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Are you looking to take advantage of Massachusetts’s tax-free holiday in 2020 to save money on your purchases?
Each year, Americans shift their timing of certain purchases to the tax-free holiday to save money. This is typically large ticket items such as TVs, computers and clothing. All retail items under $2,500, with a few exceptions, are exempt from taxes during the tax-free holiday in Massachusetts this weekend from August 29-30.
In Massaschusetts, the retail tax rate is 6.25%. This means you save $6.25 for every $100 you spend. While this may not sound a lot, it adds up quickly when purchasing large ticket items. You save $62.25 for every $1,000.
Here’s how you can maximize your savings and also earn money from your purchases that can go towards your investments, dream vacation, or anything you like.
Recommended: Check out my Resources page for more money saving tools.
Have A Tax-Free Holiday Strategy
Planning ahead and having a strategy can help you save more money and maximize your earnings come tax-free holiday weekend.
First, determine the things you need or want to buy. Then plan your strategy around the best retailers and discounts. The easiest way to find the best discounts is researching and comparing the items online from multiple retailers. Also look for the best cash back or reward points earning through online shopping portals.
Next, determine how you are going to purchase the items. Buying online can often help you save more money than shopping in the store. Using a credit card will help you earn money back or valuable reward points that you use towards, for example, your next vacation.
If you are going to use a credit card, decide which credit card to use that best fit your goals and give you the most savings. For instance, certain Chase and American Express credit cards give you additional offers and bonuses that you do not get with other credit cards. You may also want to acquire more points for a specific rewards program such as points for an airline or hotel program or you may want more flexibility with transferable points.
No matter what the case may be, having a strategy will help you save and earn more money.
Shop Online
Nowadays, more people, particularly millennials and the younger generation, are making more purchases online than ever. And there’s a good reason for that.
You save time by not having to go to the store or wait in long lines during checkout. It is also very convenient with fast shipping – you can often get your items shipped to you in 2-3 days from many retailers. You also have the option to pick up at the store whenever you are available.
Not only is online shopping more convenient, it also helps you maximize your savings and earnings. And yes, you can earn money back from your purchases just by shopping online.
If you are the type of person who needs to check out the items in person before purchasing, you can always visit the store ahead of time to do this. Yes, it is easier to just purchase in store when you are already there to check out the items. However, if you are willing to hold off on the purchase while at the store and purchase them online instead, you can save a lot more.
Maximize Savings
Shopping online can help you maximize your savings. You can compare prices from multiple sources to find the best price. Often times you can also find discount codes or coupons that you otherwise may have missed if you shop in store.
A great tool that can help you automatically compare prices for a specific item AND find the best discount codes is Wikibuy from Capital One.
Wikibuy is completely free to use. It is a Google Chrome web browser extension that you can install. When installed, it automatically compares the price of an item you are looking at to the same item from other online merchants so that you can purchase it at the best price.
You simply find a product you would like to purchase on a merchant’s website and Wikibuy will automatically go to work. For example, I was looking to get a pair of Apple AirPods Pro and you can see how Wikibuy provides me with a list of better prices from other merchants. It’s important to note that Wikibuy may not always give you a price comparison depending on the website.
Wikibuy also automatically finds and applies various coupon codes, including ones that merchants do not explicitly offer, and apply the best one. In my example above, Wikibuy automatically applied a discount code to save me $11.99 on the PhoneSoap 3 UV phone sanitizer from PhoneSoap.
But wait, there’s MORE!
I could just apply the savings but there are 10 more codes to try. You should always try all the codes to find the best one because Wikibuy doesn’t always automatically apply the best one. Below you can see I saved an extra $4 with a different code.
None of these codes were provided on the website. Wikibuy found these “hidden” codes and automatically applied them. Without Wikibuy I would have paid full price. Using Wikibuy will help you save money that you otherwise wouldn’t have!
Online Shopping Portals
Online shopping portals allow you to earn money back for your online purchases in the form of cash back or reward points. This is a great way to make money or rack up points quickly from purchases you were already going to buy anyway.
Instead of visiting the retailer’s site directly, you start at the portal and then click through to the retailer’s site. If you install the Chrome extension, you can visit the retailer’s site directly and activate the cash back through the extension button.
You are still purchasing the exact same items directly from the merchant for the same exact price, but you will earn free cash back or reward points.
There are many online shopping portals, but my favorite and the first one I started with and still use today is Rakuten (formerly Ebates). Rakuten has thousands of retailers where you can earn cash back anywhere from 1% to 20% or higher. Keep in mind the cash back excludes taxes and shipping.
If you link an American Express Membership Rewards credit card, you can earn valuable Amex Membership Reward points instead of cash back. It is completely free for you.
You can see I have already earned over $300 since I started using Rakuten two years ago and Rakuten is only 1 of 6 portals that I use. I’ve also recently switched to getting Amex Membership Reward points instead of cash back.
And remember, you get all of this is on top of the cash back or reward points you already get from using your credit card.
You can sign up for Rakuten and earn $30 for spending $30 through this link.
Use An Online Shopping Portal Aggregator
An online shopping portal aggregator like CashbackMonitor.com will help you easily see which online shopping portal is best for you.
CashbackMonitor tracks the cash back or bonus points for all retailers participating in online shopping portals such as Rakuten. It includes a number of online shopping portals, including your favorite airline, credit card and other shopping portals.
Above you can see the cash back and points for Staples through various online shopping portals. This is a great way for you to boost and double-dip on your cash back or favorite airline and credit card award points program.
Pay With A Credit Card
Using a credit card to pay for your purchases is a great way to earn money back. Typically the return is not a whole lot, usually 1%-2%, but it is better than getting nothing when you pay with cash or debit. However, you can often get higher returns by pairing your credit cards with online shopping portals and various credit card offers and bonuses.
These returns are only better than cash or debit if you completely pay off your balance each month. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying more than what you get back because of the high interest rate credit card companies charge.
Use A Flat-Rate Credit Card
Most purchases made during a tax-free holiday are those that do not fall into a typical credit card category bonus such as dining or travel. These credit cards give you 1% back for all other purchases. Therefore, a credit card that offers greater than the standard 1% or 1x points per dollar spent is the one you would want to use to maximize your earnings.
Oftentimes, these are flat-rate credit cards that give you 1.5%-2% or 1.5x-2x points per dollar for every purchase. This includes the Chase Freedom Unlimited, Capital One QuickSilver, Capital One Venture Rewards, Bank of America Premium Rewards and Citi Double Cash cards, all of which gives you at least 1.5% back on all purchases categories.
Credit Card Offers And Bonuses
Amerian Express and Chase credit cards typically come with offers that you can activate and use to earn more cash back or points, or to save more money. American Express has a lot more and often times better offers and bonuses than Chase.
You can see I’ve already added 38 offers to my card and there are 98 more offers available for me to add. Offers typically include getting cash back for spending a certain amount or getting additional points on top of what you already get with the credit card.
When these offers are combined with the retailer’s promotional discount, online shopping portals, and the points/cashback you get back with your credit card, the money you save and/or earn adds up quickly!
Final Thoughts
Shopping during a tax-free holiday is a great way to save money on items that you were already planning on buying. You can save even more by combining the tax-free holiday savings with savings you get from shopping online, using online shopping portals, and using credit cards for your purchases.
Now that you know how to maximize your savings and earnings, which of these strategies and methods will you use?
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