Seven ways to stay out of debt while holiday shopping
Filling the stockings hung by the chimney with care can be expensive, especially if purchases are going on a credit card.
Heather Murray, education manager for nonprofit Advantage Consumer Credit Counseling in Pittsburgh, offered her tips to stay debt-free this holiday shopping season.
1.) Save in advance.
Murray said the best way to shower your friends and family members with gifts while staying out of debt is to save beginning a year in advance.
If you didn’t save up this year, keep track of receipts for gifts, decorations and food, and add them up to see how much will be needed for next year. Then, save a set amount throughout the year.
2.) Make some extra dough.
If you didn’t start saving already, it’s a bit too late.
“It’s almost Black Friday,” she said. “If you haven’t started saving now you’re not going to have enough time to save enough during the next week.”
But there is still hope.
Murray suggested doing odd jobs to add some money to the shopping budget or selling unwanted items.
3.) Make a shopping budget.
Determine how much money is available to spend on gifts — without using a credit card.
“Really take a hard look at how much you can afford,” she said. “Don’t look at how much you can put on your credit card. Look at how much you can pay for.”
4.) Trim your shopping list.
If staying out of debt means cutting some people off of the shopping list, that’s OK.
“You don’t want to be paying for the gifts you buy now next summer,” she said.
Spending more on this year’s purchases throughout the year would take away from next year’s potential savings.
5.) Make a plan.
Murray says to “go out with a game plan.”
She suggested going through Black Friday shopping deals and other offers in advance. Make a list of who to buy for, how much to spend on that person and a general idea of what to buy.
Murray said without a plan, Black Friday deals could lead to impulse buying.
“I’m a Black Friday shopper, but I have a very methodical way that I go about it,” she said.
That’s what makes the list and the budget so important.
6.) Strategize your online shopping.
Murray said to buy early and buy as much as possible from one store to save on shipping and possibly earn rewards.
7.) Download some apps.
Murray suggested downloading two smartphone apps: RetailMeNot for coupons and ShopSavvy bar code scanner, which tells if a better deal is nearby.