With the rush that comes with the most anticipated season of the year, it’s time for most people to focus on their festive shopping. Generally, the holiday season is when most brands offer their best deals and discounts for the year. So, as a rule of thumb, people take advantage of these promotions to shop for festivity.
However, don’t be carried away by the mouthwatering deals that will come your way during this season and eat way into your budget. Starting the new year in debt is not a wise decision to make. You must have a clear-cut direction about what you need to buy and when to buy it.
Also, it is worthy of note that during Christmas, the prices of many things shoot to the roof. So, you must start your Christmas shopping way before time.
In this regard, this post will highlight important facts that will guide you in knowing the best time to shop for festivity. Without further delay, let’s get into it.
Tips on How to Shop During Festivity
To avoid entering the new year with the burden of debt, the following are helpful tips to help you watch your festivity spending:
Create a Budget
Don’t buy things blindly during this holiday. For proper accountability and management, you should make a budget dedicated solely to festivity expenditures. Make sure that you don’t go beyond this budget at any point in time.
Remember that for this to work, you also need to set a realistic budget. While making a tight budget always starts with good intentions, an unrealistic one can leave you frustrated at the end of the day.
Cut Back on Extras
This is the time to bring out your board and draw a scale of preference. Keep in mind that you can revisit this board at any time to review your list. With the number of discounts offered during this period, it may be tempting to want to purchase new items that come your way. However, don’t give in to the temptation. If the item is not bringing any new value to your life, then you shouldn’t bother at all. This way, you’ll get to save money that would otherwise have been spent on frivolities.
Compare Prices
Holiday sales are usually an epic opportunity to save money on products but be careful. Some deals are not truly discounted and not all deals are created the same. If you want to avoid common tricks that retailers use to lure unassuming customers, compare prices. You should compare the prices of single items from different stores before finally making your purchase. This will ensure that you’re not being ripped off.
Keep Track of your Spending
The truth is your budget does no good if you don’t effectively track your spending. One way to do this accurately is by first keeping a separate account dedicated to holiday spending and shopping. If you’re more into organization, you can also use a spreadsheet to accurately track your holiday expenditures.
Prepare for the New Year
With the buzz that comes at the end of the year, it’s easy to get carried away and forget about the upcoming year. However, this can come with serious consequences. The period right after the celebrations is the perfect time to go over your budget and make plans for the new year. If you spend all your money in December because of the numerous sales deals, you’ll be left cold and dry by January. That’s why you need a good plan in place to know how to spend wisely.
Best Time to Shop for Festivity
This gives insight into the best days to shop for festivity.
Black Friday
Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US. However, it is now largely known as the period when many stores all over the world offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices.
In Nigeria, Black Friday deals for most brands usually run through the whole month of November. So, if you’ve got Christmas gifts to buy for loved ones, you can take advantage of the discounts available during Black Friday.
Weeks Before Christmas
Generally, in Nigeria, prices of items shoot up during Christmas and the days surrounding it. As a result, many people avoid doing any major shopping around this period. If you want to save more money on your shopping, it is better to start shopping weeks early. In fact, if you’re done with all your major Christmas shopping by the middle of December, you’re on the safe side.
Also, if you start shopping early, shopping is less stressful and chaotic compared to shopping at the rush hour. Buying a few things every day up until the week before Christmas helps to keep you in check and prevent being overwhelmed.
Takeaway
Christmas shopping can be expensive, chaotic, and overwhelming. This is why you need a guide for your spending. If you’re not careful, it is possible to spend way over your budget without realizing that you’ve cut deep into your finances. Plus, if you don’t know the right time to start shopping, you run the risk of spending way more than your budget. You can avoid this by following the tips in this post and using only secure payment platforms like Changera.
Create your shopping list and budget, start shopping weeks before the holiday, and use Changera’s virtual card for easy and secure payments.
Want to learn more? Download the Changera mobile app from the Google Play Store or App Store to get started.
Discussion about this post