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25 days of Christmas shopping: Saving tips for your 2019 budget
The Christmas season is officially here, and (sing it with me, now!) these are a few of my favorite things: goodwill, cheer, and Christmas shopping saving tips! Yes, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year, if you love Christmas shopping—which I do!
With three boys in the house, Christmas is also my favorite season for building family memories (and not just because the threat of coal in their stockings keeps all of my guys in line!) My boys, however, are not the only ones on my list. Just like last year and the year before that, I have quite a bit of Christmas shopping to do. But this year, I have a list. I don’t mean my usual shopping list, it’s a list of 25 Christmas shopping saving tips that can keep my 2019 budget from turning as red as Rudolph’s nose.
If you’re as excited to go holiday shopping for your friends and family as I am, here are 25 more great reasons to look forward to it! Consider these shopping savings tips my Christmas gift to you this holiday season.
25 Christmas Shopping Savings Tips for 2019
Get smart. And by that I mean, go Christmas shopping with your smartphone. December is cold—in some places, very cold! If you want to wrap up in a blanket and shop from your couch, you do you. And, there are plenty of apps out there that will reward for shopping, whether it’s online, in-store, or both—and I’ll be sharing all of my favorites below!
2 | Get in the mindset that saving money can be fun. Which brings me to my next 23 tips….
3 | Apps are your friends, so show them some love. My philosophy is that there’s strength in numbers during the holiday shopping season. You’ll want to roll with three or four apps like they’re your personal shopping crew.
4 | Charge your phone before you go shopping. Don’t think you need to be reminded in this day and age? Think again. Your phone is your lifeline to your apps, as well as your shopping list. Forgot what little Bobby wanted? Don’t worry, he emailed you an Amazon link. No idea what to get your dad? Call your mom. She’s the only one that knows he recently picked up skateboarding. Otherwise, you might be heading back to the mall to spend a little more later when you realize you haven’t yet nailed the perfect gift.
Get your kicks with Shopkick! I actually love using the shopping app Shopkick all year long, but it’s also my favorite way to earn money for Christmas gifts. Shopkick makes the crazy insanity that is Christmas shopping insanely fun, while also helping you effortlessly earn free gift cards for walking into shops, as well as for buying gifts in-store and online. Each year, my Christmas budget is getting bigger and bigger thanks to my Shopkick rewards.
6 | Download apps that have holiday gift guides. These tech-based shopping buddies can give you ideas in every price range so you can check off every last person on your list this year without blowing your budget.
7 | You must have an app that gives you cash back for purchases. There are apps that give you cashback by racking up points, as well as coupon-based apps that save you money upfront. As fun as Christmas shopping is, you know what’s even more fun? Getting paid to shop!
8 | Use an app that introduces you to new products. I get it: familiar products are comforting. But haven’t you bought your grandma that same scented lotion for six years running now? She probably still has two bottles under her bathroom sink. Time to mix it up! Bonus: New products sometimes have introductory prices saving you some pretty pennies, or your favorite app may offer bonus points toward rewards when you buy featured products.
9 | Don’t forget to socialize! Everyone’s busy this time of year, but you can usually make time to go out shopping together, so pick out an app that you can use with your friends when you do, turning the sometimes crazy business of Christmas shopping into a fun social experience. Some apps even let you earn points toward gift cards when you get your friends to download and sign up, which can go a long way toward saving this season.
Do not—and I repeat—do not be afraid to embrace coffee. It’s hard to really focus on how to save this holiday shopping season if you’re dragging. And, you may just find that you can cash in on a Starbucks card for a free coffee ahead of your afternoon spree if you were using your rewards apps wisely in the morning!
11 | And download the Starbucks app to get points for all the coffees you’ll be drinking—even the free coffees you earn from shopping rewards apps!
12 | Taking advantage of holiday shopping hours. Remember that staying out late is your friend, especially when combined with tips nine and ten above! Put those kids to bed, like I do, then stock up on the late-night deals offered at your local retail stores.
13 | Download retail store apps. These store-specific apps reward loyalty for repeat business—because you and I both know that your Target runs are going to be daily instead of weekly this December.
14 | Download the Target app. Speaking of Target, download their app pronto for an even better shopping experience at a store that has basically everything. If you need more convincing, just go ahead and refer back to the tip above!
