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Each week, we answer money questions from around the web on the NerdWallet app. Here are three of the trending questions from the month of November:
Should I shop early to save on holiday expenses?
Starting your holiday shopping early can help you spread out your expenses over many months instead of paying for all your purchases in the final month of the year. Early shopping also allows you to take your time, compare prices and wait for sales.
But you don’t want to buy everything on your list too early, because you could miss out on some of the biggest sales. Retailers start holiday sales in mid-October and prices tend to fluctuate as we approach the end of the year.
Some product categories, like toys, tend to see their lowest prices right before the holidays. Many types of electronics, on the other hand, hit their biggest discounts on Black Friday.
For consumers, the best approach is to make your list early and watch prices carefully. Make purchases as you see the sales start. Browser extensions like PayPal Honey or the Camelizer can make it easy to track the products on your list.
If your list includes popular toys, gaming consoles or wearable tech, then you don’t want to wait too long after the sales start. Inventory can thin out and you may have fewer options to choose from.
This year, retailers are also impacted by tariffs, which adds another element of uncertainty to pricing. For consumers, that makes planning early and tracking prices even more important when it comes to getting the best deal possible.
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How should I pay for my holiday purchases?
Holiday shopping expenses can add up quickly. According to NerdWallet’s annual analysis, holiday shoppers plan to spend an average of $1,107 on presents this year, which is $182 more than last year’s average.
In an ideal world, shoppers would turn to existing funds to cover gifts. If you use cash you have, you avoid taking on any additional debt, interest charges and fees.
But in reality, many holiday shoppers turn to different methods to pay for their purchases. Common forms of payment include credit cards, debit cards and buy now, pay later programs, where you spread payments out over several months or more. The NerdWallet survey found that 18% of holiday shoppers plan to use BNPL.
So which payment method is best? Let’s take them one by one.
- Credit cards: If you plan to pay off your credit cards in full at the end of the month, then there’s little downside to using them. In fact, they can give you extra benefits, including rewards, cash back and fraud protection. But if you don’t pay your balance off in full, then credit cards can get expensive because they usually carry a relatively high interest rate.
- Debit cards: Debit cards pull money directly from your bank account, which can be risky if your card is compromised by fraud. In general, credit cards offer greater fraud protection. Also, debit cards don’t generally offer rewards or cash back. But on the upside, because debit cards draw from the money you already have, you can avoid the risk of credit card debt or BNPL payments.
- BNPL: While BNPL allows shoppers to spread out their expenses over a period of time, it is still a form of debt that can weigh on your overall budget. If you miss a payment, it can potentially trigger additional fees or interest charges. And soon, FICO will incorporate BNPL into its scoring model, which means missing payments could potentially hurt your credit score.
The bottom line? If you can, pay for your holiday shopping purchases without taking on debt. Another option to consider for next year is to start shopping early, so the purchases are spread out over several months instead of hitting all at once.
If you need to turn to financing, then consider scaling back your gift purchases so you’re minimizing the amount of debt you’re taking on.
How can I use AI tools to make me a better shopper?
Leveraging AI to navigate sales can make the shopping process less overwhelming — and also help you save money.
To start, try using an AI platform like ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Claude to make your shopping wishlist based on your current needs. In your prompt, give the chatbot some basic parameters, such as your budget and categories of items. Then, ask it to generate a shopping list for you.
Your prompt could be, “I have a budget of $200. I would like to buy gifts between $20 and $50, including toys for a 5-year-old, science-fiction books for a teenager and cooking gifts for an adult. Can you generate a shopping list for me based on upcoming sales?”
Then, refine the list. Perhaps you want new toy suggestions or different book ideas. Maybe you want to adjust your budget upward or downward. You could even ask for specific product links.
Once you’re happy with the shopping list, start tracking prices. Tools like CamelCamelCamel, PayPal Honey and Keepa let you know when prices drop so you can time your purchases.
Repeat the process until your shopping list is checked off — or at least until you need to buy something else.
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