Money may earn a commission when you click on the products and services below. Opinions are our own,
but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how they appear. Learn more about how we make money.

Shopping

Holiday Shopping

Shop Like a Pro This Holiday Season With These Money-Saving Tips

Photo-illustration of a woman carrying an oversized gift

Money; Getty Images

Santa's not the only one with a busy schedule over the next few weeks.

Shoppers expect to spend an average of $542 between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, according to a report published Monday by ICSC, or the International Council of Shopping Centers. And for many, that's only the start of the 2025 holiday shopping season.

It's an expensive time of year, and economic anxiety is running high. Not only did inflation reach 3% in September, but the nation also just came off a 43-day government shutdown that saw 1.4 million of federal workers go without pay — all as businesses continue to pass along costs incurred by President Donald Trump's tariff policies to consumers.

Luckily, there are steps you can take if you're trying to make it through November and December financially unscathed. Here are six smart ways you can protect your wallet this holiday season.

Ads by Money. We may be compensated if you click this ad.Ad

1. Know what hasn't changed

Wendy Bergh, chief marketing officer at Rakuten Rewards, says holiday shopping at big-box stores won't be THAT different than usual. It's a make-or-break season for many merchants, so "they'll pull out all the stops to meet consumer expectations, just like they do every year," Bergh says.

"Shoppers still want a good deal, and retailers will want to deliver. Despite the economic headwinds, retailers are staying aggressive when it comes to holiday promotions," she adds.

You just need to know how to take advantage of them.

2. Start early (like, now)

Bergh suggests you make a list of who you're shopping for, what you might want to buy and what your budget is for each person. Then you can bookmark your favorite stores, track their sales and join their loyalty programs for deals.

Major retailers have already launched a ton of deals. Target, for instance, already held a three-day Early Black Friday Sale that boasted 40% off most items. Best Buy is even dropping early doorbusters.

"Don’t wait until the last minute," Bergh says. "That’s when prices and shipping costs rise, inventory depletes and financial stress peaks."

3. Don't get scammed

Although Christmas is over a month away, scammers are ready to pounce.

To keep yourself safe, experts suggest sticking to reputable vendors, checking URLs to make sure they're secure, avoiding social-media deals that seem too good to be true and not clicking unfamiliar links.

When possible, you should also pay with a credit card, not a debit card, because credit cards have more robust protections (and options for recourse should things go wrong).

4. Research and slow down

"During this time of uncertainty, every single dollar matters," says Dana Bodine, vice president of marketing at Trustpilot. So you must be very intentional about resisting the lure of impulse buys.

Savvy shoppers "all know that sometimes a sale may not be as good a deal as it seems," she says. But with "all the call to actions and the coupon codes and everything coming at you from every single platform," it's easy to feel pressured into finalizing a purchase without stopping to really think about what you're doing.

The key here is to stop, think and do some homework. Bodine says to always read customer reviews to vet the products. Those insights can help you draw conclusions about the return on investment for different items.

5. Outsmart the marketing

Marketers exploit a whole host of psychological biases to convince shoppers to spend more money. Being aware of these tricks can help you resist them.

For instance, you should watch out for left-digit bias, which happens when you focus more on the leftmost digit than ones to the right. (This is why $4.99 feels so much cheaper than $5.) Left-digit bias may fool your brain into believing you're spending less money than you are or convince you to buy items you don't need because they seem so cheap.

Remember, too, that retailers often manufacture scarcity, like by restricting how many of an on-sale item you can buy or emphasizing the duration of a certain discount.

6. Keep an eye on store return policies

It's been a wild few years for store return policies. Since the pandemic ended, retailers have pulled back on offering free, no-strings-attached returns. According to an October report from the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns, a whopping 72% of U.S. retailers now charge for at least one return method.

Return windows are getting narrower, too. But most merchants extend friendlier policies around the holidays, like how Walmart lets customers return most items bought between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 through Jan. 31.

Keeping track of all these deadlines and policies can be tricky, but it's necessary to avoid paying extra fees to return unwanted (or ill-fitting) gifts.

Ads by Money. We may be compensated if you click this ad.Ad

Includes VPN & password manager