No tricks, just treats with these easy shopping hacks you can use to save money during fall and Halloween. And once spooky season is over and the holidays creep up to scare your wallet again, these tips can keep saving you money year round.
1. Use free online tools that rack up extra savings
There are so many browser extensions and apps that can offer extra savings while shopping online.
One that is highly worth mentioning for Halloween this year is Kudos — a free browser extension and iOS app. This nifty virtual wallet tells you which credit card to use for maximum cashback rewards when you’re shopping online.
Kudos works on over 2 million sites and they’re currently running a special promotion for Halloween and beyond this year: You can earn up to 5x your credit card rewards through the month of October at select merchants via Kudos Boost.
In other words, you could get up to 25% back with Kudos. For example, if you were to normally earn $10 on a purchase with your rewards card, you could earn $50 altogether if you were to shop with Kudos.
Earn this bonus cashback at 10 popular stores while you’re shopping for Halloween costumes, candy or decor:
Walmart
Kohl’s
Spirit Halloween
Macy’s
Saks Fifth Avenue
Lowe’s
Dell
Petco
Samsung
PetSmart
2. Use the right cashback cards
Earning credit card rewards is always a treat, so using your points or cashback credit card for Halloween shopping sounds like a no-brainer — but there can be a little more work that goes into it.
Remember that most reward cards only earn points, cashback or miles on select purchases. For example, the Discover it Cash Back rewards credit card gets you 5% cashback at places like Amazon and gas stations, but you won’t earn that cashback rate everywhere.
Before checkout, make sure the card you’re using earns you the highest rate and that you’ll actually get credit card rewards from that store. And if you don’t feel like sifting through your wallet and double-checking which cards earn rewards on what, browser extensions and apps like Kudos can do it for you.
3. Take advantage of 0% APR
When you sign up for a new credit card, there’s a decent chance that you’ll get a 0% APR introductory period for purchases — so take advantage of that while you’re shopping for the holidays.
Most credit cards offer a 0% intro period for six to 12 months, which means your outstanding balance won’t accrue any interest until that intro period ends. If you pay off your card balance before the intro period is over, you’ve basically borrowed money for free.
If you were planning on getting a new credit card, opening one this month is a smart move because you can take advantage of a long 0% APR period just in time for your holiday shopping.
An oldie but a goodie, this is a great trick for getting some quick discount codes. When you’re shopping online, add the items you want into your cart. After a few days, the store might send an email “reminder” that you have items left in your cart, and there’s a good chance they’ll either send some discount codes or tell you when the price dropped. For this hack to work, you might need to subscribe with the retailer and sign up for email notifications, but it can be worth the temporary junk mail during the holiday season.
5. Apply discount codes before checkout
There are many free extensions you can add to your browser that automatically search and enter discount promo codes — no more scouring online or looking through flyers to just find expired codes.
For those, all you have to do is simply download the extension. Once activated, these extensions automatically cycle through different coupon codes to find the best codes that’ll knock off the highest percentage or dollar amount off your purchase. The codes don’t always work, but these tools are almost always free, so it’s worth a shot for extra savings.
6. Check things off your holiday list
I know it’s not Christmas yet, but hear me out.
Stores often set out their Halloween and fall decor in August or September, and it’s easy to get swept up in the spirit and buy right then — but you’re probably paying more than you should.
You’re likely to find the best shopping discounts by waiting until October. This is because many popular retailers like Amazon and Best Buy kick off their holiday shopping with promotions and deals this month.
And if your favorite store isn’t offering savings directly, check if they’ve partnered up with anyone. For example, big brands like Walmart, Macy’s and Kohls are currently partnered with Kudos to offer you up to 5x your credit card rewards when you shop with Kudos.
So while it may seem too soon to start your holiday shopping, shopping early gives you another opportunity to save some extra money before Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November.
Don’t DIY this Halloween
As much as we love a good DIY costume, you don’t have to DIY Halloween shopping.
Free browser extensions that calculate the best credit card rewards and look for free discount codes are some of the best ways to save money while shopping online — and you don’t have to do any extra work aside from taking the time to install the browser extension or download the app.
Now would be the time to shop with Kudos, as you could get up to 25% back at select stores during October. It also tracks your favorite stores to suggest the best rewards cards to consider in the future. With Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, Kudos is a great tool to have all year around.
Bethany Hickey is a personal finance writer at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto.
Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, GOBankingRates, SuperMoney, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt.
Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others.
Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
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