People plan to shop early this holiday season and are looking for ways to save, here are some tips

• Aniya Faulcon
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  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

Airdate: September 29, 2022

Workforce shortages, inflation, and supply chain issues are making shopping more difficult compared to previous years.

To combat some of this year’s shopping challenges many people are looking for ways to save and are shopping early this holiday season.

According to Bankrate, 25% of shoppers either began their holiday shopping last month or plan to begin shopping this month. Another 25% expect to begin in October, while only 40% plan to start shopping in the final two months of the year.

Rebecca Gramuglia, Top Cash Back Consumer Expert, joined us on Thursday’s Smart Talk to provide some insight on this holiday shopping season and tips on how to prepare for it and save.

Gramuglia said, holiday shopping is going to start early this year, especially with events like Prime Day coming up and other retailers having fall sales early on, also to avoid price increases down the road. She said, she’s also seeing an increase of online shoppers and people who buy online and pick up items in-store.

According to Top Cash Back, 61% of Americans expect to spend more on holiday items this year because of inflation and Gramuglia said people should expect to spend more as prices have increased but there are ways to save this season:

1. Create a shopping list for food, travel, gifts, and events
2. Research and pre-order items for the holiday now
3. Compare prices of items
4. Look to see if you’re shopping at a store that has a price matching policy for the holiday season
5. Look into credit card programs to determine which spending categories will earn you the most rewards or cashback and use that card on purchases
6. Host potlucks and Friendsgiving events to share the financial responsibility with others
7. Attend local holiday events or performances, as they may be more cost effective than attending an out of town event
8. Create your own decorations with things in your home
9. Spend quality time with family and friends at home in a way that requires little to no money
10. Create a holiday fund
11. Stack your savings
12. Use money-saving tools like coupons

Gramuglia said, these tips are great for the holiday season but can be used into the new year and year round.

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