How to Save Money During the Holiday Season

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Holiday spending can get out of control pretty quickly! Between buying gifts, holiday decor, doing fun holiday things, and spending money on entertaining, this time of year can be pricey. I like to be able to "do it all" and therefore, have found ways to save money that make it so that we can enjoy the holiday season without spending too much.

You don't have to wait until December to shop! Even as early as the summer can be a great time to start shopping for holiday gift deals- certain stores have 70% toys at the end of the summer and I stocked up for Adalyn for Christmas!

I love saving money on things that we have to buy such as food, household and health items. I found a free app that I really like where you can get rebates on the items you need. They have a variety of groceries, appliances, pet supplies, appliances, new products and even breastfeeding supplies for nursing mamas!

Start saving now with Hopster Rebates. Just choose your rebates from a selection of brands, shop at your favorite store, take a picture of your receipt showing the items that you purchased and the cash will be credited to your PayPal account when it is validated. I love this! No wasting a stamp or time sending in a rebate on paper.

With Hopster, you can get your rebates back so much quicker than if you send them through the mail with another service. I am very happy with Hopster and am excited to see what other rebates they have available.

They have rebates at stores such as Kroger, Walmart, Rite Aid and Family Dollar. Get the Hopster app at Google Play or the App Store.

You do not have to get up in the middle of the night to get Black Friday deals. Black Friday prices start pretty much now, so watch the prices of items you want for sales. In the last couple of years, I have been able to get Black Friday deals online so I have mainly stuck to that. This year though, my dad said that we are getting up bright and early and going Black Friday shopping- it is a special tradition that him and I have. Know your prices to know if you are really getting a deal or not. Often times, items are not really on much of  a deal for Black Friday even though they may be marketed that way.

Black Friday is a great time to stock up on holiday presents. I have not found it a great time to get holiday decor (the day after Christmas is my favorite day for that!). Pro tip: check deal sites for extra coupon codes and money back deals on your purchases.

Grocery stores will often put their best deals on the front page of their ad to get you into their store. I like looking which items that they have on sale a couple of weeks before the holidays to stock up on any non-fresh items such as pantry items or frozen foods. They usually have some great deals to get you in the store. If you are hosting, saving money on groceries can be super helpful when you are buying food for a crowd.

We often host Christmas and have been able to do it affordably by shopping some of these deals and being smart about what we are buying. Using the Hopster app can save you money on groceries and home items as well.

Like I said, we love going to different holiday events: plays, light shows, holiday events at the zoo, breakfast with Santa, etc. In order to be able to do so, I look for events that are affordable. Some free ones are: tree lightings, driving around with hot chocolate looking at the lights and watching Christmas movies. Just search events in your area for affordable holiday events.

Happy Holidays!