This App Makes Holiday Shopping Easy, Affordable And Productive

Unsplash/Roberto Nickson

The countdown to Christmas is on. If you celebrate the holiday and are in full shopping mode, then download the Santa’s Bag app ASAP. With your list and budget in mind, the app is made to help you find the perfect present for everyone in your life without breaking the bank. Since we’re all about productivity and budget hacks, we decided to download the app and test it out ourselves. Here’s what you need to know.

Before you download Santa’s Bag, know the basics.

• It’s free to download, but it’s only available for Apple users.
• It has ads, even though we didn’t see many while using the app. If you want to enjoy Santa’s Bag ad-free, you can upgrade and pay $4.99 per month.
• It includes a countdown clock that tells you how many days, hours, minutes and seconds are left until Christmas.
• You’ll never forget anyone on your list because the app can be used year after year. Just switch between years to see last year’s shopping list and budget.
• You can shop right within the app on popular sites like Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, Target and more.
• You can set an overall budget in the app, and every time you buy a gift, you’ll know how much money you have left to spend.

Make your list and check it twice in Santa’s Bag.

If it’s the first time you’re using the Santa’s Bag app like us, then take your time inputting your recipients so you don’t forget anyone. After you download the app, just click over to the “Recipients” tab and you can start adding people to your list via the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner. You can manually type in someone’s name or sync your phone’s contacts with the app and import more than one person at a time.

Set a budget for everyone on your list.

Swirled/Hilarey Wojtowicz

Once someone has been added to your list, you can set a budget for that person, too. Click on their name and add in gift ideas, links to items, stores they like and then an amount that you want to stick to when buying for them this year.

Pro Tip: Before you go shopping, fill in these details for all of your recipients so you have gift ideas and a budget in mind before heading to the store or website.

Once you’re done shopping for a person, you can check their name off the list via the checkmark symbol. If you still need to buy for a few people on the list and don’t want to click in and out constantly, just star them and they’ll be easier to find.

Add lots of information to make shopping for everyone easy.

The more information you add for each person, the better your experience will be in the Santa’s Bag app. There are so many ways to filter every gift idea and purchase so that you can easily find everything you need in the app. For example, you can add in details like store name, status (starred or not), location and stocking stuffer so you can then filter by those categories, too. It’ll help you know where you still need to shop and if it’s a priority gift or maybe just a stocking stuffer.

Find great gifts right in the Santa’s Bag app.

Our favorite part of the app is that you can shop right inside of it. Click over to the “Find Gifts” tab, and you’ll be able to see featured items, categories, merchants (stores) or search for gifts. When you see something you like, you can click on it and view it on the web or in the store’s app (if you have it downloaded on your phone), which makes buying it right then and there super easy.

If you want to wait until another time but don’t want to forget about the gift, you can save it as a link. When you click on the “Save Link” button, the item will be moved over to the “Links” tab of the app. Before saving it, be sure to assign the item to a recipient on your list. This will move the item over to the “Recipients” tab and store the item in the person’s profile under the link icon.

Track your progress so you never forget a present.

Swirled/Hilarey Wojtowicz

As soon as you decide on the gift that you plan to buy for one of your recipients, add it to their list by clicking on “Add Gift” in their profile. You’ll be asked to input the name of the gift, store, price, quantity and location. You can also say whether it’s a stocking stuffer or not and if it’s homemade or not.

After you input all of these details, you can say which stage the gift is in at the top. Select idea, to buy, ordered, to wrap, wrapped, to send and/or given. This will help remind you of the status of the gift so you don’t forget to give it to the recipient come Christmas.

Pro Tip: If you’ve got a long list of recipients, aim to get at least one gift per day. As soon as you’re done shopping, update the app. Spending 30 minutes per day updating Santa’s Bag could help you save a ton of time come Christmas Eve. Last-minute shopping and wrapping is never fun.

Use Santa’s Bag every year.

To be honest, using Santa’s Bag for the first time could require a lot of work. However, once everyone’s name and information is in the app, you’ll be able to shop smart this holiday season. Even better, you can save everything in the app and use it next year. You’ll never have to worry about forgetting who’s on your list, making a new list altogether every year or getting someone the same gift two years in a row. Talk about a productive holiday season.

Have you tried Santa’s Bag app or another app that helps you manage everything during the holiday season? Give us the heads up by joining our exclusive LinkedIn Group and sharing your thoughts!

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