Make time to browse. Yes, having a plan is crucial to successful Christmas shopping, but some of the best bargains I’ve found have been sales on things I didn’t even know I was looking for. You can browse in-store or in your favorite shopping rewards app.
16 | Download the Ulta app. The Ulta app is the ulta-mate (get it?) way to check your besties off your list. Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure to get yourself something from Ulta, too—since you’re saving so much this holiday season. You’ve earned it! And if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ll earn it very soon in the form of a gift card from your favorite shopping points app.
17 | Give Google Opinion Rewards a try. For a cash influx to support your budget, try filling out some surveys through Google Opinion Rewards. It only takes a few minutes to earn and redeem rewards you can use to boost your Christmas budget.
18 | Find an app that gives you points for walking. Walking into stores, that is. Look, sometimes even your favorite store is a bust when you’re shopping for a specific person on your list, but the very best shopping rewards apps actually let you earn points and savings just for walking in the door of your favorite stores.
19 | Don’t exceed the cash limit in your office Secret Santa this year. I know I’m always tempted, but I find I buy more creative gifts when I stick to the limit, while at the same time saving a bit of money on my shopping.
Download the Best Buy app. Tech and gadgets are the hottest gifts year after year. Best Buy has a very cool app if you have any tech-savvy friends or family members on your list—and you know you do.
21 | Make sure you’re earning points for shopping online. We’ve mentioned this a few times, but it deserves its own place on this list. Make sure that the same app that gives you points for shopping in your favorite store, gives you points for the shopping you do online too. Because, let’s be honest, Amazon Prime shipping is an honest-to-goodness lifesaver, amiright?
22 | Try out coupon apps. I know, couponing is so 5 years ago, but there are some modern coupon apps, like Honey, that help streamline things, and that you can combine with apps like Shopkick to help you save even more money on your Christmas shopping—and your Christmas grocery list.
23 | Go on a scavenger hunt. Remember tip #2? Saving money can be fun! Using the Shopkick app to go on the hunt for the perfect gift puts the playfulness back into your Christmas shopping—and helps you get back into the Christmas spirit of surprises, for yourself and your loved ones!
24 | Don’t forget to put all these apps you’ve downloaded to use. Take a moment to make a plan, and wake up your smartphone, before you step out of the car. When I’m really busy, I keep it simple: I open up Shopkick, and the app for the store I’m about to walk into. When I’m really, really busy, I just load up Shopkick, because almost no matter where I am, I’m earning rewards for browsing and buying.
Don’t forget your own self-care. This is less of a Christmas shopping savings tip, and more of a tip for your own emotional well-being: take a quiet night for yourself at some point to simply enjoy the holiday season. Heat up some cocoa. Put on your bunny slippers. Watch your favorite holiday movie (Love Actually!). And sit back, relax—and maybe peek at all the rewards and savings you’ve racked up on Shopkick and the rest of your favorite shopping, coupon, and store apps.
The Ultimate Tip to Save While Christmas Shopping This Year
I want to leave you with some words of wisdom and encouragement. With Shopkick, there are tons of ways to earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere. These include kicks for watching videos and instant surprise kicks from going on Easter egg hunts right within the app itself. Users can also earn big points and rewards by shopping on their phones at stores like Amazon, Walmart, and more. I know I have!
With Shopkick, there are tons of ways to earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere.
I hope you find these Christmas shopping saving tips helpful—but I know you’ll like using Shopkick as much as I have. It’s just so much fun to get your kicks with it, earning points from things like walking into stores, going down aisles, browsing products, and making purchases. Plus, the money you save can make all the difference in your Christmas budget this year!
It’s time to get your kicks! Shopkick makes shopping a rewarding experience, no matter what time of the year it is. Download the app today and do your Christmas shopping to earn kicks and boost your 2019 budget from red to green! Then keep on using it into 2020 to keep the savings rolling in.
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The best ways to earn cash back for shopping with friends
My best friend Ella and I have known each other for a very long time. We’ve conquered middle school together, high school, and now we’re so happy to be college students. Of the many things we do together, one of our favorites is shopping—we’re most definitely shopaholics. Ella always snags the best finds but I’m always on the hunt for the best bargains and deals. One day we were out shopping at Ulta and I asked her if she had any rewards to redeem for cash back and she had no idea that was even a thing!
