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Are you Ready for Black Friday?
I’m not sure how this happened but next week is Thanksgiving already! And that means that next Friday is Black Friday, that frenzied day of shopping craziness throughout the US. Black Friday is usually a day that you can find some great prices on some items. It is almost certainly a day that you can find a bunch of stress navigating the parking lots and stores along with a seemingly endless sea of people. If you are planning on heading out for some pre-dawn shopping next Friday, here are some tips that will hopefully allow you to make it a successful morning.
- Define success – Black Friday is not a great day to go out browsing. First, it will be a mess and there are better times to be strolling through the stores. Secondly, if you don’t have a plan in mind and get caught up in the excitement of the sales (”Look how much money I saved!”), then you might end up spending way too much money. So, what would a successful shopping trip look like for you? I would guess that for most people, success would be buying certain items that you know you want to buy and getting a good price on them. Blowing your budget by getting caught up “saving” money is typically not a success.
- Do the research – To help you define success and make a plan, start where all good planners start – by doing the research. The ads will be coming out around Thanksgiving, so that doesn’t give you much time at that point. You can get a head start by checking out various Black Friday preview sites such as GottaDeal’s Black Friday site (do a search for them, you’ll find a bunch). Most of the ads are posted there already, so you can get started now and see if the items you want are going to be on sale somewhere.
- Make a list – Just to reiterate the importance of being prudent, the next step is to make a list. Figure out what you want and write it down on a list. It seems pretty simple (and it is) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a powerful tool. In fact, couple it with the next step and you’ll be in good shape…
- Stick to the List – Ahh, another simple step that will help lead you to a successful morning. You’ve done your research, decided what you want to buy and how much it will cost, made a budget for how much you will spend, ensured that this much spending will not be detrimental to your financial well-being in the coming year, and you’re ready to head out. If you get out there and start “saving” money by purchasing things not on your list, you will soon see the folly of spending money to save money (well, if you use a credit card, you won’t see that folly until later when you get your bill, but it’s still bad). Remember that it will be exciting with the crowds and all the hoopla that morning and you will probably see items that look like really good deals. But are they good deals? You don’t know because you didn’t research them and if they’re not on your list you did not budget for them, so STICK TO THE LIST!
- Check out on-line deals – It might not be necessary to wait until Black Friday and brave the crowds to find what you want at a good price. More and more stores are offering similar deals on-line nowadays. The preview sites (GottaDeal does, at least) will typically show you which items are available on-line. When I purchased a new camera during BF one year, I did it on-line instead of in the store – sure you don’t get the “experience” of standing in line in the dark with a few hundred of your closest friends, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice.
- Consider that some items will be on-sale longer than just a few hours before dawn Friday morning – Of course most of the really good sales are the “early bird” specials found in-store at the crack of dawn (or earlier). But a bunch of stores will have sales throughout Thursday and some even throughout the weekend. If the item you desire is not a super coveted one, you may be able to sleep in, make your way to the store after the initial crush, and still score a great deal on it. For instance, usually Costco’s sale prices are good throughout the entire weekend (not sure about this year…remember to do your research!). Similarly, some items you want may be on sale right now (we bought a vacuum cleaner on-sale last year the week before Thanksgiving). There’s no rule that says you have to shop on Black Friday to get good deals – you don’t care about what day you shop, you just want a good price on the items on your list. And speaking of your list…
- Stick to the List – Did I mention this one already? Well, it’s just that important. Black Friday is a good day to get some great deals, but it’s not an excuse to get caught up and completely overspend. You’re not doing yourself any favors if you end up paying 18% interest on your purchases for months after Christmas has passed by. So, be prepared and be diligent.
One final thought to remember is that Black Friday is not some magical time where everything you desire is 90% off. There may not be any items that you want on significant sales. So, don’t worry about and certainly don’t buy something just because you feel like you need to buy something on BF. There will be other sales and other opportunities to get the items you are looking to purchase.
If you’re venturing out on Black Friday be safe, be courteous, and good luck.
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The black from Black friday actually means profit for the retailers as explained in dave ramsey’s blog:
http://doyoudaveramsey.com/black-friday/
The thought of me going “red” was enough to keep from all the black friday madness.