5件假日购物应该做的事情

　　1.Make a Budget

　　做好预算

　　Before you head to the mall, or Amazon, first establish your total budget for the holidays. Then, write a list of all the people you need to buy gifts for. Now, divide the number of gifts into your total budget, and that will tell you how much you have to spend per person. For example, if you have a total budget of $500, and are buying gifts for 10 people, that’s $50 a person. Now you may decide to spend more on certain people over others, that’s fine, just make sure to then reduce your budget for the others appropriately.

　　在你去购物中心或者亚马逊之前，首先要确定你的假期总预算。然后，列好你需要给其买礼物的人的名单。现在，把礼物的数量分配到你的总预算中，这会告诉你你能为每个人花多少钱。例如，如果你有500美元的总预算，并要给10个人购买礼物，那么每个人能花50美元。现在你可以决定给某个人花比给别人更多的钱，没问题，只需要确保适当地减少你为别人花费的预算。

　　2.Be Opportunistic

　　做个机会主义者

　　Give yourself some flexiblity. Start shopping early enough to take advantage of deals, like Black Friday. Do research online, and price shop. Also use online shopping apps like PriceGrabber.com, that let you compare prices across different retailers and automatically send you notices of price drops for your target gifts. Doing all your shopping on one day, in one mall, can really limit your savings opportunities.

　　让自己灵活一些。尽早开始购物以充分利用交易优势，如黑色星期五。做网上调研，做价格比较。还可以使用如PriceGrabber.com这样的在线购物应用程序，它们能让你在不同的零售商之间比较商品价格，并能自动发送给你你的目标礼物的降价通知。在一天内，在一个购物中心里购买所有的东西会限制你的省钱机会。

　　3.Do The Double Discount Dip

　　浏览双倍折扣信息

　　You know the 15% discount or $30 credit you get for opening up a new credit card at the point of sale? Those could add up to significant savings, especially when their combined with items which are already on sale! While most folks will tell you to avoid them like the plague, the fact is, if you pay off the cards right away, it’s found money. Just make sure you have the discipline to pay off your balance completely in the first month, if you can’t trust yourself take a pass on this strategy.

　　你知道在销售点开一张新信用卡能给你15%的折扣或给30美元的透支额度？这些能明显帮你省钱，尤其是在它们与那些正在打折的项目结合的时候！虽然大多数人会告诉你要像对待瘟疫一样拒绝它们，但事实是，如果你能及时还清卡，它确实能帮你省钱。如果你不想拒绝这样做的话，那就确保你有自制力在第一个月里完全付清你的透支额度。

　　4.Get Free Shipping

　　买包邮的东西

　　There’s no sense spending the time to find a 20% discount on a $50 item, if you’re going to be charged $17 in shipping. Always make sure to shop on sites that offer free shipping, and if there are minimums, see if it makes sense to bundle a few gifts together to get the discount. Also make sure you shop early enough so you don’t have to spend extra on shipping to get it delivered in 2 business days.

　　如果你打算支付17美元的运费的话，那没有任何意义上去花时间去50美元的项目上寻找20%的折扣。一定要在包邮的网站上购物，如果有最低购物额的话，看看是否能打包购买一些礼物以获得折扣。你也要确保能尽早购物，以能让你不必花费额外的费用在两个工作日内收到货。

　　5.Get Rewarded

　　获得奖励

　　This is one of the seasons where you’ll be spending the most throughout the year. Get rewarded for it and use a rewards credit card for all your purchases. Whether you want to use a cash back credit card or travel rewards card is up to you, but used properly you should get between 2%-5% in earnings from a premium credit card and 1% with a no fee rewards card. Using your credit card may also give you purchases assurance, protecting you from damage or theft for 90 days after your purchase.

　　这是一年中你将要花费最多的季节之一。通过购物获得奖励，并使用奖励信用卡支付费用。不管你是想用现金返还信用卡还是用旅游回馈卡，这都取决于你，但要想合理使用的话，你应该用高级信用卡得到2%-5%的费用，用没费用奖励的卡得到1%。使用信用卡还可能给你购买保险，保护你在购买后90天内免受损坏或失窃。

　　The 5 Holiday Shopping Dont’s

　　1.Avoid Spending More Than You Have

　　避免花费超出你的能力

　　The holidays are supposed to be festive occasions. Putting yourself into debt to buy someone a gift is no one’s idea of fun. Stick to your budget. The people you’re buying gifts for are presumably friends and family – they don’t want to enrich they’re lives at your expense. If they do, find some new friends.

　　假日应该是喜庆的。让自己负债去给某人买礼物不是个有趣的注意。坚持预算之内。你在给他们买礼物的人们很可能是你的密友家人—他们不希望以加重你的负担来富足自己的生活。如果他们想要这样的话，那你应该交些新朋友。

　　2.Don’t Be Cheap, Be Frugal

　　不要便宜的，要廉价的

　　There’s a difference between being cheap and frugal. Being frugal means you’ll do the work to find the cheapest price for an item. Being cheap means you’re willing to sacrifice quality for price and get a poorer quality item, just because it’s cheaper.

　　便宜和廉价不同。廉价意味着你努力去为一个东西找到它最便宜的价格。便宜意味着你愿意为价格牺牲质量，买一个质量更差的东西，只是因为它比较便宜。

　　3.Don’t Buy It, If You Can Make It

　　如果你可以做，就不要买。

　　I don’t know about you, but my most memorable gifts have always been the ones that were made for me, like a blanket knitted by my grandmother. While that may be unrealistic for many modern adults, it’s certainly something we can ask of our kids. Instead of giving them money to buy us something, why don’t we ask them to give us a non-monetary gift, like a painting, a video, a hand written card, a photo album of their favourite family pictures, etc…我不了解你的事，但让我最难忘的礼物一直是那些为我做的，像是我的祖母织的毯子。虽然对许多现代人来说这可能不切实际，但这肯定是我们能要求孩子做的。不要给他们钱让他们给我们买东西，为什么我们不要求他们给我们一件不是用钱买的礼物呢，像是一张画、一段视频、一张手写卡片、一个镶嵌着她们最爱的家庭照片的相框等。

　　4.Be Wary Of The Non-Returnable

　　小心不退货的东西

　　Getting items on sale can be dicey, since many are final sales. Unless you’re positive it won’t be returned, you may want to hold off on the purchase. A final sale means you cannot return or exchange the gift. Spending all that money, only to find out you bought the wrong sized shirt, or a video game your nephew already has, is frustrating. So either avoid non-returnable items, or make doubly sure it’s the right gift.

　　买打折的东西会有些冒险，因为它们许多都是一锤子买卖。除非你不想要退货，否则你可能会想推迟购买。一锤子买卖意味着你不能退货或是换货。花了那些钱却发现你买的衬衫尺码错了，或买了你的侄子已有的视频游戏，这让人沮丧。所以要么拒绝买不退货的东西，要么确保你买的正好。

　　5.Don’t Pay For Return Shipping

　　不要付退货的运费

　　Let’s face it, not every gift is a success. However, with so many purchases now made online, returning items is more common and trickier than ever. Make sure whoever you buy from online, does not charge you a shipping cost for returning or exchanging items – this is especially true of clothing, where sizing is so uncertain. Finding retailers like Walmart, Zappos, LL Bean & Nordstrom that offer free returns is essential.

　　我们要明白不是每个礼物都很好。但是随着现在极多的网上购物，退货比之前变得越来越常见，越来越棘手。确保不论你在网上买了谁的东西，不要支付退货或是换货的运费——对衣服来说尤其如此，很难拿准它们的尺码。