This fall, multiple appliances in my home announced they were done: A water line inside my washer broke, my dryer began requiring multiple cycles to dry a load, and my hair straightener stopped getting hot enough to do its job.

The only silver lining? Solid holiday sales start in October and get really good in November.

As a personal finance expert, I came up with a shopping strategy: I would select the appliances I wanted to buy before the October sales began, track the prices through Black Friday and buy as soon as those prices dipped to their lowest point.

I estimate leveraging holiday sales to buy my household necessities could save me several hundred dollars.

Samantha Gordon, the deals editor at Consumer Reports, confirmed the logic of my strategy.

“My biggest piece of advice for anybody is to never buy anything not on sale,” she says. And in November, she adds, “Everything goes on sale.”

With some planning, you can leverage the season’s discounts for your own needs.

Make your list early

Research exactly which products you want before the sales start so you can make an informed decision when the discounts begin, Gordon says.

She suggests tracking prices now so you know what constitutes an actual discount versus simply an advertised sale.

“You want to know what the price is on an average day,” Gordon says, adding that price-tracking tools, such as Keepa, CamelCamelCamel.com and PayPal Honey, can help you.

Andrea Woroch, a money-saving expert who shares budgeting tips on her website, has been doing just that. Like me, she has a list of household products — including a vacuum and new fridge — that she hopes to buy during the holiday sales.

“Set a sale alert for an item you want to track so you don’t miss a limited-time, early deal,” she suggests. Shopping apps like Karma and CamelCamelCamel will send a price drop alert right to your inbox.

If you plan to shop at a specific store, Woroch says to sign up for free loyalty programs. That may get you free shipping, rewards for purchases and extra coupons.

Consider everyday household items

Big-ticket items aren’t the only things marked down this time of year. Everyday essentials, such as paper products and makeup, also go on sale.

Trae Bodge, a shopping expert at TrueTrae.com who is based in the New York area, takes advantage of those discounts. During the October sales, she bought brow gel, pretzels, a new fireplace screen and an inflatable travel mattress.

Bodge estimates she saved between 10% to 30% on each item, and stacked that savings with cash back through a browser extension.

Avoid frenzied buying

Of course, all these discounts can also translate into wayward buys.

While it can be a good idea to buy a discounted item for next year now, Woroch cautions against overspending.

“Just make sure you can afford the purchase when you buy it. You don’t want to add to your spending load so much that you can’t pay off your card,” she says, because that can lead to interest charges.

In some cases, 0% financing deals may also be available during sales events, allowing you to spread out payments without interest accruing, she adds.

The washer and dryer set will be my biggest purchase, which is why I’ve taken time to plan for it.

Lock in seasonal savings

October was good, but I’m holding out for Black Friday sales: The hair appliance I plan to purchase — a Beachwaver rotating curling iron — normally retails for $99, but dipped to just under $70 right before the October sales hit.

I was tempted to hit “buy” until I checked the price history on CamelCamelCamel.com. I saw that last Black Friday, the price went all the way down to $49. So I’m waiting, hoping the low price repeats itself again this year. If it does, I’ll save about $50.

For our washer and dryer combo, I selected the LG ThinQ model after combing through online reviews. While it’s currently marked down about $500, I expect an even better deal during the Black Friday sales.

Research shows that appliance prices typically dip during Black Friday, with deals announced ahead of time. So I’m keeping my eye out and will make my purchase when I see sales roll out. It’s a bit of a gamble — because I could save $500 now — but I’m hopeful.

The bottom line? Using seasonal sales to buy necessities can save you cash, which we can all use right now.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article How a Personal Finance Expert Leverages Holiday Sales for Household Necessities originally appeared on NerdWallet.

A few weeks ago, I was about to pay the HVAC technician who had repaired my home’s heat pump. Out of habit, I pulled a credit card from my wallet — I figured I’d earn rewards on this pricey transaction — but then the tech warned me that his company assesses a 3% surcharge on credit card payments. Thankful for the heads-up, I wrote him a check instead.

Credit card surcharges aren’t new, but they’re becoming more common. According to J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study, “34% of merchants are adding surcharges for customer purchases made using credit cards.” Compare that number to just a year before, when 20% of merchants reported assessing surcharges, per a 2024 State of the Industry Report from CMSPI, a payments consultancy firm.

Surcharging at restaurants, in particular, can at times feel like the rule, not the exception. One Reddit thread from August 2025 pointedly asked: “Since when did 3% CC [credit card] fees at restaurants become the new normal?” In other words, why now?

Several factors are at play, but a short version is that it’s simply become more expensive, over time, for businesses to accept credit cards, and surcharges help offset those costs.

The practice, though, is changing the math for users of rewards credit cards. While it used to be a no-brainer to pick up the tab with a card that earns a flat 2% back, now that same decision on a bill with a 3% surcharge could result in a loss.

