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!

Tip of the Week: Restaurant Coupons

Hi, everyone! This is Jan's daughter Jessame. Mom asked me to do a guest post this week about restaurant coupons.

We are fortunate in Cache Valley to have an unusual number of restaurant discounts available to us. Even chain restaurants often have daily specials or distribute coupon mailers on a regular basis for specials I never see in Salt Lake. For example, one of my favorite lunchtime restaurants, Paradise Bakery, never distributes coupons in Salt Lake---they don't even have a birthday club. But in Logan, Paradise Bakery sends out mailers every month with coupons for 40% or 50% off your entire meal, plus they have a huge list of daily lunch combo specials at the restaurant. If you play your cards right, you should almost never pay full price to eat out in Cache Valley, no matter where you want to go.

With that in mind, I would like to share with you the gem of Cache Valley savings: the Cache Valley Direct Book. 

Unlike other coupon books, such as the Entertainment book, which mostly have coupons for new or less popular restaurants, Cache Valley Direct has coupons for all the places you want to go. Some of my favorites from last year included Cafe Sabor, Juniper Take-Out, Noodles & Company, Rumbi Island Grill, Cold Stone, Firehouse Pizza, Willows Miniature Golf Course, and the Utah Festival Opera. Most coupons are buy one get one free. 

Not only does Cache Valley Direct have great BOGO coupons, the front of the book always includes tear-out coupons for completely free items, such as a small cheese pizza at Dominos, a free cookie at Paradise Bakery, and a free breakfast sandwich at McDonald's.

Another perk is that you can use coupons from up to three books at the same time! So you don't have to worry about that pesky one-per-table rule. If you have a family of six and want to buy three books, or if you want to go out with friends who have their own books, you can all get a discount! We always buy three books---one for my grandparents, one for my parents, and one for Dylan and I---so when I come to town, all six of us can go out and use our coupons together.

Not only is Cache Valley Direct a great bargain, but you can support your local schools by buying one. The books cost $25, and the school gets to keep 50% of that money. Last year, both South Cache and Providence Elementary participated in the fundraiser, so if you know a child that attends one of those schools, ask them about it. Or keep an eye on Cache Valley Direct's facebook page for more information. Books for the coming year should start going on sale October 1.

The same company also puts out Dixie Direct and Idaho Direct, so if you have relatives in St. George or Idaho, or if you visit there often, you may be interested in those books as well.

Using coupons for eating out can save you tons of money. For example, a couple weeks ago when I visited Cache Valley, Mom, Dad, Dylan, and I ate breakfast at Chick-fil-a to use up our last few Cache Valley Direct coupons before they expired. Here is what we got:

2 oatmeals with fruit and nuts, 3 cinnamon clusters, 2 breakfast sandwiches, an order of hashbrowns, and 2 diet cokes (I confess, I love diet coke for breakfast).

Here is what we spent:

Yes, that does say that our total was $3.34. And we got $22.98 worth of food. How did we do it?

We used the free oatmeal and free cinnamon cluster coupons from our Cache Valley Direct books, another Cache Valley Direct coupon that gave us a free breakfast entree when we bought a hashbrown and a drink, and the September free breakfast sandwich and drink from my mom's Chick-fil-a cow calendar.

Oh, hadn't I mentioned the cow calendar yet?

Chick-fil-a does a great promotion every year at Christmastime where you buy their cute cow calendar for $6 and it comes with at least one free item for every month of the year. This year, $6 got Mom

January - Medium bowl of soup

February - Large waffle potato fries

March - Fan favorite classic entree

April - Large drink

May - Entree salad

June - Grilled chicken sandwich and large drink

July - Small handspun milkshake

August - Large drink

September - Breakfast entree and a large drink

October - Large drink

November - Mystery offer

December - Spicy chicken sandwich

Plus she got a humorous cow calendar featuring pictures of the cow family on vacation.

These calendars come out every year a few weeks before Christmas and can be purchased at Chick-fil-a. They could even make a fun and different Christmas gift.

Hopefully this will provide some inspiration to start you on the road to serious savings and enable you to recreationally eat to your heart's content (right Grandpa?)  And if not, at least you got to see some funny cow pictures.

*I just learned that all Utah Chick-fil-a restaurants will be giving away free breakfast every Wednesday this month from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.! Today was a free 3-count chicken minis. Next week will be a free bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. All you have to do is go into the store or through the drive thru and tell them you want the free breakfast item. No purchase necessary! One per person, and you have to be present to get one. All the info is on their facebook event page.

Tip of the Week: Eating Out*

My tip this week has to do with eating out. Everyone knows it costs more to eat out than to make the same meal at home, but let’s face it, at least a portion of our overall food bill is taken up with meals purchased away from home—on vacation, while in town doing errands, or just for what my dad likes to call, “Recreational Eating.” But there are ways to have the occasional luxury of eating out without overspending. 

My rule is, try to never pay more than half price. You can accomplish this through centering your choices around coupons, limited time specials, buy one-get-one deals, etc. Sign every member of the family up for the memberships that almost every food establishment offers. These usually give a free meal on your birthday, plus other deals sent to your email.  And don’t forget to collect and use punch cards that almost all the casual dining places offer—10 punches at Café Rio and you get a free meal; same with Pier 49 Pizza. Paradise Bakery and Kneaders has a point system where you show your card each time you visit for free food later. 

