NEW YORK (AP) — The holiday season means time with family and new memories, but it can also mean lots of spending — sometimes too much.
From gifts to travel plans to grocery shopping, costs can pile up and become overwhelming, especially in a difficult economic environment. Holiday shopping can bring joy, but it’s important to stick to a budget and avoid going into debt, said shopping expert Trae Bodge.
“I’m really emphasizing that shoppers look for ways to save as much as possible this season. So we don’t bring that debt into the next year,” Bodge added.
Here are some expert recommendations to make the most out of your budget this holiday season:
Planning your gifts as far in advance as possible can be a great way to save money, since it gives you more time to compare and shop around, said Kiersti Torok, a social media content creator known on Instagram and TikTok as Torok Coupon Hunter.
Torok plans her shopping months in advance. She buys the chocolate and candy for her children’s Christmas stockings right after Halloween, when they’re on sale. And it's not too early to think about next year — her Christmas decorations are always bought on clearance, especially after Christmas.
“If you wait until two, maybe three, days after Christmas. Things will start to hit 75% off. And that’s when I shop for my kid’s birthdays, because they’re in July,” Torok said.
When you’re looking to buy a gift, Bodge recommends comparing prices with other stores, looking for coupons, and signing up for emails from your favorite stores. That way, you can buy the item when it’s at its lowest price.
“I’m always looking for maybe a coupon code, so I can save a certain percentage off. Or I can earn cash back or get a free shipping offer. I really believe in those tools and use them every single time I shop,” Bodge said.
To find deals more easily, Bodge recommends installing browser extensions on your computer. Some of her favorites are PayPal Honey and Rakuten.
Lately, Bodge has also noticed the increasing use of artificial intelligence to both find holiday gift ideas and sales. However, AI search engines are not very good at finding up-to-date deals, she said. Bodge recommends that you search for deals on the store’s website or on sites like RetailMeNot.
If you can’t find an item on sale, find a coupon, or wait to see if you can find it cheaper somewhere else.
If you're the host of your family's holiday celebration, you might be rushing between going to the grocery store, cooking a large meal and decorating your house. But, it's best if you don't let the holiday rush distract you from saving on groceries. Coupons are a great way to reduce costs so you can keep your meals on budget, and possibly use that money for other expenses. Most grocery stores offer coupons, either in paper form, on their website, or in their apps.
Couponing can be time-consuming, but the tradeoff can be saving hundreds of dollars on groceries, according to Torok. If you’re trying couponing for the first time, she recommends taking small steps.
“If you’re looking to save money and you never couponed before, my biggest advice is to pick your favorite store you’re most comfortable with and download their app,” Torok said.
Once you feel comfortable using coupons with your preferred store, Torok recommends that you start comparing prices with other stores near you. This way you can shop for the best deals and save money.
If you’re looking to maximize your savings, she also recommends taking advantage of websites that give you cash back on your grocery shopping. Examples include Top Cash Back and Ibotta.
When preparing for your big holiday meal, a useful tactic to save is to buy in bulk and then freeze it for when you need it, recommended Alli Powell, grocery shopping expert.
“Anything that you can stock up on and freeze at a (lower) price point, then take it out of the freezer to use later, it’ll be such a benefit. This is something I try to do year-round,” said Powell, who hosts Grocery Getting Girl, a blog and Instagram page dedicated to budget-friendly grocery shopping.
Large grocery stores typically offer sales around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and this can be a perfect opportunity to buy in bulk and put it away for another time, Powell said.
Proceed with caution when it comes to acquiring store credits cards or making purchases using buy now, pay later. If you’re shopping in person this holiday season, you’ll likely be offered a store credit card at checkout, often paired with a large discount on your current purchase.
Bodge recommends that you only get a store credit card if you know you can pay it off in full each month and have good credit card habits.
“If there’s a retailer that you shop with regularly and you are responsible with your credit cards, opening a credit card can be very beneficial,” Bodge said.
If you decide to acquire a store credit card, it’s important that you know how much interest will be charged. Store credit cards, like traditional credit cards, affect your credit score.
Similarly, making purchases using buy now, pay later is only recommended when you are sure you can afford to make all the payments on time. Buy now, pay later loans were not previously reported to the three major credit reporting bureaus, but consumers will soon see the them impact their FICO credit scores.
A common mistake when making travel plans is to not allow yourself much flexibility on your flights, said Kyle Potter, editor of Thrifty Traveler, a travel and flight deal website. To save money on your travel, first book the flights and then the rest of the accommodations, that way you can allow yourself to be as flexible as possible with the dates of your flights.
