Black Friday Shopping? Here are Some Tips

One thing many people look forward to each year is shopping the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re looking for Black Friday shopping tips, you’ve come to the right place. With a little planning you can have a successful day of shopping.

Here are some things you can do to prepare for your shopping trip:

* Think about the people you have to buy gifts for. Look through the ads and decide which gifts you’d like to purchase for each one.

* Make a list of items you want to buy from each store and mark the sales paper.

* Plan which stores you’ll go to first. You obviously won’t be able to get to each store as it opens since many will open at the same time. Be sure you get to the store with the most items on sale that you want.

* Set a budget and stick to it. Once you know which sales you want to go to first and what you want to purchase, decide which things are within your budget. The sales during Black Friday may be great, but you don’t want to be paying for that new TV until next Christmas or longer.

* After your Thanksgiving meal, get a head start by going online to see if websites have the same items available as in the stores. You may even be able to find some sales not available in physical stores. Purchasing sales items from a website will also enable you to get the items you want from the comfort of your own home, without having to drive through traffic or dealing with sales-crazed shoppers.

* Compare prices for products on sale. You may be able to find some unadvertised sales not too far from the boxes of new stereos, televisions or game systems. In fact, after you’ve found the items you can from your list, you might want to look around to see what other sales are available.

Depending upon what type of cell phone and service you have, you may be able to compare prices in different stores to see if one store has the same or similar item for a better price. You might as well save as much money as you can and avoid some running around.

Here are some things you can do on the day:

* Be sure to take along the sales papers from each store you plan to go to. Some stores will match their competitor’s sales prices, but you won’t get the price if the store isn’t aware of the other store’s price. Of course, not all stores will match prices, but it’s worth a try.

* Protect yourself while you’re out and about. Take only your driver’s license and the debit or credit cards you know you’ll use. You may also want to carry cash if you don’t use plastic and carry it in a pocket rather than a purse. Cover the panel when inputting your PIN and put the cards away as soon as you’re done.

* Pay attention to or ask about a store’s return policy on Black Friday sale items. You’ll also want to be sure to get a receipt for every item you buy. You definitely won’t be able to return an item without a receipt.

These Black Friday shopping tips may help you be more successful than if you don’t have a plan at all. Remember to be careful both in the store and in traffic. If you can, share the day with a friend or family to make the day more enjoyable.