Wouldn’t you enjoy the holidays even more if you didn’t have all the financial pressure that often accompanies entertaining guests, making big meals, buying gifts and decorating your house? I have compiled a list of websites that will help you save money this holiday season. (For those that have attended a Celebrate for Less training, these are all the sites I referred to throughout the class).
Entertaining / Cooking / Food
All Recipes.com. I love their ingredient search as a way to use up things I already have in my pantry. Plus, I’ve found the recipes reviews to be extremely helpful.
Easy Quiche.Quiche really is one of the cheapest meals around for feeding a hoard of people. I love this recipe and substitute all types of fillings for the broccoli and onion (ham, mushroom, tomato, spinach, you name it)
Grocery coupon sites. Follow the shopping lists on Pocket Your Dollars to get the most bang for your buck, but if you need to buy something even if it’s not on sale check out Coupons.com, Smart Source.com, and RedPlum.com for a plethora of internet printable coupons.
Online Shopping
Online shopping can be good for the impulse buyer because it keeps you out of the store and can create a buffer from the emotional high some of us get in the hustle bustle of the stores.
Cash back sites. Cashbaq.com is my favorite because you get a $5 bonus for signing up, they will send you a check versus a PayPal deposit and you earn money when you refer friends and family. Ebates is another very popular cash back site that has generous rewards and offers a sign-up bonus.
Coupon codes. Coupon codes work like regular coupons, but are just for online shopping. Search Retail Me Not or Coupon Cabin for codes that will give you a percentage off your order or free shipping. Sometimes you can use multiple coupon codes for the same purchase.
Search engines. Google shopping is one of my favorites because it includes shipping and handling costs in the search results wherever possible. That helps for an apples to apples comparison.
Deal alerts. There are a ton of sites out there that compile the best deals around the web. Deal News is my favorite because it has so many channels (electronics, baby, restaurants, etc.) and their alerts often reference how the current deal compares to other recent deals from the same retailer. If you are in the market for particular kinds of items this is a great way to keep a pulse on the price. Beware if you are an impulse shopper that following these deal threads will likely cause you to spend money if you aren’t careful.
Gift Ideas
Photo gifts. So many major digital photo sites offer free prints and other gifts when you initially sign up. Kodak is giving a $15 credit to the first 100,000 that sign up starting November 6. CVS.com is giving 50 free prints when you join their website. Snapfish always gives 50 free prints and a second gift (a deal of the day) now through the end of the year.
Restaurant.com. The Dinner of the Month club can be a great and inexpensive gift for someone that has everything. Restaurant.com runs coupon codes all the time, with deeper discounts as the month progresses. I recommend waiting to buy until there is an 80% off code, which I’ll let you know about.
Store Loyalty Programs
Using store loyalty programs can get you all sorts of stocking stuffers for just pennies. It’s important to understand all the nuances of how they work. Get the how-to for each store listed below.
Earn a Little Extra Money
Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search engine, like Google, but you earn Swagbucks while you search and can redeem them for $5 Amazon gift cards. Folks that use Swagbucks diligently can earn $5 per week. That’s a nice way to earn a little extra holiday cash.
Holiday Crafts
Fave Crafts. There are tons of website full of holiday craft ideas. I like Fave Crafts because they’ll email you new ideas for every holiday. Right now they have all kinds of info on angel crafts.
Your turn: What other websites help you get great deals on the things you need this holiday season?
I’ve been buying alot of the Glade/Febreeze/Airwick products when I get get them for close to nothing so I can use them in gift baskets this holiday season for my children’s teachers, friends, etc. I am also making some litte tote bags out of of placemats and ribbon to use as gifts also. I’m not usually a crafty person but this project has been alot of fun.
Also check out Woot.com for electronics. There is different thing everyday so check daily and some days the have a woot off where they are basically selling out their warehouse. I have bought a few things from them and I am very happy. They have $5 shipping on everything. Somethings are a good deal and somethings aren’t so still have to do your research a bit before you buy. You will find links on there site to kidswoot.com, another site for wine (if you are a wine lover or know one). I think there is one more site t-shirts or something.
Check EBAY now, don’t wait for Mid-November to approach. Lot’s of things go higher around Christmas, but stay relatively low right now. I purchased a Randy Moss, brand new jersey for my son who is very hard to buy for for $15 shipped. Retails for $75+ Great Buy!!!
For grandparents, I put the grandkids pictures with calendar borders from Shutterfly. The prints are 4×6 and then add a border which is the month calendar. I don’t know if other sites have this as a border option, but I know that Shutterfly does. The first year I bought frames ($5-10) and then every year I give January – December 4×6 prints. With different deals, I can buy each grandparents gift for less than $1.20 or maybe free if CVS or Kodak have this border option (which is a huge savings when you add in great grandparents).
I went to resturant.com and it says let’s say you buy a $50 certificate it says you’ll have to spend $100 in order to use the gc…has anyone had any experience using these gift certs because from what I can tell, they don’t seem like a very good deal. please let me know if I’m wrong because that would be an awesome Christmas present
Angie – I personally get the smaller value ones that where know we can easily reach the established threshold for redemption without buying a bunch of extra stuff. But, when the coupons go on sale 80% off later this month, you can pick up a $25 off coupon for $2. It can be a good deal.
Carrie- Is swagbucks a legit thing? I tried ebates a few years back and I’m pretty sure that that site gave my computer a virus, since then I’ve been super cautious of websites.
I found a new cash back site that just launched this week. It is by invitation only right now. They will be going public sometime in the next few weeks. It is called the Blastoff Network. It’s a fun, free and easy way to save and make money. You can have a Blast with your own customizable homepage with the best music, video, news and games. You can Save Money when you shop online from 400 of the largest retailers and you can make money when you invite your friends.
If you are interested in joining go to the link below…
http://my.blastoffnetwork.com/contacts/invite/?token=0557f2d8a48107f0eaf7b41e4c5c2f4b
Gotcha thank you that is a good deal.
If you are brave enough to go out on “black friday” (the day after Thanksgiving), I think there really are some good deals to be had. I like to keep an eye on the ads as as they are leaked early (my favorite site is http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/)…I search items I am looking for there as Thanksgiving approaches, and plan out my shopping early (double checking the paper ads once they arrive on Thanksgiving day itself).
Vista print always offers a ton of free photo gifts (usually one free each of a few items, to get you to purchase more), and I think I am going to do a few of these for Christmas gifts this year too.
Thanks for all of the helpful sites. I think it’s also important to do a Christmas budget worksheet so you can see what your expenses will be to plan accordingly.
http://www.budgeting-steps.com/budget-worksheet-christmas.html
I was watching the news and they said sales are starting early this year. Stores may run out of products due to less quantity of items in their store caused by lower demands. MY guess is the sales will end sooner this year.That way people have to pay higher prices so the stores have higher profits. The last part is MY opinion on what will happen with sales. It COULD go the opposite and have super deals tho too….Just a heads up and food for thought to all you bargain hunters :) :) Thanks Carrie for a wonderful website!! One of my kids said, “Mom, you’ve given that website to the last 3 of my friends that came over to give to their moms”, and laughed. I recommend your site several times a week!! Thanks everyone who helps me stretch a buck. :) :) :)
Could someone explain what swagbucks is? I am not understanding it.
Also, does Black Friday include online shopping? I’m dreading the Black Friday rush and would like to stay put in my home, shopping online. :)
Saving the small gifts sure helps especially in these terrible economical times.