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Ready or not, the holiday season is almost here! It’s been dubbed “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” for a good reason, but for many people, it’s also the most stressful. It can be even worse if you’re trying to find that right gift for everyone, prepare a family feast, and keep everyone happy—all while sticking to your budget, paying off debt, and saving money.
According to a recent study, Americans are projected to spend nearly $720 billion on Christmas gifts this year. And while it’s impossible to predict, we’re willing to bet a good chunk of that spending will send thousands of families deeper into debt in 2019.
If you’re looking to do things a bit differently than the rest and save money this Christmas, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a quick and simple list of 5 ways to save money this Christmas—on just about everything!
1. Get Cash Back on Virtually Every Purchase
Today, there are more ways to get cash back on your everyday purchases than ever before. And while you should be using them year round to put cash back in your pocket, putting them to work now is one of the easiest ways to save money this Christmas.
Here are our two favorite cash back apps that everyone should use:
Ibotta: Get Cash Back at More Than 280 Stores
When it comes to cash back apps, Ibotta is the undisputed king. They’ve helped users earn over $420 million in cash back.
Since joining Ebates two years ago, my wife and I have saved hundreds of dollars each year just by shopping like usual. This year, I estimate it could help us save at least $50 on our holiday shopping, if not more.
If you’re not familiar with Ibotta, here is a look at how simple the cash back process is:
- Find offers on the products you already buy before you shop.
- Buy the products you selected at a participating store.
- Redeem the offers by taking a photo of your receipt in the app. Ibotta will handle the rest.
- Cash back will be deposited in your account in 48 hours.
- Transfer cash back via PayPal (don’t worry, you won’t pay any service fees, and PayPal is free to use, too).
Pro tip: You can shop for gifts on Amazon and get 5% cash back on many items this holiday season.
Ebates: The Easiest Way to Save Money This Christmas When Shopping Online
Ebates is a household name for a reason: They’re the king of helping people save money on their online shopping. And with a vast majority of holiday shopping taking place online, you can’t afford to miss out easy savings.
Here’s how it works:
- Ebates offers savings of up to 40% off in the form of cash back at over 2,000 stores.
- Savings are now online and in-store.
- Think of Ebates as a major influencer. They send customers to stores, and Ebates earns a commission. They pass a portion of that on to you.
Why you should sign-up for Ebates: With a big $10 sign-up bonus and an always growing list of savings partners, Ebates is one of the easiest ways to save money this Christmas.
Bonus: You can also earn $15 for every referral you send their way.
2. Get Free Gift Cards for Shopping
An estimated 80 percent of all holiday shopping is projected to be cashless this year, which means your credit and debit cards are in for a workout!
We recommend two free apps to make the most of your spending and save money this Christmas.
Drop: Supercharging Your Credit and Debit Card to Get Free Gift Cards
With the free Drop app, you can earn free gift cards just by shopping like normal with your debit and credit cards.
Drop works with major household brands (Starbucks, Target, Walmart, Hotels.com, Costco, Amazon, Uber, AMC, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, and Best Buy, to name a few) to give users rewards for the shopping they already do.
We only recently learned about this app when researching for another article, but so far, we’re highly impressed. It’s one of the easiest ways to get free gifts for sharing your anonymous shopping data.
Here’s an overview of how the Drop app works:
- Sign-up with Drop and get the app. It’s 100% free.
- Link the debit cards and credit cards that you plan to use at partner locations. Your info will be encrypted securely, just like your bank’s mobile app.
- Shop at your favorite Drop partner locations for holiday groceries, household items, clothes, or other gifts. Whenever you spend with any of your linked cards, you’ll automatically earn points.
- Redeem your points for gift cards whenever you feel like it.
Want more free gift cards?
Shopkick: More Free Gift Cards for the Shopping You Already (Don’t) Do
Shopkick is a free shopping app that pays you in free gift cards for the shopping you already do. In our opinion, the coolest thing about the Shopkick app is that users can earn points toward gift cards just by walking into a store and scanning items.
You read that right: you literally don’t even to buy anything to earn points with Shopkick.
Here’s how it works:
- Join Shopkick for free, and open the Shopkick app when you’re out and about on your normal shopping runs.
- Discover daily challenges to earn points (called kicks) just for walking into nearby stores or scanning products in a fun scavenger hunt. You can also earn bonus kicks if you purchase products and submit your receipt!
- Cash in those kicks for free gift cards to Starbucks, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Sephora and more
We’d be surprised if you’ve never heard of Shopkick until now. Oprah calls it “addictive,” HuffPo named it “one of the best apps for holiday shopping,” and About.com simply calls it the “best shopping app.”
Pro tip: If you don’t really have a use for more gift cards cluttering up your house, you can always donate them to charity directly through the Shopkick app.
You can sign-up for Shopkick here. Android users can get the Shopkick app here, and iOS users can download it here.
3. Cut Back on Your Regular Expenses, Too
While you’re in the saving spirit, why not save money on your regular expenses, too? Our favorite way to save money on our monthly bills is a savings assistant service called Trim.
A few months back, Trim helped me save money on my cable and cell phone bills. In fact, we saved over $700 on TV and internet. And we didn’t do anything.
Why we recommend everyone try Trim: Chances are high that you’re leaving potential money on the table with your current phone or TV subscription services. Or you may even have a gym membership or car wash plan that you’ve meant to cancel for the last 2 years.
In our opinion, letting Trim do the work of saving you money is a no-brainer.
4. Shop From Home to Avoid Impulse Buys
As a general rule of thumb, my wife and I do 90% of our shopping from home. And even though it’s not a perfect solution, it is guaranteed to help us save money this Christmas for a few reasons:
- The holiday atmosphere (you know the familiar sights and smells) doesn’t lure us into buying cookies, candy, or even gifts that aren’t on our list.
- We aren’t caught up in a moment of weakness and tricked into buying sale items displayed on end caps.
- Shopping from home also saves us time, which we use to spend more time with our son and work on our side hustles.
Our year-round, go-to method of shopping from our couch is using the Walmart app. We discuss what food and other items we need, place our order in the app, and pickup our order when it is ready.
We no longer spend hours each month walking the aisles of the grocery store and waiting in long checkout lines which are even longer around the holidays. Instead, we check in on the Walmart app before we even leave our house, and a Walmart associate grabs our order from its holding area and brings it directly out to our car when we arrive. Technically, you don’t even have to get out of your car if you don’t want to – but I always do.
Here are just a few of the highlights of Walmart Pickup:
- You choose the items you need, and someone else does the shopping for you.
- You can add and delete items from your order, even after it has been placed, until your order is locked in the system.
- It is easy to choose items using the app. Over time, the app will remember your preferences and suggest items for you to add.
- Walmart Pickup is 100% free to use, and the minimum order threshold is very low at $30.
BONUS: As a FinanceSuperhero reader, you can sign-up to try Walmart Pickup and get $10 off your first order of $50 or more.
5. Stick to Your Budget!
When it comes to saving money around the holidays, our biggest tip is simple: You need to create a budget and stick to it.
We’re giving away free access to the Holiday Gift Budget Tracker form that we’ve used to stay on budget each Christmas for the past 8 years. It’s the same form that helped us shop for a large family when we were broke newlyweds living on one income.
Want the Holiday Gift Budget Tracker? Simply drop your name and email address below, and we’ll send it to you instantly, no strings attached.