You've Got to Try This Zero-Effort Way to Score Great Deals on Your Holiday Gifts

The holidays are almost here, but before we can enjoy them, most of us have a lot of shopping to do. Between food, travel, and gifts, holiday costs can easily climb into the hundreds to thousands of dollars before we realize it. So it's only natural to do whatever you can to keep your expenses down.

Comparison shopping is one of the most common pieces of advice for savvy shoppers for good reason. But let's be honest. Checking dozens of sites for the items you want, possibly for days, gets old pretty quickly. Fortunately, there's a better way.

Let technology do the work for you

These days, there are plenty of apps that can keep track of changing prices for you and alert you to price drops so you can get the items you want at the lowest possible price. Some also offer historical price data for you to view, so you can estimate when prices might come down.

Each one works a little differently, but generally, they have some sort of a wish list that you can add products to. They will then monitor the price of those items over time. When prices drop, you'll receive an alert via email, text, or an app notification. Then, you can choose whether you're ready to buy now or if you want to wait a little longer to see if prices drop further.

The only real work you have to do is set up your wishlist and then make the purchases when you're ready. If you're the type of person who would usually spend days checking multiple sites to see which ones have the best deals, this could save you a lot of time. And it'll help you keep more of your cash in your bank account.

Best price-tracking apps to consider

There are a bunch of price-tracking apps out there. Some of them work on your phone, while others are browser extensions you use on your computer. One isn't necessarily better than the other. It's all about what works best for you. Here are a few that are worth a closer look.

Honey

Honey, which is owned by PayPal, has a droplist feature where you can add items you're interested in from more than 800 stores. All you have to do is create a free account, add the extension to your browser, and click it when you want to add an item to your droplist. Then, you'll get notifications when prices on your droplist items come down. There's also an app version for Apple and Android customers. Both the app and browser extension also help you locate and test coupon codes to help you save even more.

Karma

Karma is an app available for Apple and Android devices. There's also an extension for Google Chrome. In addition to notifying you of price drops, this app can also help you compare similar products from different retailers and locate online coupon codes to help you save even more on your purchases.

ShopSavvy

ShopSavvy is another app available for Apple and Android devices, with a browser extension for those who prefer to shop on a computer. It's a great choice for when you're in a store and want to check how an item's price compares to other retailers. You can use the app to scan a barcode and immediately see what other stores charge for the same item. You can also set price drop alerts, read AI-powered smart reviews of products, view price histories, and get alerts when items are back in stock.

There are other price-tracking apps out there, as well. It doesn't hurt to compare a few to see which is the most intuitive and useful to you before you pick one. And once you find one you like, you can use it all year to help you get the items you want without breaking your budget.