, almost 80% of people admit to waiting until the last minute to do at least some of their holiday shopping. The majority of people don't finish shopping for the holidays until the two weeks leading up to December 25.
If you fall into this category, there is a good chance that holiday shopping stresses you out to some degree. You might be able to skip this stress when you start holiday shopping earlier this year. Early holiday shopping will give you plenty of time to get all your gifts for family and friends.
There are also some other tips that you can use to make holiday shopping more successful this year. Here are ten tips for you if you're searching for holiday shopping advice that will make life easier for you during the upcoming holiday season.
1. Figure Out Who You Need to Buy Holiday Gifts For ASAP
Is there anything worse than finishing up your holiday shopping and then realizing that you forgot to get a gift for someone that you really need to buy one for? It can send you scrambling at the 11th hour to find an appropriate gift for them, and it could lead to a lot of unnecessary stress.
To steer clear of finding yourself in this situation, you should sit down and generate a list of everyone you would like to buy holiday gifts for this year. It'll get your 2022 holiday shopping off to a fantastic start.
2. Begin Looking For Holiday Deals as Early as October
In recent years, American retailers have started to offer holiday deals earlier than ever before. And it sounds like that trend is going to continue in 2022 with some retailers starting to extend holiday deals to customers as early as October.
You don't necessarily need to start your holiday shopping prior to Halloween. But you should begin to give some thought to which gifts you would like to buy for people and see if you can find any good deals on them.
If you can, it might be worth starting your holiday shopping in October to get the best prices on things.
3. Do Most of Your Holiday Shopping Online (Mostly to Save Money on Gas!)
After hitting record highs over the summer, gas prices finally started to come down at the start of the fall. But now, it sounds like a gallon of gas could cost you a small fortune again soon.
Because of this, you might want to do almost all of your holiday shopping exclusively online this year. It'll you avoid having to devote a portion of your holiday shopping to fueling up your car.
4. Search For Promo Codes and Coupons While Shopping Online
Outside of saving you money on gas, doing your holiday shopping online will also provide you with a chance to use promo codes and coupons when you make purchases. Prior to ordering anything online, you should always Google the name of a retailer and words like "promo codes" to see what you can find.
With very little effort on your part, you might be able to save yourself a nice chunk of change on all your holiday purchases. You might also be able to earn rewards like free shipping.
5. Use Online Tools to Track the Prices for More Expensive Gifts
If there are any expensive gifts on your holiday shopping list, you should be extra diligent about looking for the best possible prices on them. There are online tools that you can use to track the prices of items over time.
You should secure these online tools and use them to monitor the prices of the expensive gifts that you want to buy. You might be able to find them for a lot less than you would normally have to pay for them by taking this approach.
6. Keep an Eye Out for Flash Sales Throughout the Holiday Season
Retailers tend to pull out all the stops when it comes to trying to drum up interest in their products during the holiday season. One way they'll do it is by holding flash sales on a regular basis.
These flash sales will enable you to get great deals on certain items for a limited amount of time. You might want to consider signing up to receive emails from some stores that you shop at all the time so that you're able to make sure you don't miss out on their flash sales.
7. Take Advantage of Cyber Monday Sales
Even though many retailers have started holding holiday sales long before Cyber Monday, they'll still have lots of deals to offer on that day. It's why you should skip shopping in stores on Black Friday and prepare to shop on Cyber Monday instead.
You might also want to read up on which retailers are planning on holding the best Cyber Monday sales in the days leading up to it. It'll let you know where you'll need to shop online that day.
8. Try to Find Gifts You Know People Will Use
Every year, between 10 and 15% of the holiday gifts that are given end up getting returned. If you don't put enough thought into the gifts that you buy for people, they might bring them back and exchange them for something else.
To prevent this from happening, you should look for gifts for people that you know they're going to use. Don't sleep (pun intended!) on gifts like pillows, blankets, bedding, and more. They'll get a lot of use this winter when you give them to people.
9. Find a Good Way to Keep Track of Your Holiday Gift Receipts
No matter how hard you try to buy the best gifts possible for people, you might miss the mark on some of them. People might already have something similar to the gift you bought them, the gift might not fit them, or they may just not like the gift.
Whatever the case, you should keep track of all your holiday shopping receipts so that you can give them to anyone who needs one. If you do a lot of your shopping online, you might want to go as far as to set up a special folder specifically for all the gift receipts you'll be getting.
10. Stick to a Budget as You Do Your Holiday Shopping
A recent report revealed that about one-third of Americans rack up over $1,200 in holiday debt each year. If you want to avoid doing this, creating a holiday shopping budget will be of the utmost importance.
Decide exactly how much money you would like to spend on holiday gifts this year before you buy a single one. Commit to sticking to it and you should be able to keep yourself out of debt while still getting your hands on all kinds of great gifts.
Get Your Holiday Shopping Underway Now
If you wait until, say, December 20 to start your holiday shopping, you're going to have an extremely stressful experience. You might also find yourself spending more money than you planned to and forgetting to buy gifts for certain people.
We can help you avoid all of this by providing you with wonderful deals on all our pillows, blankets, bedding, mattresses, and more. We have something for everyone on your holiday shopping list and can help you find things at the right price points.
Contact us for more information on any of the products that we sell.