To get the most out of shopping on Black Friday, you can’t just jump into it. You need to think ahead and come up with your game plan. If you love the shopping experience on that day, these helpful 10 tips and strategies for Black Friday are for you.
First, lest quickly describe what is Black Friday and how it came to be.
Black Friday is the casual name of the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. On this day, many stores open extremely early and offer their best prices for the whole year. Because of that and the many shoppers who come out on this day, there are always increased amount of accidents and some situations even turn violent. The police came with the name “Black Friday” to describe the mayhem caused by the amount of people who shop on that day.
Did you already know that about Black Friday?
Hopefully you learned something new and are ready to create your game plan and enjoy the once in a year experience! And to help you out, we decided to share our top 10 tips and strategies for Black Friday shoppers.
As it is for us, Black Friday is a highly anticipated day for many people who love to shop. Some even use it for their Christmas list in an effort to save big. We all know that many stores offer some of their best prices on this day. People tell stories of lining up for hours to get in as soon as the doors are open. The experience is unique but often comes with lots of frustration if you don’t plan in advance.
Don’t let that happen to you!
By simply using all or some of the tips and strategies for Black Friday shopping below, we hope to help you get a more enjoyable experience while also getting everything you wanted on that day.
Before we dive in, and probably the most valuable advise we could share today is how to make some extra money and ease your burden for the season. While we are all getting the best prices and huge savings on Black Friday, imagine what it could be if you made some additional cash and used it specifically for this day! And you could do it all while using your smartphone or tablet, with little to no effort, in your spare time.
Don’t believe me?
Read our 31 Best Money Making Apps To Start Earning Money Today. We use these methods for various purchases throughout the year. Best of all, it helps us accumulate enough additional cash so we never worry about our holiday shopping.
Now, lets dive into Black Friday shopping and how you can do to make it successful.
Table of Contents
Here Are Our 10 Tips and Strategies for Black Friday Shoppers
1. Study the ads.
This is not a day to simply show up at your favorite stores. Go through all the Black Friday ads ahead of time to determine where to find the stuff you want. Note what time stores will open and close. Sometimes stores offer deals starting at a certain time, so make sure to see if there are any of these late shopping bargains being offered.
If you can, find out which deals are available only as supplies last and which will be honored with a rain check. This will help you know where to start shopping.
Lastly, don’t skip the ads for stores where you don’t regularly shop. Those stores might have the best deals!
2. Research the regular price.
Not all Black Friday deals are really that great. Knowing the regular price of the items you are shopping for will help you recognize a real bargain versus advertising hype.
Go through your shopping list and write down the regular price for each thing on it. Then use that as a comparison when you have the ads.
Making a list of items you want to get and with their regular and discounted prices takes no time at all and will be a huge help on the day. Use software like Excel or Google Sheets to make this task even easier.
3. Write down your plan.
Planning is everything when it comes to making sure that you get the most out of your Black Friday shopping. Yes, it takes a bit of effort on your end but trust me, the rewards could be huge.
Put your plan in writing.
Start with a wish list of specific gifts you’d like to buy. Determine which stores you definitely want to hit, and rank those in order of importance. Then look at your notes to see what time the stores open to decide where you want to be at what time.
4. Enlist a partner.
While many shoppers prefer to enjoy the Black Friday experience with friends and family, it helps to split up if you are hoping to score serious savings. You can’t be two places at once, so team up with someone else when two stores are opening at the same time.
Then you can take advantage of specific deals for each other. Make plans to meet up later for a meal and work out the money details.
This makes for another great and relaxing evening with friends and family after a long day of shopping. And if you went a bit over board the night before, use this time to enjoy a more healthy options.
5. Buy discounted gift cards.
Did you know that there are online stores where you can purchase gift cards at a discount? Raise is one of our favourite websites to do so. Save some money in advance by ordering discounted gift cards for stores you are planning to hit on Black Friday. This brings even more savings and makes you feel like a pro.
Don’t forget a gift card for lunch while you’re at it.
Want to know how you can earn gift cards with little to no effort? Check out our 18 Innovative Ways to Get Free Gift Cards (Apple, Amazon, Visa & More) article.