And then there are the coupon books. I always wait to buy my Entertainment books about this time of year when they are a fraction of the original cost. Yesterday I ordered two books (regularly $35.00) at $9.99 for the first book with $5.99 for each additional, which means my two books each cost $7.99. I will pay that back easily with the first coupons or two I use from each book! In addition, I’ll have my daughters go through the books and take what they will use in the SLC and Provo areas, and between us all it adds up to a lot of savings on places we would go anyway. Not only that, when you buy a book it allows you to print additional coupons for not just Utah, but other states you may be planning to visit. 

*Originally distributed June 2014

Tip of the Week: Kohl's*

I just want to encourage everyone not to pass up the Kohl’s coupons that show up regularly in the mail.  Kohl’s is the only store I know that lets you stack coupons, resulting in (if you stick to the clearance items that is) some really unbelievable savings!  This week I arrived at Kohl’s with 4 different coupons that came in the mail representing various offers, spent exactly $36.55, and saved $315.70.  In other words, I bought 10 different Christmas/Birthday/Wedding gifts originally worth a total of $352.25 for just $36.55.  That’s pretty much a 90 percent savings overall.

What does this have to do with grocery shopping, you might ask?  More savings on gifts, clothing, and household items, more money to spend on other necessities—such as food!  Savings are savings, and there’s nothing like scoring quality items for a fraction of their original price.  You have to be selective with your purchases and make sure you really want and need the things you choose.  But in the end it feels great not to overspend and still get nice things.

*Originally distributed May 2014

Tip of the Week: Free and Better-Than-Free Grocery Deals*

For my tip this week, I wanted to encourage everyone to take advantage of store offers and coupons which not only help you save lots of money, but sometimes even pay you to take groceries home for free.  Case in point:  Last Saturday I went to Smith’s  with four $1.00 off cereal coupons I had printed off the Kellogg’s website.  As you know, last week Smith’s had a deal where for every three boxes of cereal you bought, you got a free gallon of milk.  In addition, Kelloggs was offering a promotion where the cash register prints out a $3.00 refund for every 4 boxes of cereal you purchase.  So I picked out my four boxes of cereal (which were already on sale for $1.67 a box), then I got $1.00 off each box with my coupons, which made them $.67 a box.  Then I got my free gallon of milk.  To top it off, the cash register printed me off a $3.00 check to use towards anything on my next shopping trip (which I turned around and used right then to buy cabbage and carrots for my St. Patrick’s Day dinner).  So to sum things up, I got 4 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal and a gallon of milk for free, plus Smith’s paid me 32 cents just to take it all away.

*Originally distributed March 2014

Tip of the Week: Digital Coupons*

Smith's and other Kroger-affiliated grocery stores have a system that allows you to download coupons directly to your rewards card for redemption in the store. Follow these simple steps to start downloading coupons now:

1. Create an online account.

2. Under account settings, register your Smith's rewards card so it is linked to your online account. (If you don't have a Smith's rewards card, ask about getting one next time you're in the store. Most of the ad prices are available only to those with a rewards card).

3. Click on the "Coupons" tab at the top of the webpage and start loading your coupons.

4. When you go to the store, you may want to print out your list of coupons or pull it up on your smartphone so you can make sure you pick up the right item. If the coupon requires you to buy a certain sized bottle of laundry detergent, for example, it will not work if you buy a small sized bottle.

*Originally distributed November 2013

Tip of the Week: Saving with Coupons*

If you're not already using coupons for grocery shopping, you should start now! Even though some coupons may not seem to save you much, they really add up, especially when you use them in combination with other sales. Sometimes you can even get things completely free when you combine sales and coupons. Plus, there are a number of convenient ways to get coupons other than clipping coupons from the paper. You can print coupons from the internet or even load them directly to your grocery rewards card.

Coupons.com is a great source for printable coupons. Some coupons are available practically monthly while others may appear only for a short time. Since you don't know how long the coupons will be there or when they might appear again, it's a good idea to skim through the coupons every so often to see if there are any you want to print. You may have to download a coupon printer program in order to print these coupons---if so, the website will provide prompts to help you get the printer set up. Smartsource.com and Redplum.com also have printable coupons, but generally not as many as coupons.com.

Product websites and Facebook product pages can also be a good source for coupons. Some of these sites require you to register with them in order to print coupons. Such registration is generally free, though you may have to agree to receive emails from them.

Smith's allows you to load coupons directly to your rewards card from the Smith's website. They even offer "Free Friday Downloads" almost every Friday with coupons for completely free items (past items have included a bottle of shampoo, a Betty Crocker cookie mix, a box of hamburger helper, and a bag of Tostitos tortilla chips to name a few). All you have to do is load the coupon sometime during the day on Friday and then you have two weeks to redeem it. Check out these instructions on loading coupons to your Smith's card.

If it seems overwhelming to you to keep up with all of this information on your own, you should consider following a shopping blog or two. Blogs such as www.coupons4utah.com, and www.freebies2deals.com will point out high-value coupons, Facebook offers, grocery ad match-ups, and other awesome deals. If you make a habit of skimming through the new posts on these blogs every day or two, you can find some really neat deals that you might have missed otherwise.

*Originally distributed November 2013