10 Tips for Black Friday Shopping

Hi, everyone! Jan's daughter Jessame here. Black Friday is my favorite holiday, so Mom asked if I would do a guest post this week to share my Black Friday shopping tips with you.

I know Black Friday shopping is intimidating to some people, but it can be a great way to find awesome deals on the gifts you've been wanting for your loved ones. In my experience, toys, movies, video games, electronics, and kitchen items in particular are often deeply discounted for Black Friday shopping. And with so many stores and online retailers trying to get in on their share of Black Friday spending, you will probably have many options to save money. Whether you're a Black Friday beginner or veteran, I hope these few tips will help you score some bargains this year! 

1. First of all, you should be aware that this year most stores will be opening their doors sometime on Thanksgiving night rather than waiting until Black Friday. If you don’t like the idea of going out shopping on Thanksgiving, you might want to keep an eye on the websites for your favorite stores. Many of them will start their sales sometime on Thanksgiving day, either at the same time as their in-store sales or even as early as 12:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. Kohls has already started their online sale. You can get on right now and get all the same things that will be available in store as long as supplies last. Amazon.com has also started their countdown to Black Friday with deals of the day and limited-time "lightening deals." Stores like Toys-R-Us, Walmart, and Best Buy have also started limited "pre-Black Friday" sales with items from their Black Friday ads and sometimes those of their competitors. In order to get the early Toys-R-Us and Best Buy deals, you do have to sign up for their free rewards programs, if you haven't already. (I make a point of signing up for every rewards program available at any store or restaurant I'm even remotely likely to patronize. I have an entirely separate email account set aside for this purpose. It's a great way to score extra deals on things you may be buying anyway!).

2. Start planning early by making your Christmas list now. Almost all of the ads—including Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, and Kohl’s—are now available online, so you can plan out your shopping in advance. I like to start out at www.bfads.net. This great website has scans of the ads for all the different stores that you can peruse in one place. It also has convenient searchable lists of all the items in the ads. If you are looking for something in particular, you can simply type a keyword into the search bar at the top and it will pull up a list of all the advertised specials on items containing that keyword, organized by category. You can also narrow your search to particular stores or categories of items. For example, if I search "Lego Movie," I can quickly find out that Best Buy will have the best deal at $3.99 for the blu-ray.

3. Keep a running list on all the best Black Friday prices you’ve seen for the gifts you’re looking for. That way, if a better deal pops up before Black Friday, you will know whether you should grab it. For example, Amazon.com often adjusts their prices based on what other retailers are doing and often marks their merchandise down earlier in the week. If you find a deal that matches or beats the ones you've found at another store, you can grab the item then and there! If you're a member of Amazon Prime, you can get free 2-day shipping on any order. If not, you could try Amazon’s free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime to help you with shipping over the holidays. For everyone else, you can get free super saver shipping on any order over $35.

4. Keep an eye on deal blogs like freebies2deals.com and coupons4utah.com for great pre-Black Friday finds you don’t have to research yourself.

5. Start watching Amazon.com’s lightening deals. Lightening deals are short-term deals that come up throughout the day. You can usually scroll through them to see what is coming up so you know if you will want to be watching. This year, Amazon Prime members will be able to access these deals 30 minutes before everyone else. Once the deal starts, you'll want to put it in your cart right away because there are only a limited number of each deal available. The movies, toys, video games, and jewelry seem to go particularly fast. Once it's in your cart, you have fifteen minutes to complete the checkout process or the deal will be passed on to someone on the waitlist. If you don't get the deal in your cart in time, you can request to be put on the waitlist. Once you're on the waitlist you will want to stay on Amazon's website and wait for a yellow box to pop up at the top of the page telling you that you have a certain amount of time to claim the deal. If you’re going the super saver shipping route, you may want to think about how you could pad your order to reach the $35 threshold if a lightening deal comes up that is less than $35, since lightening deals are time sensitive and you will need to make decisions quickly.

6. Once you've figured out where the best deal will be on what you're looking for, try searching for the item on the store's website periodically throughout the week before Black Friday. Sometimes the deal will go live on the store's website early. This happens most often during the day on Thanksgiving. You may be able to grab it from the website and not have to go to the store at all! You can also compare prices on other retailers websites, because sometimes they will offer unadvertised discounts on certain items before Black Friday, especially when another retailer has included that item in their ad. And many stores even offer free shipping if you spend a minimum amount or free in-store pick-up if you don’t. For example, Target is doing free shipping throughout the holidays this year on any purchase---no minimum purchase required!

7. Look at the paper ads when they come on Thanksgiving Day and keep an eye out for mailers from your favorite stores before Black Friday. Even though you can do most of your research online, stores will sometimes send paper coupons with their ads, and some of these may be good only for in-store purchases. Plus, the paper will include ads for local stores that may not have ads online, such as Kitchen Kneads. Kohls has already sent mailers around with $10 off a $10 purchase cards to be used in-store only on Thursday night or Friday morning (I'm not sure if these went to cardholders, rewards members, or everyone, but keep your eyes peeled!). That's like having $10 cash handed to you, so check your recycle bin to make sure you didn't throw yours away and keep watching for other types of mailers from Kohls! In past years, they have also put pull-off stickers with a $10 off $10 coupon on their newspaper ad. 

8. When you go out to the stores on Black Friday (or on Thanksgiving night), try to go with a group so you can divide and conquer! You also might want to have someone start waiting in line for you because those lines can back up quickly. 

9. If you are planning to purchase gift cards, especially for restaurants, be sure to ask about gift card specials. Many restaurants give bonus gift cards at this time of year with gift card purchases. Even if you don't give these away as gifts, you can buy them for yourself and get the bonus cards if you're going to be eating there anyway in the near future---just think of it as pre-paying for your dinner. My favorite deal is Cafe Rio---for the last several years, they have given away a free meal card for every $25 gift card purchased on Black Friday only. I like to buy enough gift cards to support my Cafe Rio habit all year long.

10. If you miss anything on your list, don't forget about Cyber Monday! Many online retailers will have deals again on Monday and most will offer free shipping!

Have fun and good luck!