Gift cards helps us feel that we are not actually spending all our money and we pretty much demand it when it comes to receiving gifts. If you are like us, definitely check out the article linked above.
6. Bring cash.
It’s far too easy to blow your budget when you bring credit cards on a Black Friday shopping spree.
Save yourself from overspending by bringing cash. Once the cash is gone, you’re done shopping. This means creating a budget based on what you’re planning to buy. If you know you have gifts to purchase but don’t know specifically what to get, try creating a budget for each person on your list.
If you don’t trust yourself with this one, and as painful as it can be, leave all your credit cards at home. I know, I know, they are so convenient and you can buy everything you want. But thats also where the problem lies! If you go over your budget and load up your credit cards, you will then spend significant amount of time paying down the balance.
And guess what? The savings you got for Black Friday will go right back into paying the interest on your cards.
Both me and my wife consider ourselves “impulse shoppers”. this is why we plan, budget and only bring cash on Black Friday. It’s not easy, but extremely helpful when it comes to managing our money.
7. Keep your receipts.
It makes sense to save and organize your receipts for several different reasons. If the store doesn’t offer a gift receipt, your gift recipient may need the original receipt to exchange or return the gift.
Also, many Black Friday bargains come in the form of rebates. You’re going to need your receipt to take advantage of that. Keeping track of your receipts will also make it easy to see how much you’ve spent on each person so far, so you don’t buy more than you intended.
Lastly, did you know that there are some apps and websites out there, that will let you scan your receipts and give you an even bigger discount or get your some points that you cab than exchange for cash or gift cards?
Yes, they exist and we use them all the time!
You can learn more about those apps and websites here: 18 Innovative Ways to Get Free Gift Cards (Apple, Amazon, Visa & More)
8. Bring shopping bags.
This is not very intuitive but bear with me.
The only reason to use a shopping cart on Black Friday is if you need it for an oversized or heavy item. Otherwise, it will only be in your way and slow you down. And with the amount of people in the stores on Black Friday, you know how bad that could be.
Instead, bring several reusable shopping bags to hold your purchases on your way to the checkout line. Not only, you’ll be faster but in a way you’ll be helping the environment by not using the plastic bags that most stores provide.
It’s a win-win for you and mother nature!
9. Avoid dressing like staff.
This one is a bit unusual but have you had this happen to you? You wear a red shirt while also shopping in Target. Next thing, people are asking you how much something cost or where they can find a particular item.
If you have not experienced this, I command you. Unfortunately, I’ve made that mistake a few times and have learned my lesson.
You are probably going to encounter many shoppers looking for help from store employees. Unless you don’t mind helping people find what they want, wear something that is not the same color as store staff wears. However, this will only slow you down and might miss the deal you’ve been waiting for a whole year.
As silly as it may sound, don’t dress up in the same colors as the store employees.
10. Have a good attitude.
Putting aside the polarization in our society these days, the term “Black Friday” was used to describe the mayhem created by all people who come out to shop on that day. This is why, it is important for everyone to approach this experience with a certain level of patience and kindness.
Crowds of people hoping to grab a limited number of deals can easily lead to a stressful environment. Go into this experience with a positive attitude and a spirit of kindness, or you are likely to have a terrible day.
There are many things that divide us these days and we should not let “Black Friday” be another one. If you don’t think you can handle hoards of pushy people, you might want to just stay home and shop online. There are some years that we did exactly that and still got our shopping list complete.
Remember, there is always “Cyber Monday”!
Do You Haver Your Own Tips and Strategies for Black Friday?
You can have a productive and enjoyable time shopping on Black Friday, but you definitely want to go with a game plan. We hope these 10 tips and strategies for Black Friday will help you get the most out of the biggest shopping day of the year.
Do you have your own tips or hacks for Black Friday that you think we should include? We would love to hear from you and grow this article for the benefit of all our readers.
Please use the comment box below and we would be happy to include any new interesting tips or strategies for Black Friday that you share with the community. Lets help each other out and have the best time of the year while also saving some money.
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Till the next opportunity!