The turkey is long gone. The flurry of Black Friday passed. As you head back into a new work week, one question burns in your brain. Is Cyber Monday really worth it or a lot of hype? The answer is complicated. Yes, you can score some fantastic deals on Cyber Monday. But if not careful, you may overspend. These essential Cyber Monday Shopping hacks keep your budget on target with gifts showing up straight to your door.
Begin With a List
Any time you shop without a list, you beg someone else to take all your money. Shop without a list online during a season of bargains? You’ll give them a big fat kiss, too. Know what you’re in the market to buy and how much you want to spend. Otherwise, you’ll fall through a rabbit hole of clicking, wasting both time and money.
Use a Cash Back Site
Online cash back sites like Ebates or Sunshine Rewards reward you with cash back simply for clicking through their site before you head to all of the online retailers you love. Percentages of cash back usually increase on Cyber Monday so don’t forget to make this step one of your shopping process. Bonus points: you’ll be able to find more coupon codes on the cash back site for all of the stores you love.
Stack Your Coupons
Some online retailers allow you to stack more than one coupon together so that you can maximize your savings. For instance, Kohl’s allows you to add four coupons and up to six Kohl’s Cash offers. By the way, that Kohl’s Cash you may have earned on Black Friday becomes active on 11/26 and you can use it on 11/27. JCPenney also allows you to use a discount code (percentage off), rewards, and free shipping codes all three at the same time. Always make sure to look for a coupon code and don’t be afraid to try more than one.
Check Outlets & Clearance
Don’t forget to skim through the outlet and clearance items on Cyber Monday. Again you can maximize the coupon codes and free shipping finding odds and ends at rock bottom prices. I like to set my filter to the percentage off amount so I can see the steepest discounts.
Open a Live Chat
Not able to find a coupon code? Open a live chat and ask if there’s one available that you’ve missed. There might not be any out there, but the customer service rep might have special codes available to those who ask kindly.
Don’t Forget Brick and Mortar Stores
Many brick and mortar retailers will offer special deals to entice you out of your pajama pants or into their doors after you leave the office. Be watching for their deals and offers. Last year, Target offered a 15% off your entire order offer for in store and online purchases. This year, they’re offering it online but I can’t confirm it will be available in stores.
Price Match Well
Cyber Monday is all about that price match. To see whether or not your deal is really the best deal, run it through Pricegrabber to get a comparison of online offerings for the exact same product. If you shop Amazon on Cyber Monday, take a quick glance at CamelCamelCamel to see if the price you’re paying really is the best. CamelCamelCamel tracks the history of prices on Amazon and alerts you when they’re at their lowest.
Shop Reputable Sites
Don’t ever give out your private information on a website you aren’t sure is secure. Look for the “s” in the https at the beginning of the web address and/or the little lock symbol. Sites with misspellings or an abundance of ads are probably spam. Trust your gut. If it seems too good to be true, it is.
Set Your Filters
For some shoppers online shopping spirals into a never ending rabbit hole where you see items you can’t afford and experience ridiculous digital temptation. Protect your heart and wallet by setting your filter to include only the products you are looking for within your price range. Especially on Amazon, working those little toggles in the sidebar will help you eliminate the colors, sizes, and brands that you don’t want while zeroing in on those you love. I almost always set the price range to display from Low to High too so that I don’t even see items that are beyond my budget.
One last tip: check out the Best Sellers or Movers and Shakers on Amazon, too (you will usually see the option within a particular department). For instance, in the screenshot below, I was looking at Amazon Best Sellers in Toys & Games. The little green arrows indicate an increase in sales and the red indicate they have moved down in rank. Typically, deal bloggers sharing the best prices shoot items up the rankings.
Check out my ebook Keep the Happy in Your Holidays: 21 Ways to Save Time, Money, and Your Sanity This Christmas for more money saving tips!
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out The Debt Free Devotional
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
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