“Start with the flights first, because that gives you the freedom to shift your travel dates by even just a day. Especially over the holidays,” Potter said.
Potter recommends that you track prices and set alarms for flights on Google Flights.
The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
Sign shows discount available on seasonal items in a Kohl's department store, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Castle Rock, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used his first major address since launching his war in Iran to assure Americans that all of his military objectives will be completed "shortly” and urge an increasingly skeptical electorate to give him a little bit more time.
Trump in his Wednesday evening speech dialed back the bluster that's dominated his rhetoric in recent days as world markets convulse and a badly battered Iran is still landing some effective blows on Gulf neighbors' infrastructure and U.S. bases.
But the Republican president's promise to “finish the job” hardly built confidence with a jittery market as oil prices surged and Asian stocks fell as he vowed that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran very hard.
He offered no detail about the state of negotiations with Iran that could bring about a promised endgame that he insists could come in a matter of weeks. There was also no overt lashing out at NATO allies for failing to fall in line and help him reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway — something White House officials had said would be a prominent part of his roughly 20-minute address.
The U.S. will continue to hit Iran hard for the next two or three weeks, he said, without saying how much longer the war would last. But he offered a plea to Americans to show a little patience.
“We are in this military operation, so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for 32 days, and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat,” Trump said. “This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching, and they can’t believe the power, strength and brilliance.”
But Trump finds himself not only negotiating with an enemy that refuses to throw in the towel but also dealing with an American tolerance for a conflict that's being stretched.
Most Americans believe recent U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in mid-March, a couple of weeks after the war started. While Trump is deploying more warships and troops to the Middle East, about 59% of Americans say U.S. military action in Iran has been excessive.
Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.
Americans, Trump noted, have certainly shown patience during times of war.
“American involvement in World War I,” he said, “lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.”
Hours before his address, Trump seemed to reflect on the domestic pressure he’s feeling to wrap up the war.
Speaking at a private lunch at the White House to mark Easter, Trump argued that the U.S. could “very easily” use this moment to take Iran’s oil. It is "unfortunate," he lamented, that there did not seem to be patience among the American people for such an effort.
“They want to see it end,” he said. He added, “People in the country sort of say, ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Trump's speech was “grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.”
The president, Democrats fumed, offered no plan for how he would go about reopening Hormuz, the critical waterway for oil tankers that a battered Iran has effectively choked off even though Trump claims it's been defeated.
For allies worried about a global economy that's been rattled by rising oil prices, Trump suggested they “buy oil from the United States of America” and “build up some delayed courage” and help the U.S. secure the strait. Trump made no attempt to answer his European critics who say he entered his war of choice against Iran without consulting global allies but is now expecting the world to help him fix the unintended damage that it has caused.
“We are losing this war," Murphy added. "We cannot destroy all their missiles or drones, nor their nuclear program. Iran projects more power in the region than they did before the war, especially if they now permanently control the Strait of Hormuz. We are spending billions we don’t have and losing American lives in a war that is destabilizing the world and making us look feckless.”
Trump offered cautious optimism that those now in power in Iran after more than a month of U.S. and Israeli strikes are “less radical and much more reasonable" with much of the pre-war Islamic Republic’s hierarchy taken out. He didn’t explicitly mention a Monday deadline he has set for Iran to open the strait or face attacks from U.S. forces on its energy infrastructure, though he made clear that he remains open to targeting the heartbeat of Tehran’s economy.
“If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” Trump said. “We have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it, and it would be gone.”
Trump also notably did not signal that he's making any preparation for a ground invasion by American troops.
He seemed to steer away from the possibility of sending ground troops to secure Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) of highly enriched uranium, saying it “would take months” for Iran to get to it as it’s buried under the rubble created by last year’s American bombing campaign of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Trump has offered shifting reasons for launching the war, but he has been consistent in articulating that a primary objective in joining Israel in the military action is ensuring that Iran will “never have a nuclear weapon.”
But over the course of the conflict, he has been more circumspect about how far he’s willing to go to follow through on his pledge to destroy Iran’s weapons program once and for all, including seizing or destroying the near-bomb-grade nuclear material that Iran possesses.
“We have it under intense satellite surveillance and control,” Trump said in his prime-time speech. “If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we’ll hit them with missiles very hard again. We have all the cards. They have none.”
Associated Press writers Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump is seen speaking about the Iran war on a television screen in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump arrives from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
