The holiday season is still months away, but smart shoppers are already getting a head start on their lists. Early shopping helps to stretch out your gift-giving budget by allowing you buy a few things here and there as you have the money. Early shopping also helps to ensure you get the gifts you want before they disappear! The stores have a lot of ways to entice those of us who want to get a jump on the holidays.
- Clearance Deals: It isn’t just seasonal items on clearance right now. Many stores are marking down items all over the store to make room for special, holiday-packaged items or the products they plan to promote in the coming months. Target is especially known for selling Target-Exclusive versions during November and December of toys they carry year-round. This means the current versions will be cleared out to make room for special offers. Toys R Us is currently offering an additional 20% off green tag clearance items.
- Special Offers: Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season, but this year stores are coming up with pre-season deals all month long. Wal-Mart announced an October roll back of several toys to Black Friday-style prices. Amazon has a special section called Friday Deal. The price cuts are available for 1 day only and changes each week. Included in this sale is a 5/$5 CD deal. They choose 5 CDs each week to sell for only $5 each.
- Online Shopping: Several stores offer special discounts to their web customers only. Free shipping helps make these a big bargain. You can also choose in-store pickup at many retailers, like Best Buy, to pickup what you need right away. Another great aspect of online shopping is pre-orders. Amazon will allow you to purchase some items before they are released or in-stock. They will ship it to you when it becomes available. This adds the security of knowing you are guaranteed an item when it is released, saving gas money as it prevents the need to drive all over town looking for just the right gift.
Start making your list now and carry it with you to take advantage of the bargains you find along the way.