Will Black Friday make or break your budget this year? When you stick to a budget and a well thought out plan, Black Friday can be a great time to save money. When you hit the stores without a budget or plan, Black Friday can be a financial disaster. Which will it be for you?
Black Friday shopping– people either love it or hate it
There are the folks who will camp out in front of Best Buy hoping to get a great deal on the latest electronic gadget. I’m sure part of it is the thrill of the chase. Sometimes it’s fun to do something a little crazy.
There are others would much rather enjoy the day sleeping in and relaxing with family rather than fighting the crowds to get the best deals on everything under the sun.
Growing up, I don’t think I even knew that Black Friday existed. My family just enjoyed a day off of school and work on the day after Thanksgiving . When I was away from home for college, I often spent Thanksgiving with relatives (we didn’t live within 2,000 miles of any relatives when I was growing up). I learned from my extended family the thrill of Black Friday shopping. One year I even went Black Friday shopping with my grandma!
With online shopping, you can have the best of both worlds! You can get great deals, but still stay home in your pajamas with your family. Originally the idea was to hit up the brick and mortar businesses on Friday and the “cyber” sales on Monday, but now the whole weekend turns into an online shopping deal-fest.
I’m kind of in the middle. I don’t love or hate black Friday. Some years I have taken advantage of great deals, other years I don’t shop at all. We are hoping to pick up a few things online, but you won’t find us out at the stores this year.
Here are some tips to help you save money and not overspend on Black Friday:
Make a plan
A plan isn’t just a list of people to shop for. A successful plan will include specific items you hope to buy, the store you hope to buy them at and the price you will pay. With all the ads and Black Friday search tools available, you have most of the resources you’ll need to make most purchase decisions before you shop.
Set limits
Setting limits with the big ticket items isn’t usually a problem, but the smaller items can easily get out of control. How many yards of $1 flannel are you actually going to use? Decide before you walk in the store, not in the heat of the moment.
Follow your list, not the crowd.
Just because you see someone with 37 fabulous $5 toasters in her cart doesn’t mean that you should hoard toasters too. Don’t just grab something because you see they’re going like hotcakes. If it wasn’t important enough to make your list, you probably don’t need it.
Stick to your budget
It doesn’t matter how “good” the deal is, if you don’t have to money for it, then it’s not a deal for you. Suffering buyer’s remorse afterward always lasts longer that the thrill of the deal. If you use YNAB to budget, you can use the mobile app to easily see the money you have available in different categories.
Shop smart
Take a look at my strategy for getting the best deals on everything and getting the best bang for your gift card bucks. Both of these articles have lots of practical tips to help you save money and get a great deal. If you’re shopping online, don’t forget to go through ebates or another cash back site. You can do this any time before you actually pay. Items will stay in your cart if you just open a new tab/window, go to ebates, then checkout through that tab/window.
How About You?
- Are you a Black Friday shopper?
- Do you go to the store or shop online?
- Have you made a Black Friday budget?
- What’s on your list this year?
This was my 2nd Black Friday shopping, but my first with my mom, niece and sister. We all made a pretty good team! We decided to only go to 3 stores Bealls at 4pm, JCPenny at 5pm and Target at 6pm. Because we had a plan and knew what we wanted, we ended up saving money and time…and we were also one of the first ones at the doors to each store so we scored extra savings (Like a $10 coupon off $10 at JCPenny and I was able to grab 3 $3.99 pillows for just $2!! I think we might do it again next year! =)
After being in crazy retail for over 20 years (now we are ranchers,) I make it a point to get normal errands run on the Monday prior and then not leave the ranch for a week afterwards. Its a great time to eat out of the fridge,freezer and pantry.
Love the new layout, Stephanie! I’m not against Black Friday shopping at all, but it’s just not for me. Normally, by doing my Christmas shopping ALL YEAR LONG, I can save WAY MORE than I ever could on the Black Friday weekend. This means stress-free shopping and no big crowds. I am always done (and sometimes even wrapped!) with my shopping well before Thanksgiving rolls around, so I can just enjoy the next month or so, while most others are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, acting like it’s a huge SHOCK that Christmas is on Dec 25th. Of course since most of those people are my close friends and family, I help them as much as I can by watching their kids or helping wrap gifts for them. So for my personality, Black Friday is WAY too stressful and not fun at all, so I’ve never done it. But I know a lot of people enjoy it, and I’m happy for them!
I need to get my list together for all of our gifts we’ll need for Christmas. I think I’ll look at the flyers and buy online if possible. We definitely have a Christmas budget and Black Friday will be a part of that.
I only shop online, since I’m out of the country. I usually buy most of our clothes for the year during Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I do have a budget and I’m usually pretty good about sticking to it and having a good list of what we need to buy.
I think some of the people who do the crazy black Friday thing is the hope that they will be the one interviewed by the television news crew for the 6 o’clock evening news. 15 minutes of fame, and all that. Ok, I’m sure some people get great deals and if they have the day off anyway, why not? I never go out on that day. Too many crazies. (Wow, I don’t seem to have a great opinion of my fellow humans, do I?) Online shopping is a life saver for me. Thank you Al Gore for that internet thing you invented. 😉
Great tips Stephanie! We will be shopping online from the comfort of our home snacking on turkey left-overs. We are not purchasing gifts this year. However, we do have a Black Friday budget. We like to pick up movies at rock bottom prices! We have a $10 gift card + $100 budget this year.
I don’t have a Black Friday budget. I try to finish my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, that way I’m not tempted to overspend. This year I have two gifts left that I will buy online – I’m hoping there is some free shipping on Black Friday, but that is all that I will spend. Its just too tempting and I can’t resist overspending if I go to the stores…