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The official kickoff to the holiday shopping season is almost here. Soon, millions of people will be scouring the stores for the best gifts to give to their loved ones. Unfortunately, a significant number of these individuals will overspend on holiday gifts and reduce their financial stability for the coming year. If you want to avoid this fate, you will have to do your Christmas shopping the smart way. Here are some things that you should do before you begin your holiday shopping.
Create A Shopping Budget
Having a budget ahead of time will prevent you from spending more than you can afford on holiday gifts for your loved ones. Before you begin to shop, you should know how much you will have available to spend. Some people plan ahead and budget their money by putting a portion of each paycheck into a savings account designated for holiday spending. Others choose to calculate how much they will spend for each person on their list to determine their budget for the holidays. When choosing gifts, you should stick to this spending budget and only purchase what the budget will allow.
Pay No Interest On Purchases
To keep the cost of your holiday shopping as reasonable as possible, you should ensure that you are paying no interest on your purchases. Paying interest charges will quickly inflate the cost of your purchases to where you are paying much more than the items were originally worth. While paying with cash or a debit card is best for paying no interest, you can use one of the 0% interest credit card offers available on TotallyMoney.com if you must use a credit card for your purchase. Just make sure to pay off the balance of the account before the 0% interest period is up or you will end up paying interest on everything that you have charged to the credit card.
Search For Special Deals
Most people know that you can get great deals on popular merchandise during the weekend that starts with Black Friday, but you can also get special deals on other items during the holiday shopping season. Because many retailers make between 20 percent and 40 percent of their annual revenue during the holiday shopping season, they are constantly coming up with new ways to entice shoppers through their doors. Search for special deals and discounts on the items that you want to purchase to make the most of your holiday shopping dollars.
photo by www.metaphoricalplatypus.com
