Three Apps to Hack Your Holiday Shopping

Holiday shopping should be fun and exciting – you’re buying things that will make someone you love happy, after all! But between spending too much, being overwhelmed by options and being sure you aren’t being scammed with a low-quality product, it can get very stressful, very quickly. But I have three apps to hack your holiday shopping so that you get the best gifts for the best price this year.

Amazon Prime

I think we’re all pretty familiar with Amazon Prime by now, but there are a few reasons it’s particularly great for holiday shopping.

Variety – the options are endless, but Amazon does have a few ways to narrow it down for you. Their gift finder tool includes 11 themed lists as well as the option to shop by price (hello budget saver!), gender and/or age. 

Free shipping – Not only free, but usually within two days. Want to take advantage of this but share your account with a loved one? Sign up for a free 30 day trial to get all the perks – just remember to put a note in your calendar to cancel before the 30 days is up!

Reviews – Amazon arguably has the most robust reviews for any product you’d like to purchase. The fact that some include photos is always so helpful and I generally look through the customer questions and answers as well. Not only do I get additional insight into the product itself, but I also usually can get a feel for the seller and their quality of service.

Groupon

Groupon was big a few years ago and has kind of lost its luster, but it’s one of my go-tos every holiday season for a few reasons.

Great Discounts – From wine to toys to apparel, I’ve found some real steals on Groupon. For example, my sons are obsessed with magnet tiles, but they can cost as much as a dollar each. I found them on Groupon for half the price! I also usually order wine in bulk every year. I’ve already placed my order for this year – I’m getting a mix of 18 bottles for $65 and another $38 in shipping. That comes down to less than $6 a bottle! I’ll add them to a gift for any of the wine lovers in my life and will have a few left over for dinner parties and host gifts for next year.

Great for exchanges – I find a lot of generic/neutral gifts for exchanges via Groupon as well. It’s so hard to buy when you don’t know the recipient’s age, gender or interests but the variety of gadgets and gear are usually general enough to be appreciated for anyone.

Experiences – Groupon’s shining feature has always been that it sells things to do that range from beauty and spas to restaurants to escape rooms. You can even limit the options to local vendors, which means you not only save a few bucks, get a great gift, but support a small business in your community, too. 

Honey

Searching for the best price, promo and discount codes or hottest deals can turn into a full time job. Honey is a great tool to save you a ton of time and research and be confident in the choices you make. A few of their most popular features are:

Promo/Discount codes – if you’re an avid Kohl’s or Shutterfly shopper, for example, you know they constantly have promo codes throughout the holiday season. But knowing the discounts, timeframes and products they apply to is never ending. Honey will run all of them for you at checkout and automatically apply any that qualify for your purchase.

Price history – I’ve used this one on Amazon twice in the past 2 weeks to save over $36. You just click on the honey icon near the price and Honey will give an indicator if it’s a good time to buy and gives you an option to view a chart of the price history for the last 30 days. One product I purchased was 70% off versus just a week before!

There you have it – three easy ways to take the stress out of your holiday shopping so you can enjoy the giving as much as the receiving this year!

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