I’m not going to lie, it felt good to be the one helping Ella discover something new for a change. We spent the weekend chatting and I told her everything I knew about how shopping rewards programs help me stretch my money now that my budget is pretty tight in college. Together, we came up with three easy ways to earn cash back shopping with friends—and now we want to share with you, too!
Use Store-Specific Apps to Earn Cash Back When Shopping
The first idea for how to earn cash back shopping with friends that Ella and I came up with was to start using those apps that are specific to certain stores. Some of our favorite places to both shop and hang out—like Starbucks, Target, and Ulta—have their own apps. The point is to reward loyal shoppers there, and we’re happy to accept. If you have a different favorite shopping mecca, look them up on the app store. Chances are, they’re as tech-savvy as we are.
I just realized that coffee can taste as good as it smells (thank you, white chocolate mochas), so I’ve been using my Starbucks app a lot lately. Starbucks rewards you with special free items when you’re a frequent visitor, which my friends and I are—especially when we’re fueling up for a shopping spree or study session.
My forever favorite, though, is the Target app. Target gives you special notifications about deals and sales so you never miss out on stocking up on lip gloss and other essentials at killer prices. And, if you like to sometimes just hang out and browse around at Target like we do, you can even use it to find out what’s in stock and what’s not.
Some of our other favorite store apps include:
- Fandango
- Sephora
- Marshalls
- T.J. Maxx
Become an Instacart Shopper to Earn Cash
Expenses as a college student seem to rack up, especially when you have to buy actual textbooks. One way we’ve found to earn some extra cash for school expenses is by working part-time for Instacart. Basically, Instacart is a job where you get paid to go shopping for other people. This is what we’ve started to call the other Insta (the first one being Instagram, obviously), and Ella and I have already found plenty of ways to love it.
Here are some reasons we are Instacart-ing super hard lately:
- Flexibility: The best part about Instacart is that it’s flexible, so we can go after classes, on weekends, or whenever else we feel like it, really.
- Cash: Plus, this is literally someone else paying you to go shopping. They tell you where to go and what to buy, and you get paid for it—sometimes as much as $20 an hour.
- Time with Friends: And since it’s so flexible, you can easily make plans to do this together, which for obvious reasons is just so much more fun than doing it on your own—although that’s always an option, too.
How Shopkick Helps You Earn Cash Back Shopping with Friends
The last (and, tbh, the best) way to earn cash back shopping with friends is through this app called Shopkick. There’s a lot to love about Shopkick, but, personally, I think the best part is that you can combine it with all the other ways to shop that we talked about above—especially the Starbucks and Target store apps. See, Shopkick turns going shopping into a scavenger hunt: you hunt down featured products to get your kicks (kicks are points that you can later turn into free gifts cards or cash back).
Ella and I absolutely love Shopkick, and there are endless ways to earn kicks, like shopping for leggings at Fabletics, checking out the newest makeup at Ulta, or even getting tickets to the movies early with Fandango through Shopkick’s mobile shopping option. We’ve been using it pretty much whenever we buy anything, whether it’s while we’re hunting for deals at the mall, working part-time for Instacart, or even just to earn money shopping online while hanging out in each other’s dorms.
Shopkick turns going shopping into a scavenger hunt: you hunt down featured products to get your kicks.
So yeah, those are the best ways to earn cash back for shopping with your friends that I’ve found so far. Shopkick is probably our favorite because you can combine it with the other two. They’re all good, though, and it’s crazy to think that we ever went shopping before without earning points and rewards for it.
I hope this helps you up your own shopping game. Oh, and if I can give you one last piece of advice, it would be to combine Shopkick with your own Instagram stories. You don’t have to be as good at it as my best friend Ella (really, no one is), but you can have a lot of fun showing everyone that you know how you get your kicks. I know I do!
It’s time to get your kicks by earning cash back for shopping with friends! Shopkick makes shopping a rewarding experience in so many cool ways. Download the app today and head out on your own shopping scavenger hunt to start earning kicks instantly!
Image courtesy monstArr on BigStock
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