2014-01-15

Did the holidays and birthdays sneak up on you last year?

Here are tips to plan ahead and make life easier for yourself.

It’s a good idea to stock up for birthday and holiday gifts whenever you find deals throughout the year so you’re not surprised or find yourself without enough funds.

When you’re not stressed out or pressed for time, you can find the best deals so take your time to shop for deals year round.

Make a Gift Budget

Make a list of the people you plan to shop for and their birthdays. Order the list by month.

Whether this includes family, friends and coworkers it’s important to set a dollar limit for your entire gift shopping plan.

Try to use cash when you can so you don’t max out your credit cards. Of course, when you shop online, you have to use a credit card. It might be a better idea to save your credit card for your online shopping.

Search for Coupon Codes

Pull up a coupon website and look for the brand’s logo. With your shopping list next to you, start browsing each department, looking for the coupon codes that you could apply to each gift item. As you find gifts and coupon codes, apply the codes and put items into your shopping cart.



Look for coupon codes that pop up before upcoming holidays, like Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, etc. There are always special holiday sales.

When Christmas comes around, look for a Walmart coupon code for holiday savings before adding items to your cart. Whether you plan to buy toys, games, electronics, tools for your husband’s toolbox or clothes for some of your family members, you’ll be able to find codes for many of the departments within the online store.

You may want to hold off on the actual online shopping so that you can compare prices beforehand. Visit several online stores and look for comparable coupon codes.

To find the largest number of coupon codes, enter each online store through the coupon website, so you’ll be able to find more and better discounts. Online retail stores won’t display every one of their discount coupons on their own websites, according to the Kiplinger website.

After you’ve finished your online comparisons, shop according to the notes you made. If you find better coupon codes then apply what you find to the gifts you have in mind.

Gift Shopping Doesn’t Have to Empty Your Wallet

If you and your spouse are looking at buying a gaming system for your children, one of the coupon codes link offers free shipping plus $30 off the holiday bundle for a gaming system. When you think of how much a game system, its controller and each game can cost you, the cost may send you elsewhere, but with the right coupon code, you can afford to buy one for your children.

Other coupon codes offer free shipping on orders over $50. Use a coupon code to save money on home products, if you plan on giving items for the home as gifts.

Remember to Do Comparison Shopping

While it offers low prices, you may decide that it’s still worth it to do comparison shopping, both online and in the brick-and-mortar stores you visit. Doing so allows you to find items that you may have missed while visiting the online store.

While doing comparison shopping online, don’t forget to look at the items and brands offered through other online stores. Wherever you find the better deals, buy the items you need for your holiday shopping.

Compare the coupon codes you find here and at other stores. Look at dollars off, free shipping and percentages off so you can see where you’ll get the best deals.

Conclusion

Online coupon codes can help you keep your shopping in line. Compare what you find here to what you see at other stores so you know where you’ll get the best deals.

This post was written by Allie Caren.

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The post Money Saving Tips for Gifts appeared first on Living Richly on a Budget.

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