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Why now is the best time to start thinking about holiday spending

Summer just ended. We’re still taking advantage of back-to-school sales and just barely thinking about Halloween. But if you want to save on holiday spending, experts say it’s time to start preparing your shopping list now, reports , a consumer fintech banking platform,.

“It seems so early to think about it, but the earlier you start planning for the holidays, the better off you’re going to be,” says , consumer finance expert. “The sooner you start planning, the sooner you can also start shopping around and looking for sales, start saving and give yourself time to prepare your finances for the spending season.”

While planning ahead can give you a leg up most years, it may be especially important in 2025 due to uncertainty around tariffs and the state of the economy.

“Consumers are anticipating higher prices, supply chain disruptions and fewer discounts from retailers this holiday season,” Brad Jashinsky, a director analyst at research firm Gartner, recently said in a .

Here are seven moves to make now to help yourself save on holiday spending.

1. Create a gifting plan

With a few months before the holidays begin, you have ample time to strategize your gift giving. And because prices may be higher than what you’ve experienced in the past, Woroch recommends reassessing your gifting plan. That may mean narrowing down who you’re giving gifts to this year, or adjusting the type of gifts you’re giving.

“Set gift expectations with family and friends,” she says. “Maybe you just focus on the kids this year, or you set up a Secret Santa and everybody's responsible for one gift rather than multiple. This way you can give a better gift than giving smaller and insignificant gifts that kind of just feel like a waste of money.”

Another option is to swap shopping for people with spending quality time with them.

2. Set a budget

Once you have determined who you’re buying gifts for, it’s time to set a budget. Shopping expert recommends starting with an evaluation of what you bought and spent last year. This will help you see whether or not you need to cut back on how much you’re spending on each person you’re planning to exchange gifts with.

“Stay on track by creating a list and a budget for each person,” Bodge says. “Keep that list somewhere accessible — like on your phone — and keep it up to date as you purchase gifts.” 

An easy way to set up and be sure you stay on track is to use budgeting features that are directly connected to your main spending account (so you only have one app to log into) and ideally which provides you alerts on your spending to keep you on track.

3. Prepare your finances

Planning ahead means you have time to clean up other aspects of your spending to make room for your holiday shopping and travel budget.

“What I suggest is going through your budget and reevaluating where your money is going,” Woroch says. “This is a great time to check in on your spending and figure out if there is any waste happening,”

Are you subscribed to a video streaming service or a gym membership you’re not using and can cancel? Is there a new promotion you can qualify for with your cable provider? Can you bundle your insurance policies to save on your insurance plans? Can you commit to painting your nails or washing your dog at home for a few months instead of heading to the salon and groomer? Can you take a break from eating out?

Making those changes will also allow you to save for your holiday spending. Putting a small amount away in a savings account — say $20 per week — could make a big difference over the next few months. Look for accounts where you can automate savings and earn higher APYs, which tend to be higher at mobile-only or online banks vs. traditional institutions.

4. Spread out your spending

If you start shopping now, you can avoid a last-minute shopping frenzy that can lead to overspending. And shopping early allows you to spread your spending out over multiple pay periods, rather than creating a shopping bottleneck by shopping only between Black Friday and the holidays, Bodge says.

Woroch recommends buying gifts at certain regular periods over the next few months, such as every other week.

“It's like an alternative way of saving,” Woroch adds. “You're putting the money to the holidays, it's just in the form of a gift rather than cash in the savings account.”

While you’re spending, make sure to use payment methods that will give your overall finances a boost. Look for cards where you can earn points or cash back. You can also consider a secured credit card, which can help you build your credit history as you spend and they can help you stay within your budget, as you can only spend the amount of money available in your account.

5. Take advantage of early promotions

Retailers have been rolling out early holiday promotions in recent years — often as soon as October — to spread out demand and attract shoppers before Black Friday, says Vitaly Pecharsky, head of strategic initiatives at Slickdeals, a website that tracks discounts.

“Planning ahead lets you compare prices over time, track items on your wish list, get notifications when deals show up and avoid last-minute stress,” Pecharsky says.

He adds that, while not yet announced for this year, Amazon typically runs a large sale in early October, and early November often brings strong discounts on categories like home goods, toys and small kitchen appliances as retailers encourage shoppers to buy early.

Of course, there will still be deals if you wait — and if you know you’re going to do so, you can plan for it.

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain the peak for big-ticket items like TVs, laptops and gaming consoles,” Vitaly says. “Then in December, we often see deals on last-minute giftables such as beauty sets, apparel and digital subscriptions, as retailers try to capture procrastinators.”

6. Track travel prices

Booking travel early can be helpful because travel is extremely popular during the holidays, meaning that flight and seat availability can become limited, Bodge says. Prices can also go higher as availability becomes scarce.

According to travel booking app , the best time to book your travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas is September and October. The app has found that travel prices for those holidays will spike by more than $150 on average as they approach, and flights will sell out. The best time to book for New Year’s Eve is October and November.

Another travel booking platform, , reports that in general if you’re flying domestically you can save 17% by flying on a Saturday, and if you’re flying internationally, you can save 15% by flying on a Thursday. (The most expensive day to travel is typically Sunday).

7. Use money-saving tools

No matter when you’re shopping, there are ample resources out there that can help you save money. Woroch recommends creating a list of the gifts you want to buy, and using tools like Karma and Honey which can notify you when an item on your list goes on sale or if the price is dropped. Setting this up now just gives you more time to take advantage of deals throughout the holiday season.

Bodge says some of her favorite moves are paying with a credit card that allows you to earn points or miles, and paying with discounted gift cards via sites like GiftCardGranny. She also suggests installing a browser plugin like Shopback to earn cashback on your purchases.

And do your research when it comes to deals.

“There are so many things being advertised as being a deal at any given time and knowing if it’s really a great deal or if you should hold off on buying something can get overwhelming,” Vitaly says. Sites like Slickdeals — which allows community members to vote up or down based on how good a deal is — can help you make informed decisions.

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