Five Ways I Saved Money Taking My Christmas Shopping Online
By: Nancy Parish
Tags: Budget, Life Lessons, Online, Social Media, Christmas

And the best part, my feet didn’t hurt

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

For many years, I’ve started my Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I’m old enough to remember when malls weren’t really a thing yet. When I was in my teens, My mom and I would make the trek to downtown Cincinnati and shop at the department stores that weren’t available in my hometown.

Back in those days, there were skywalks that connected the stores two floors above street level. We’d peruse the shops that popped up in the skywalk on our way to the next department store. We’d stop for lunch in the lobby of the Westin Hotel — another stop along the way.

These trips made me feel grown-up. I fantasized that I lived in New York or Boston and was a career girl shopping for my presents. There was one store that we always visited — Gidding Jenny. That store was widely known to be the most expensive store downtown. It was rumored to have been designed so that the higher the floor, the higher the price. I don’t think we ever bought any Christmas presents there.

As shopping malls became more popular, we took our Black Friday shopping to the suburbs. Although, that was before it was actually referred to as Black Friday. There were sales in those days, but nothing like the craziness you see now where people camp out so they can get a bargain television that only fits inside a semi-truck. Back then, stores remained closed in observance of Thanksgiving Day.

These shopping trips all served one purpose for me. Sure, I got a lot of Christmas shopping done. I love walking around malls, gazing into the store windows at the Christmas displays. The bright lights, the giant ball-shaped ornaments, kids waiting in line to see Santa, and the displays of Santa’s reindeer in the common areas of the malls get me into the spirit of the season. I like listening to the Christmas music while sipping a peppermint mocha and planning what to get everyone on my list. To me, Christmas isn’t just one day, it’s a state of mind that lasts throughout the holidays — one of joy, peace, and kindness.

This year, my Christmas shopping plans went out the window. My sister-in-law, my more recent Christmas shopping partner-in-crime, and I decided it just wasn’t prudent to engage in a day-long shopping spree. This year we went as far as her dining room to do our shopping — taking our shopping pursuits online. We sat at opposite sides of her dining room table, wore masks, and shopped from our laptops. We still had the coffee and listened to Christmas music. But, we didn’t get to people-watch or see any Christmas lights.

Regardless of where we shop, we always look for good bargains, especially at Christmastime. Instead of huddling in the car and reviewing coupons and VIP deals from mailers we received, we took all that research online. Our shopping attack was different this year, but we still got some great deals.

1. We signed up to receive email notifications from our favorite stores to ensure we knew about the best deals.

2. We utilized a browser extension like Honey to ensure we used the best coupons on the websites we searched. Using Honey, we could also add an item to a drop list to receive notifications when an item we were interested in dropped in price.

3. We also utilized the browser Microsoft Edge to save our wishlist and shopping ideas. On Edge, you can easily bookmark items into Collections to be purchased later. Edge also searches sites for any active coupons that are available on our favorite websites.

4. We combined purchases on sites that offered free shipping at certain purchase thresholds.

5. Some retailers, like Macy’s, offer free shipping when you buy cosmetics from the site. We added a small beauty item we planned to give as a stocking stuffer to ensure we received free shipping on our purchases from this site.

This approach to our holiday shopping ensured that we stayed safe during our shopping. We still had fun and accomplished a lot in a few short hours. The best part, our feet weren’t sore when we finish.

*the Honey link is an affiliate link