 TITLE: How to Avoid Overspending on Amazon Prime Day 2021 CONTENT: Review Your Budget and Stick to It\n----------------------------------\nThe best way to avoid overspending is having a budget and sticking to it. Without a budget, you'll have no guardrails helping you determine how much you can afford to spend and may lose control when faced with fleeting deals on hot products.\nIf you have an existing budget, review it to see what wiggle room there is for discretionary retail spending. Looking for household products? You may be able to slot your Amazon Prime Day spending into that budget category. If you're looking for a bigger-ticket item, see how it fits in—if at all—with your allotted monthly spending money. Once you add up how much you can spend comfortably without sidetracking your budget, make that amount your spending limit for Amazon Prime Day purchases.\nIf you're already setting aside savings for holiday purchases, this could be a great opportunity to get a head start. Amazon Prime Day happens only once a year, and it could be the one day you get the majority of your holiday gift shopping done. Just be sure to read return policies to know whether your purchases will extend past return periods if you're hoping to use them for holidays late in the year. If you opt to dip into your savings, make a plan to replenish what you took—and be sure to follow through. While using your holiday savings can be a great money-saving strategy, using the money in your emergency fund to make Amazon Prime Day purchases isn't a good idea.\nIf you don't have a budget and aren't sure what you can afford to spend on Prime Day, take a look at your expenses for the rest of the month and see how much you'll have leftover. Then commit to creating a budget as soon as you can. It's not hard: Your budget essentially takes your monthly income, and subtracts your set monthly expenses. The remaining cash is then allotted for saving, discretionary spending and paying down debt. A couple budgeting methods to explore include the 50\/30\/20 budget and the zero-based budgeting method. END