1. Scour the ads ahead of time. Stores put out their Black Friday sale ads in the Thursday paper. If you’re really ambitious, check out sites like bfads.net, or the black Friday section of slickdeals.net.
2. Know what you want and of what importance it is. Are you more concerned with the TV at Best Buy or the laptop at Circuit City? Make a plan and hit the store with your most wanted item first.
3. Split up. If you can recruit your husband, your mother or your friend to go with you, decide on which stores you will hit and cut the list in half. You’re more likely to get everything you want if you can cover more than one store simultaneously, or at least have a placeholder in line.
4. Show up early. Surely the tryptophan has kicked in by now, but if you want any chance of getting a hold of big ticket items, you’re going to have to grab some Starbucks and settle in for the long haul. Most of the people out there on Black Friday are experts who have been doing it for years. They ARE willing to sit out all night if it means getting a 42 inch LCD for $800.
5. Save your rebate forms. A lot of the great deals out there require mail-in rebates, or MIR. Stores like Best Buy and Circuit City will print the forms out with your receipt. If you throw them away, you might just be out of luck. Circuit City does employ an online rebate website, so that makes things a little easier. If you forget this, you very well may end up paying more for the item than you would on a normal sales day.
6. Save your receipts (but not in your bag). It’s good practice at any time but especially around the holidays. When the cashier asks you if you want the receipt in the bag, say “No thanks, I’ll take it.” Then put it somewhere safe in your purse. If you leave the receipt in the bag with the items, you increase the chance of someone picking up the bag when you aren’t looking to claim those items as their own.
7. Be nice to the store workers, servers and others who are there to help you. They most likely are not enjoying this, and they will have their fair share of Scrooges. An extra smile and a “Thank you!” might be what gets them through the day.
8. Take advantage of online deals. If you can’t bear the thought of fighting the crazies the day after thanksgiving, try your hand at online shopping. Not all deals will be available online-door busters are usually limited to brick and mortar stores-but most stores offer some of their in-store deals online, as well as many online-only offers. There’s also Cyber Monday, the first Monday after thanksgiving that has become known for great online deals.
9. Enjoy yourself! It’s easy to focus solely on saving the most money, but Black Friday can be a lot of fun. It’s a great opportunity to grab some coffee and a bagel and people watch. That way you’ll know there are crazier people out there than you.
KK812 & Cali*Girl
