How to Save While You Shop Online This Holiday Season

SHIRT: Old Navy (not maternity but the boyfriend relaxed fit allows it to fit over my growing belly) // BLAZER: old, similar here (this is seriously a wardrobe staple that I wear all year round) // JEANS: Old Navy (non maternity version here. These are my go-to affordable jeans plus you can get 6% cash back on them right now AND they’re on sale) // BAG: Michael Kors (I love this classic handbag shape. This would be an excellent work bag if you opted for black or cream color. Mine is in the Large size and is on sale) // BOOTS: Madewell (I also love these ones that are water and snow proof)

We are all about to embark on the whirlwind that is the holiday shopping season and according to my Instagram poll, may of you have already started. My goal for you ladies is to make this season as stress free as I possibly can. That means dishing out all my tips and tricks along with easy to shop and practical gift guides. Last week I shared how I strategize for all my holiday shopping for less stress in December and today I wanted to touch on how I save money while I shop online.

There are about three main ways I’d say you can save money while shopping online: standard sales, coupon codes, and browser extensions.

Sales are very straight forward. However if there is a retailer or gift that you are particularly interested in, I’d recommend signing up for their email list so you know about any special promotions they might be doing. Plus email subscribers often get special promo codes to use for additional discounts. Which brings me to the next item on our list.

Coupon codes are also pretty straight forward for the online shopper. This is a sale where you need to type in a special code to receive the discounts. This generally happens when you go to check out, you type in the promo code and voila, instant savings! (I’ll be sharing both sales and coupon codes with you guys this year for Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping)

Now browser extensions, this might be new to some of you. This is generally a button you add to your internet browser that will look for deals for you when you’re shopping. My favorite of these is Ebates. I’ve talked about Ebates on here before because it has seriously saved me hundreds of dollars while shopping online. How it works is pretty simple. You sign up for their service (which is free), then you can either A) go to their site, look up the site you’re going to be shopping, click ‘Shop Now’ and you’ll get a certain percentage cash back once you’re done shopping. Now they have a new browser extension that allows you to just click a button and save while shopping. No need to go to their site once you install it.

How it works? Basically it looks for deals and cashback opportunities for you while you shop. Before you checkout, click the button and it will enable the savings for you. From one online shopper to another, it’s really sweet! Ebates has saved me over $200 this year alone.

If you are new to Ebates, you can sign up through this link, spend $25, and you’ll get $10 back.

Another browser extension that is newer than Ebates but growing in popularity is Honey. Honey is a little different from Ebates in that you don’t get cash back. Honey looks for coupon codes or promo codes for you and applies them before you checkout online resulting in instant savings. It can also track prices for you, letting you know if an item is likely to go on sale or if now is a good time to buy. I’m not as familiar with Honey simply because it’s newer to the market but I’ve had a couple good experiences with it so far.

Do you guys have special ways to save when shopping online? If you don’t, now is a great time to sign up for Ebates or Honey before Black Friday and Cyber Monday so you can save even more this holiday season.

Until next time,
Ana Luiza

SHOP THE POST:

SHIRT: Old Navy (not maternity but the boyfriend relaxed fit allows it to fit over my growing belly) // BLAZER: old, similar here (this is seriously a wardrobe staple that I wear all year round) // JEANS: Old Navy (non maternity version here. These are my go-to affordable jeans plus you can get 6% cash back on them right now AND they’re on sale) // BAG: Michael Kors (I love this classic handbag shape. This would be an excellent work bag if you opted for black or cream color. Mine is in the Large size and is on sale) // BOOTS: Madewell (I also love these ones that are water and snow proof)