“We’re approaching a tipping point where consumers are actively saying they won’t pay the surcharge,” says Don Apgar, director of the merchant payments practice at Javelin Strategy & Research.

In the moment — stuck in the restaurant booth when the check arrives — you don’t exactly have much of a choice. But you do have longer-term options.

» MORE: NerdWallet’s best credit cards for restaurants

Why surcharges exist

The payment processing company Stripe defines a surcharge as “an additional fee that a business may add to a transaction when a customer pays with a credit card,” meant to recoup “the costs that the business incurs for processing credit card payments.” These costs to businesses, known as interchange fees, totaled more than $160 billion in 2022, according to Stripe.

Interchange fees are set by the payment networks that credit cards run on: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. The rewards that your credit card earns — cash back, points or miles — are largely funded by those interchange fees. As such, merchants generally pay more in interchange fees to accept rewards cards as a payment method. Apgar estimates that 75% of the credit cards that consumers pay with today earn rewards.

It’s become a flashpoint in the payments industry, pitting credit card companies against merchants. The former argue they’re providing an essential service and that interchange fees are simply the cost of doing business, while the latter argue that those costs are spiraling out of control.

Lawmakers, too, are paying attention. In 2022, the Credit Card Competition Act was introduced in Congress. It aims to create more competition in the credit card payment network market, which supporters argue would lead to lower interchange costs for merchants. The bill hasn’t passed, but supporters continue to push for it every year.

Why they’re ‘becoming de facto’

So for now, merchants are leaning on surcharges to defray interchange fees, when they can. Some states ban surcharging outright, while others allow it as long as merchants abide by certain rules.

For example, businesses must tell their customers — through written or verbal notices — if they impose a surcharge for credit card payments. And in general, surcharges cannot exceed the limit set by the payment network that the card runs on. (You may have encountered such language on a restaurant bill: “Non-cash adjustments are not greater than our cost of acceptance.”)

It’s a patchwork system that can be hard to follow for both customers and merchants. And on top of that, rewards credit cards are getting even more generous for consumers — and thus more expensive for businesses to accept.

“U.S. cardholders have an insatiable appetite for rewards and benefits,” says John Cabell, managing director of payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “We continue to see an upward spiral for rewards, cash back percentages [and] the number of rewards categories.”

Cabell also believes the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the surcharging trend. “Since the pandemic, additional fees and charges have become more commonplace,” he says. For instance, some restaurants that remained open during the pandemic tacked on a COVID-related surcharge to make up for the extra costs required to operate safely.

Today, restaurants may be more inclined to surcharge with the recent memory that their patrons were willing to pay extra fees before.

“Surcharging was few and far between … but now it’s becoming de facto,” Apgar says.

What are your options?

‘Do the math’

When faced with a surcharge, you could opt to pay the bill with cash, check or debit card, instead of credit. You won’t be alone. J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study found that “41% of credit card users … decided not to use a card payment method at a large or small business because of a surcharge.”

If you insist on paying with a credit card, try to use one whose rewards outweigh the surcharge. And remember, it’s not always about the percentages. To come out ahead on a restaurant tab with a 3% surcharge, a card that earns 3% cash back on dining would cover you — but so might a card that earns 2 points back per $1 at restaurants, depending on how much those points are worth. For that matter, so might a card with a large welcome bonus that you’re trying to snag.

“You have to do the math to figure out if it’s worth it based on the type of rewards and benefits you’re pursuing,” Cabell says.

Stack rewards

Use a card that earns bonus rewards on dining, then “stack” those savings with a cash-back app or card-linked offer.

Chain restaurants and local eateries alike are often featured in both.

Flag improper charges

If you suspect a restaurant is illegally surcharging, you can dispute the charge by filing a complaint with the card issuer, who will escalate it to the payment network and then the payment processor for that particular merchant.

You could also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or your state’s attorney general. To recover a surcharge, you could ask for a refund from the restaurant, or go to small claims court. However, Cabell warns that it could “take a real effort for a very small amount of money.”

Go next door

If you see a sign on the door or menu mentioning a “non-cash service fee” or a “discount for all cash purchases,” you could walk out and take your business elsewhere.

That’s cold comfort to, say, foodies who love trying out the latest trendy spots, surcharges be darned. In that case, it may help to keep in mind that rewards are only one benefit of paying with a credit card. You’ll also get stronger fraud protections, easier budget tracking and opportunities for credit-building. Depending on the card and the purchase, you may also get insurance coverage or extended warranties.

Whether it’s worth paying a surcharge for those benefits is up to you.

Jae Bratton writes for NerdWallet. Email: jbratton@nerdwallet.com.

The article Restaurant Surcharges Are Changing the Math for Credit Card Rewards originally appeared on NerdWallet.