It’s officially shopaholics season. The time where we spend our hard earned coins on holiday gifts for the ones we love. Once Thanksgiving is over people are up early Friday shopping Black Friday deals. To help you prepare for the pandemonium that is Black Friday, we are sharing our best and most helpful Black Friday tips on how to navigate and get the best deals.
Black Friday Tips
Create a List and Budget
The hype around Black Friday can literally put you in debt. It can also have you buying things that you will never use and simply don’t need. Create a list for all the things you want to get. Also, if you plan on shopping online, bookmark the sites you want to shop and add to your carts in advance the things you want to get. To avoid spending unnecessary cash, its important to make a list of all the things you want to get and set a budget. Lists help you not to stray and budgets keep your bank account in the green.
Browse Coupon Sites & Circulars
To save the most amount of money possible, make sure to checkout coupon sites like Retail Me Not, Ebates, and coupons.com. These sites give you the most recent coupons for thousands of retailers. My personal fave is Retail Me Not. You can get online and In-store coupons. Make sure you check circulars for big box and chain stores like Best Buy and Target. They almost always include their best deals in their circulars a week before Black Friday. You can also look for attractive deals displayed on the screens of the shopping stores. Several stores often use TV screens connected with looptv or similar multimedia services to advertise and promote their best offers for Black Friday.
Sign Up For Emails & Text Message Alerts
If you haven’t, go to your favorite retailers websites and sign up for emails a few days before Black Friday. Most sites offer a discount just for signing up or emails and text messaging. Also, retailers will give you an alert for their deals a day ahead when you sign up.
Check Social Media
Social media is a mecca for exclusive discounts from your favorite retailers. Make sure you’re following retailers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Check their pages daily for announcements on discounts. This is golden, especially if you’re shopping for clothes. Some designers post discount codes on their pages.
Avoid Doorbusters
In my opinion, doorbusters are a ploy to get you in the store. Most of the time, retailers only have a few of their doorbuster products. This means, you could potentially be standing online at 6 am to get that 50 inch screen tv, only to find out its sold out. Chances are, the store only had 5 of them to sell anyway, so, you never stood a chance. Basically, doorbusters are traps.
Shop Pre-Black Friday Sales
Last year, quite a few stores made their Black Friday deals available on Thanksgiving. Some stores like Macy’s will open their doors at 5pm or 6pm. It’s best to keep your eyes peeled for announcements. So, check your emails regularly.
Pay Your Bills Ahead of Time
Listen, if you don’t want to go into debt and have to file for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, then make sure you pay your rent, mortgage, gas, electric, water bill, credit card bills, in advance. This way you won’t be tempted to sacrifice your bills to get a new coat or TV. If you’re looking to get a mortgage as someone in a medical profession, you may want to consider certain options to help make this a reality – check out this doctor loan program resource and comparisons to see what you could be benefitting from as a doctor with aspirations of owning property. Also, you’ll know you’re spending money that you actually have. Just saying, save yourself the headache of an AAOA late rent document turning up at your door.
What are some of your Black Friday shopping tips?
We will also be uploading our Black Friday roundup on Wednesday morning. So, stay tuned.
