My Personal Top 10 Black Friday Shopping Tips
Our U.S. fans have most likely experienced Black Friday Shopping before,
1. Set a budget! You know what your family's finances are, and the REASON to shop Black Friday Deals is to SAVE money, NOT break the bank!
2. Make a list and stick to it! View all ads online or at home FIRST and make a list. Do NOT deviate from your list. Not only will you save money by NOT doing impulse shopping, but you will make your individual store visits shorter. This will get you in and out and on to the next stop as fast as possible before things sell out.
3. Make a chart of the stores you will be hitting. List all stores. List the IMPORTANCE of the store by the items most needed. List the stores by the TIMES they open for the deal you need to hit. This will ensure you hit each store in the order needed with NO thought to it while in your car driving. One less stresser for you :)
4. Take ALL your ads with you!!! If you need help finding something you can show it to an associate and get it faster, and you can PRICE MATCH!!!! Ex. Best Buy has an item the cheapest but you KNOW the news teams have been airing from the Best Buy parking lot since 9am Thanksgiving Day with a line down 6 blocks. Take the Best Buy Ad to Walmart with you and Ad Match and avoid that tragedy. Or if a store runs out of something, you can price match it elsewhere so make your chances of getting the item greater. Good idea to have a Plan B.
5. Have any and all coupons needed for your purchases organized before you leave the house.
6. Only take as much cash as you can afford to spend and/or only the credit cards for the store you need to hit. This will reduce the chance of you breaking the budget set in #1.
7. Clean your car out before you leave! You do not want access items sitting in view to tempt the thieves to break into your car and ruin your day. And you want space for all the items you are purchasing. Items in boxes can be bigger and bulkier than anticipated, so have as much room made as possible ahead of time.
8. Make plans as to who is going to what store. If you have a significant other or shopping partner, plan now if you are going to tackle it together or divide and conquer. Also decide if you are taking the children or not NOW and make those arrangements NOW. I usually hit what stores I can in the middle of the night and have my teenage daughter watch the little ones while they sleep. THEN we hit the other stores together that she wants to join in for. But I get out of the way what I can in the middle of the night without kids.
9. TAKE A STROLLER with you even if you DON'T have kids with you!!! BORROW as stroller from a friend or family member if you don't have kids of your own. I went to Toys R Us 2 years ago and the line was so long there were no shopping carts available when I got there. I used my stroller as a shopping cart :) I never would have been able to carry everything, or hold it all online for the 3 hours it took me in the checkout line wrapped up and down every isle in the store.
10. Take snacks with you so your blood sugar doesn't get the best of you if the crowds don't have you bonkers enough already. Be mindful of your liquid intake as you would on a long car drive, so your 5th cup of coffee isn't having your take potty breaks every 10 minutes. Shopping carts are NOT allowed in restrooms and you will NOT want to leave your golden gifts unattended for others to scarf up while you're not looking! Also be mindful of your medical needs such as inhaler, motrin etc.
BONUS TIP: Have tissues in your purse in case the stall you get in the restroom is out of T.P., LOL! Think the mommy way :)
Have a Wonderfully Productive Black Friday Shopping Trip!
