Best Cyber Monday Shopping Strategies
I woke up at 5:15 am this morning to shop on Cyber Monday. Within an hour, I had bought everything on my holiday gift list for $ 37.36 below budget.
(I also bought myself an Instant Pot, but we’ll come back to that later.)
This means my holiday shopping is done, apart from some pastries I need to buy for a few upcoming events, and it also means it’s time to share my Cyber Monday shopping secrets.
Like this.
Set a budget
Yes I know. This is the first tip in every holiday shopping guide and you already know it, but when you look down at a screen full of sales and countdown clocks, you lose your temper.
GET A BUDGET.
JOIN THE BUDGET.
Remember, “saving money” on holiday shopping doesn’t count if you’re over budget. As compelling as the deal is.
The best way to stick to a budget is to know what you are going to buy ahead of time, which brings me to the following:
Make a list
Don’t go into Cyber Monday thinking that you will “see what is for sale.” Knowing what you want, understand that it will probably be offered at the lowest price of the season.
I bet you already know how to make a shopping list, but here are my personal tips for creating a holiday list:
- Write down each person and / or event that requires a gift. Family, friends, pets, White elephants, Secret Santas, you get the idea.
- Ask yourself how many gifts each person (or pet) needs. Some people get one gift. Some people receive multiple gifts. You can be part of a family dedicated to “what you want, what you need, what to wear, and what to read.” You could be part of an office or a group of friends where you need to come up with escalating Secret Santa trinkets. You will know your gift-giving culture better than I do.
- Divide your budget between people and gifts. Many of you are already familiar with this. That’s all: “I want to spend $ 10 to buy the White Elephant, but I need to set aside $ 300 to buy my daughter a Nintendo Switch.”
- If you don’t know what to buy someone else, that’s okay. You will take care of them while shopping on Cyber Monday. Read on.
- If possible, spend Cyber Monday before the game checking the prices of whatever you hope to buy beforehand. Put these prices on your holiday shopping list. Then, on Cyberday itself, you’ll save a few dollars on almost every item you buy and fall within your budget .
- If you’re on a really tight budget, put that money in your savings account (hahahahahah, right) or use it to buy that irresistible deal I warned you about at the beginning of the post.
Now that we have a list and a budget, we can move on to more advanced strategies.
Avoid online storefront windows
Don’t go – and I repeat , don’t go – Amazon Dot Com.
Or Walmart Dot Com.
Or Best Buy Dot Com.
If you even catch a glimpse of an online storefront, your entire face will be blown up by a series of carefully calculated product advertisements for the lowest price of the season for a very limited time.
In many cases, they can even be tuned algorithmically, so you will see exactly what you never knew existed.
Stay away from online shopping windows on Cyber Monday. Find the products you want to buy and follow the search results in the relevant Amazon, Walmart, or Best Buy listings. This way, you avoid as many advertisements, sales, countdowns and dark patterns as possible to encourage shopping.
Avoid all Cyber Monday shopping articles (except this one)
Here I admit that I made the Cyber Monday tactical mistake that led to the purchase of the $ 49 Instant Pot Duo. I bought Instant Pot because the New York Times told me I needed it and then said it would be offered at the lowest price of the year.
Which, okay, I know Instant Pots are great and I’ve been thinking about getting one for about three years.
But I also survived just fine without him for three years.
And then NYT told me I needed to grab one RIGHT NOW, and the Cyber Monday pressure cooker did the trick, and I can only hope the Instant Pot lives up to the hype.
So stay away from the Top 10 Cyber Monday Deals articles unless you want nine more items left in your shopping cart.
Use the minimum purchase amount to fill in the blanks on your shopping list
Remember when I explained that if you didn’t know what to buy someone, you would have figured it out when buying on Cyber Monday?
Well, if you find yourself on a reputable small website that requires a minimum of purchases to unlock additional discounts or free shipping, you can use that as an opportunity to find something for someone who’s hard to buy.
This is the only time you have permission to view. (I mean you always have permission to view, I can’t tell you what to do, but this is the only time it makes sense to view.)
Keep holiday purchases separate from personal ones.
I know that many of us use Cyber Monday for both holiday shopping and to do some shopping for ourselves. If, in theory, everything will be at the lowest price, then it will be for the whole year , of course, it makes sense to bring socks, or kitchen appliances, or iPad, or something else.
Here is my only request:
Place your personal purchases in a separate shopping cart.
Logistically, this means buying all your holiday gifts first and all your personal belongings secondly (or vice versa). Luckily, sites like Amazon don’t care how many carts you fill in one day if you keep filling them.
Why do you need to keep the candles and shower gel you buy for your cousins separate from the candles and shower gel you buy for yourself?
Because mixing everything in one cart makes it difficult to determine how much you are spending. If you are trying to stick to a budget, you need to know when you hit your spending cap for “holiday gifts” and when you hit your spending cap for personal purchases. (Yes, Instant Pot fits into my personal budget for December.)
You also need to keep your vacation and personal purchases separate, because that’s the way, the way, it’s all too easy to think “it’s okay to buy this a lot, the holidays are about giving!” and then, two days later, open the package that is like 85% of the gifts for you.