Shopping the In Store and Online Deals, an Alternative Approach to Saving Money

Christmas is on it's way, do you have the same shopping plan you've followed year after year? Look over the gift wish list of the ones you love, purchase those items at the first store you see them at with little attention given to price or if there is a sale or online deal, without even a modest effort given to not exceeding the total amount of what has been set aside for the ones you care about. The just like all the years prior, re-live Christmas in January through the detailed listing of expenses on your Mastercard, Visa, And Discover bill thinking that possibly, you could have over done it and spent a bit too much.

It can be assumed that the majority of shoppers wish they could take advantage of the many in store and online deals and are looking for the best way to get more for less, and still wrap up some crowd pleasing gifts. Unfortunately, Christmas shopping is tied to our emotions the way our grocery shopping is tied to our stomach. We're walking on dangerous territory here. Focusing on making the loved ones happy and the joy of seeing their smiles, we throw caution to the wind. Remember the Tickle Me Elmo Year, the only online deal was that you could buy it online.. for $400 though.. at Ebay. Our minds say "this is out of budget for this person" our heart says "but I just know they will love this." A habit not easily broken, but possible to overcome with a gift buying process that changes the whole game.

It takes a little more effort, to find the in store and online deals, some creativity to apply additional coupons or savings to make the deal even better, and a little luck to get the deals before they expire, but the gifts that get the raves can have your name listed on the from tag. While it can be difficult to apply to all family and friends, it is a buying process that could save you hundreds this year on most of your shopping, or just make you look like you spent hundreds more. Look over the Christmas wish lists of your loved ones, but do not hold yourself to them. Instead shop the sales not the person.

Whether you are shopping online, or in stores approach the big discount sales and clearance racks with a open mind. Walk the isles or browse the pages looking for a gift with a huge discount then ask yourself, who would this be good for. If you can't think of someone don't force the gift. Don't buy it for the low price just because it is 90% off, but if you can think of someone that would enjoy it. Grab it! Remember until Christmas, gifts are fair game. If you buy something for one person, and find something you like better for them, remember you can always give the first gift to someone else.

An online kitchen store was having a great sale last Monday. I went to the site because of a online deal posted with a $10 coupon. My intent was to use the coupon on something already on sale. Browsing through the items on sale I had my mind on a few different candidates but the $80 Kitchenaid grill pan on sale for $31.99 stuck out as a winner. Free Shipping and additional $10 off a $20+ purchase coupon code I found online, I'm in for one with a total $21.99 billed to my card. As of right now, I have my mind on it going to my mom, a big fan of Kitchenaid products. At that price of under $22 this could easily become a great gift for anyone, if I find something better for my mom. Grandma may get lucky this year.

Last month Kohls had a great fine jewelery sale. I picked up 2 sets of pearl earrings and 1 set of diamonds stud earrings. All three have a regular price of $75. I paid just $22.50 each for the pearls and $18.75 for the diamond earrings. Who gets them? As of right now, my mom and sister are getting the pearls and my 3 year old daughter is getting the diamonds. Diamonds may be a bit much for a toddler, but considering I've purchased a new set of 14k gold earrings for her each year at $14-$16, why not give her diamonds for $2 more. These are probably items that will stick with the receivers I've mentioned above, but perhaps something better will come along for my sister. Pearl earrings would be happily accepted by either of my grandmothers as well and I'd be just over my $20 budget for either one of them.

I found a radar dectector for $29.99 at www.buy.com with a $10 off coupon from Google Checkout and free shipping, $19.99 is hard to beat. Normal price $99.99. I think I will be giving the radar detector to my brother. We will see.

For mom so far, I have a $80 Kitchenaid pan and $75 pearl earrings, the price I will end up spending on her this Christmas, $44.49. I won't even have hit my $50 limit for her and those would be very much appreciated big ticket item gifts. The best part, if something better comes along for her There will not be any returning to the store, just switching a tag of who it's going to.

So how do you find these online and instore deals? Many of the online deal opportunities are listed out for you on the ever popular deals sites easily found with a quick Google search. try a store name and the words Deals, Sale, or Coupons. www.fatwallet.com and www.slickdeals.net being two of my favorites. The forums are full of deal seekers and the updates are real time. B&M aka Brick and Mortar store deals are best found by searching clearance racks whenever you are in a large store. The large department stores such as Kohls and Sears can have pretty hefty regular prices, but you can't beat some of their sale and clearance prices.

We on the tail of Christmas and it is actually becoming late in the game to truly apply this method of shopping to it's fullest. Still very possible if you haven't done much of your shopping already. But for next years holiday season.. Start the day after Christmas. Hit those after Christmas sales, then all the sales thereafter and watch those clearance racks. You could shop all year round and put items in a closet with a itemized list in a notebook of what you have and what the price paid/MSRP is. Anytime a gift is needed, pull one out that would fit the receiver. Come Christmas time you can have already have Santa's big red bag full of gifts and you can just sit back and relax... Or, prepare for the next year.