The following is a post from Mandi of Jungle Deals & Steals.
Four years ago, my husband and I moved to the boonies in wild, wonderful West Virginia. A month later, we added our third daughter to our family. I’m not sure which of those really had a bigger impact, but as we got ready for Christmas that year, I realized our shopping strategies were going to have to change.
Gone were the days of running out for a couple of gifts at a time, and a marathon shopping trip didn’t seem exactly realistic anymore either.
It was at that time that I really began to discover the beauty of online shopping. Not just for a gift or two here or there, but for the bulk of my Christmas shopping.
And it worked! I can now snuggle under a warm blanket with a cup of chai tea to do my shopping in relative peace and quiet, saving time and money (and frustration!) in the process.
These days, I do most of my shopping at Amazon.com. They have a wide selection, great prices and free shipping, all winners in my book.
If you’re looking for an alternative to fighting the crowds this year, here are my strategies for saving time and money with Amazon.com:
1. Don’t buy everything today.
Now, only you know which is more important to you in this busy season. If you’re short on time but have plenty of money budgeted for Christmas gifts, then sitting down and buying everything on your list today may be the better choice. It would be nice to have all of that done even before Thanksgiving (or American Thanksgiving, at least)!
On the other hand, if your budget is tight this year — as it is for many of us — then it may be better to watch prices over the next couple of weeks to be sure you’re getting the best price possible. Expect to see great sales on all of the most popular gifts (except, perhaps, the Kindle Fire), and plenty of other items as well.
2. Use Amazon Prime.
The best way to maximize this wait-and-see strategy and avoid paying shipping fees is to sign up for Amazon Prime. If you’ve never had a trial, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial that will take you almost to Christmas Day. With Amazon Prime, you’re eligible for free two-day shipping on most products that are sold and shipped by Amazon.com, so you can pick things up when they’re at their lowest price without worrying about shipping fees. It also means you can pick up last minute gifts without paying exorbitant fees!
3. Focus on items shipped by Amazon.com.
I’ll be honest…99% of what I buy on Amazon is fulfilled by Amazon. There are plenty of other sellers to choose from, and for harder to find products, a third-party seller may be the way to go, but I hate paying for shipping, so I almost always stick with those items that qualify for Super Saver Shipping (when you spend more than $25) or are Prime eligible. I’ve also found Amazon’s delivery estimates to be more realistic than third-party sellers so that I know exactly when something will arrive.
4. Check the Gold Box & Lightning Deals.
There is a new Gold Box deal every day that promises to be significantly discounted. As Amazon counts down to Black Friday, they’re also running amazing Lightning Deals this week. There is a limited number of these available for purchase, and they last just a few hours, so you have to watch them pretty carefully, but if you check in just a couple times a day, you can see what deals are coming up so that you can set a timer to log back in when the deal goes live!
5. Use the Wishlists feature to make your shopping list.
Finally, Amazon has a pretty powerful wishlist feature that you can use to organize your shopping lists. Create multiple lists, mark them as private and even add items from other websites to keep track of what you need to buy and for whom.
Whether you’re looking to save time or money — or even both — Amazon.com is a great way to maximize your time and budget this busy holiday season!
Mandi Ehman is the chief deal finder behind Jungle Deals & Steals, where she and her mom find and share the best Amazon deals every day! She’s also the founder and publisher of Life…Your Way, a magazine-style blog inspiring readers to live intentional lives.
Leslie says
I agree with this 100%! My husband and I live overseas, and travel “home” to see family for Christmas. We often arrive the week before, and don’t want to spend all of our valuable family time shopping so I’ve started doing all of our shopping online. We now fly in, arrive at our friends house, unpack our treasures and put them in our luggage or what not, then drive to see family. All I have to do is wrap. And, I usually comparison shop between major retailers and Amazon is almost always cheaper price wise, but with the free shipping even more so. It’s so nice. Now all I have to shop for is last bits and pieces like stocking stuffers, and that stuff is fun!
Jennie says
On #1, to make this easier I found a firefox extension called the Camelizer. It tracks amazon.com prices over time and shows you a graph so you can compare. Very handy!
LeAnn says
I am totally in love with Amaaon.com. I have ordered so many things from there. I also buy things from WalMart.com – most of the time they have site to store delivery for free and home delivery for $ .97. Keeps me from buying “junk” and unneccessary items.
Shal says
Check out Amazon Mom. They’re not accepting new participants in the program right now but they so have a waitlist. Amazon Mom is great because you get an additional month of Prime benefits when you buy over $25 worth of qualifying products from the baby store in one transaction in a month for up to 12 months. This is great if you buy diapers and/ or wipes. ( plus you can get discounts on items like diapers using their Subscribe and Save program).
raven says
I totally agree. If you want to do the bulk of your shopping online though, there’s one more site I feel I should plug – slickdeals.net
Even if you never venture past the Front Page deals, you’ll save a lot. That includes specials ON Amazon that Amazon won’t make you aware of unless you happen to click on the product or get a targeted email – example, last week there was a promo for paying with Mastercard that saved you $10 on your current purchase over $100, and then $10 off a future purchase over $50. (Or something.. I don’t recall the details). Or that Amazon has pricematched another store (Example: Best Buy had a $100 gc with an Xbox purchase; on Amazon many people pay no tax and can find far more to buy with an Amazon gc than a Best Buy one.)
There are also boards, if you want to get more involved or are searching for the best deal on a particular item.
Living the Balanced Life says
Love, love shopping online! It is how I do most of my shopping usually just after thanksgiving into the first week of December. I sometimes don’t even mind paying a few dollars more on a product just so I don’t have to go out and get it, but Amazon has got some pretty good deals!
Bernice
Truly Grateful
Thrifty Military Mommy says
I LOVE amazon! You know, I’ve been shopping with them for years now and I never knew they had a wishlist, LOL! Thanks for the heads up. I’m constantly thinking of items I want and need and get overwhelmed or frustrated that I can never remember what it is I want when a good deal comes along.
Great post!
mary b says
I love using Amazon Wish Lists and the shopping lists! So easy to stay organized.
Please don’t discount the marketplace sellers on Amazon, the shipping “estimates” are put there by Amazon, not the seller…they allow 2 days to ship the order and up to 14 days for it arrive…BUT most will ship asap, and you will often receive an order on the estimated ship date or within 1-2 days!
Check feedback, because buyers will let you know if they received items quickly!
Jenni says
Just FYI, if you’re a mom (which I’d imagine most readers are) or another type of caregiver such as a babysitter, you can sign up for AmazonMom. It’s just like AmazonPrime except FREE!!! 🙂
Thrifty Military Mommy says
I LOVE this post so much I’m totally linking it up to my blog 😉