This Week In Your Wallet: Your Two Biggest Allies For Holiday Shopping
Happy Thanksgiving!! It’s Tuesday and I’m just getting started on my side dishes, though I’m sure some of you have already set the table and readied everything but the bird itself. We’re also just days away from the biggest shopping weekend of the year, so I’m curious to hear how much you budgeted for gifts? Gallup says the average American plans to spend $830 this season – up from $720 last year. Good news for retailers, but not necessarily for your wallet – especially if it doesn’t know what’s coming for it. An example: Some 62% of parents admit to spending more than they should this time of year, according to a survey from T. Rowe Price.
Two places that should be off limits for drawing extra funds: Your emergency savings and retirement saving. Yet some parents admit to dipping into one or the other to pay off holiday bills — 9% for emergency and 7% for retirement. Ouch.
Since gifts are neither an emergency (no matter how much your child says she needs it) nor your future; the better idea is to just spend less. This week Reuters offers a few suggestions for how to do it. My favorites? Have parameters and accountability. The typical household spends around 1% of pretax income on holiday shopping. For low-income families, it’s 1.5%, and for high-income, it’s 0.5%. Use these figures as parameters to reign in your spending. Looking ahead, your wallet’s two biggest allies will be a budget and a list. Create both going into this month and you’ll come out on top. Even better, make the budget public (i.e. tell your partner, family or someone you respect) so that you’re held accountable for it.
Cents For Sense
Another way to cover holiday expenses this year is by earning some extra cash. This week Kiplinger has 22 ways you can do it. For instance, you can get paid to shop. Mystery shoppers can get paid up to $20 for giving feedback on a shopping experience (i.e. customer service, merchandise and other quality-control metrics). Check out MSPA North America, which has a database of mystery shopper jobs at legitimate companies. Except if more shopping is the last thing you want to be doing, then how about getting paid for your opinion from the comfort of your couch?
Get paid to give your opinion by taking surveys online from companies like Harris Poll Online, SurveyClub, Global Test Market and Swagbucks. Harris Poll Online, for example, has a point system for doing surveys that range from five to 25 minutes to complete. Once you’ve earned enough points, you can redeem gift cards to retailers like Amazon and Starbucks. Or, you can live out your Law & Order and Suits fantasies by serving as an online juror. EJury.com pays $5 to $10 per case, which usually takes about 35 minutes to complete. Another site is OnlineVerdict.com, which will pay you anywhere from $20 to $60 for cases that range from 20 minutes to an hour to complete. Who knew?!
Cyber Monday Soars
A record month for airfare sales will take off on Cyber Monday, according to Hopper.com. By looking at last year’s data and this year’s airfare trends, the site is forecasting the best fare sale activity on Wednesdays and Thursdays between Cyber Monday and Christmas at 9:00pm – the most common hour of the day for flash sales. Set a calendar alert — then see city-specific data here.
New Disputing Service
When was the last time you pulled your credit report? Research from Bankrate.com reveals 35% of American adults have never reviewed any of their reports, with another 14% admitting to (regularly) going more than a year in between checks. If it’s been more than four months, then you’re due for a check. You can pull yours for free at annualcreditreport.com, which grants you one free report from each of the three major credit bureaus each year. Once pulled, it’s important to check your report for score-lowering errors, like incorrect personal information, missed (or late) payments and fraudulent behavior.
Federal Trade Commission data found 25% of Americans have a potentially score-lowering error on their credit reports. If you find one, you can send a certified letter — with a return receipt request — to the credit bureau involved. You can also try Credit Karma’s new Direct Dispute feature that allows you to challenge the error in just a few clicks. In its trial, the site issued over 600,000 disputes and 87% of them ended successfully with a correction to the member’s credit report.
Have a great week and again, Happy Thanksgiving,
Jean
