11 Holiday Shopping Strategies That Will Help You Save Money

Get the most bang for your buck!

1. Haggle, haggle, haggle.

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You may not think that you can haggle at a department store, but you most definitely can. Lots of big stores will negotiate with you if you just ask. Simply put, there's no harm in asking, right?

2. Use price-adjustment policies to get back some of your hard-earned money.

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Quite a few stores offer price-adjustment or price-protection policies. This means that if the item you purchased goes on sale within a certain time frame, they'll refund you the difference!

3. Start a separate email account just for shopping.

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When you sign up for newsletters and sale notifications from retailers, your email will quickly become clogged up with promotional content. Instead, start a new email account just for shopping. This way, you can get all the deals without all the clutter.

4. Don't always be persuaded by the word "sale."

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As every shopper knows, sales are great. However, is something on sale worth it when you wouldn't have purchased it for the sale price in the first place? Whether it's on sale or not, make sure it's something you ACTUALLY want to buy.

5. Be careful when shopping at outlet malls.

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Outlet malls often carry lower quality products manufactured just for the outlets. And because they're frequently located somewhere out of town, consumers often feel the pressure to purchase something to make the trip worth it. Be aware before taking the trip.

6. Always, always, ALWAYS comparison shop.

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Before you buy nearly anything in a store, you should check online to see if other retailers are offering a better price. There might be a store in the same shopping center that's offering your same purchase for less. There are even apps that can help you do this, like PurchX.

7. Plan your shopping days carefully.

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Besides big shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, lots of retailers often do sales the days after big holidays. Be sure to get there early, before they run out of the sizes you're looking for and to avoid the crowds. The early bird gets the worm, after all.

8. Be smart about coupon use.

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There's an art to using coupons. One of the most important tips when using more than one coupon is to be careful about the order in which you apply them. For example, if you have a coupon for $2 off a $10 purchase, you might want to use that coupon first so that your other coupons don't bring your total amount to less than $10, thereby rendering that coupon unusable.

9. Listen to upbeat music on your headphones while shopping.

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Stores like to play music with beats that are slower than the average heartbeat. This makes you spend more time at the store, which increases the chance of you buying. Instead, pop in your headphones and listen to upbeat music to get shopping done like any other task. Also, this stops salespeople from chatting with you if you just want to get in and out.

10. Follow your favorite stores on their social media accounts.

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Retailers will often announce sales and other promotions through social media. If you really love a particular brand, why not follow their accounts so that you can get the deals right away?

11. Shop alone...

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You will get so much more done if you're shopping alone. You'll only have to go into the stores you want to, which means cutting down on temptation from stores you're not interested in.

...unless you're horrible at making decisions.

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If you're an extremely indecisive shopper, you might want to enlist a friend you trust to accompany you and help you make the right choices.

Don’t throw money away. Spend your own dollars wisely this holiday season. Pay with Interac® Debit and have a merry January.