It may be too late to get some of the best bargains for some holiday shopping but anytime you can get some ideas of how to save money that might fit within your budget as it pertains to gifts it’s a good day.
We want to preface this by saying that even with savings, you should always make sure you’re staying within your budget as much as possible. Nothing’s a deal if you can’t really afford it. Here we go:
1. Buy online. There are many deals to be made online, even for new items. Be cautious that you’re not losing your savings via lousy shipping deals, which some retailers are sneaky about (such as charging you multiple times for multiple items you know are going in the same box). There are the generic sites where you can bid on things and other sites that offer low prices by comparison, but sometimes the best deal you can get is directly from the manufacturer.
2. Buy within the first two weeks “after” a holiday. This may not work well for items that won’t come out until just before a holiday but for everything else almost all businesses are trying to clear out inventory at drastically reduced rates. If the item you want to buy isn’t time conscious this is a great way to save a lot of money.
3. Don’t always buy “new”. There are a lot of big ticket items that are still pretty good that people decide to sell for reasons other than because something went bad. Things like cars and jewelry, sometimes even appliances, often get sold because someone didn’t like it as much as they thought the would but otherwise are just like new. Sometimes you can save as much as 75% on some items that aren’t fully new, and we’ve seen some cars with less than 5,000 miles go for upwards of 40% off, depending on the model.
4. Look for “vintage”. Going further with the theme of not buying new all the time, things like paintings, quilts and furniture sometimes retains itself pretty well over time and, in some instances, if you shop properly you can save some money on really nice stuff. Of course some vintage items go up in price over time so you might want to think about your purchases as an investment to help someone make money later on.
