What to buy (and skip) on Black Friday 2025

Shopping tips to help you 'hug' your money

Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, Rakuten’s shopping and savings strategist, used the term “money hugging” to describe how consumers are feeling about their finances right now.

“It’s this idea that you want to spend in a more strategic way so that it goes farther,” she says.

Being an informed shopper helps you hold onto your dollars. Browser extensions like Keepa, Karma and the Camelizer are helpful for tracking prices over time and can set alerts for price drops.

Other strategic ways to save include using cash-back apps to shop, signing up for store loyalty programs and getting cash back with retailer-branded credit cards.

All can add to the bottom line, but also can make shopping overwhelming. For that reason, we recommend sticking to one or two strategies that work for you.