With the final warm weeks of the summer leaving comes the swift arrival of fall and the fall shopping season. While we are all about prepping your Thanksgiving meal the weekend in advance, if you are also planning to get the most out of your next Black Friday shopping experience it would be wise to cut the turkey even earlier on that. We’ve curated some of the best Black Friday tips for you here so you can be 100% ready when those doorbuster doors finally unlock for the day.
Tip 1: List the stores that interest you most and keep an eye on their ads.
Maybe you want to hit up Best Buy for that tablet your son keeps talking about or maybe you’re eyeing Wal-Mart with other Black Friday hopefuls to snatch a doorbuster deal. Whatever the case, make sure you check the ads for your chosen stores way in advance so you know which store will have the item at the lowest price before you start shopping. When you do this, you’re also more than prepared to prioritize and plan out an efficient route of stores for the day. Price-checking also comes in handy for those online deals too – so if you can avoid the stampede of shoppers at 6 A.M. by shopping online, do so.
Tip 2: Be wary of the deals that come out earlier than Friday.
It’s no secret that Black Friday has turned into a weekend-long (or week-long) fiasco. Items you might be keeping your eye on can be knocked down earlier in the week, so watch those ads and when you’re walking around in the store, so you can be sure to snag the best deal. If you’re comfortable enough with the price earlier in the week, snag the item before it’s gone.
Black Friday ad databases like the one on PennyPinchinMom’s blog or the popular BFAds keep massive lists of the ads and deals coming out for Black Friday. (BFAds has already begun updating their lists!) So, use these online resources to your planning advantage.
Tip 3: Pick your shopping buddies wisely.
We recommend Black Friday shopping with a buddy, but you’ll want to pick the ones that can efficiently keep up. That means, it might be best to leave the young ones at home (no matter how much they protest). You just might save yourself a frantic search for them later.
Divide up the store in your pre-planning phase so that you and your shopping crew can split up and snag all the deals you intended to in one go. It helps if you all collaborate on your main stores choices and if you plan to get in early and stay out late – as deals often shift throughout the day.
Tip 4: Make a budget (and yes, stick to it).
Out of all the Black Friday tips, this is the most well-known one – and for good reason. Unless you have extra to burn or a generous sponsor, be wary of the amount you are able to spend in your adventures. Whether it’s using a credit card with a set limit or going all cash to physically see how much you have left, make sure you aren’t spending more than you can pay or pay back for the month. Start out with this Black Friday Budget Battle Plan from ThriftyLittleMom’s blogsite to organize everything early.
Check with your credit card companies too, as some of them offer different protections or coverages that could be used to your advantage if you need to extend the window-of-return for an item or purchase a warranty.
Tip 5: Be wise and check the fine print.
On the day of Black Friday, don’t be caught off guard when retailers won’t price-match between stores. More often than not, policies will be listed in the fine print of Black Friday information pages and it could throw a wrench in your plans to not read up on them beforehand. As with doorbusters, make sure you are aware of the item limit that comes with blowout deals. It might be 1 item for the first 500 customers only, so you’ll have to plan to get to those deals first unless you want to risk not being able snag it.
Return polices and windows might vary around the holidays as well, so either be absolutely sure of your purchases or check the return policies of the stores you are purchasing the item from. To make things easier, grab a gift receipt for items you are gifting out to others – just in case.
Bonus tip: Have fun and charge your phone!
Black Friday will only be as enjoyable as you make it, so go out with a good attitude, your elbows in, and your phones fully charged. Best of luck and happy deal-hunting season!