25 Nov
How to Stay in the Black on Black Friday
Posted in shopping by Roger, the Amateur Financier 2 CommentsWell, it’s nearly here, the biggest shopping day of the year. Once all the fun of eating turkey, spending time with the extended family, watching football/parades/Christmas movies on TV, and falling into a food coma is over, the shopping frenzy will begin. It’s almost time for Black Friday to begin, with all the shopping, crazy-early store openings, incredible sales, and general consumer-related madness that occur.
You’ve probably heard the story that the term ‘Black Friday’ was derived from the fact that stores were finally able to turn a profit as a result of the increased spending during the holidays, which means they would switch from using red ink (deficits) in their ledgers over to black ink (profits). (Although, Wikipedia’s entry on Black Friday seems to put that story down as false, claiming that the real reason is due to police being upset with the horrible traffic on that day; not to put too fine a point on it, but I can definitely believe that.)
A Mall. Not Shown: Horrible Black Friday Crowds
If you want to keep your own finances in the black during the holiday season, be sure to follow this advice:
1) Plan your shopping carefully – Create a list of what you want to buy for everyone during your holiday shopping, and stick to it. If you have a list and don’t deviate from what’s included, you’ll limit how much you end up spending, and you’ll keep your spending in check. Assuming, of course, that you have a reasonable and well-defined list that doesn’t splurge beyond what you can afford.
2) Compare the prices – It’s tempting to assume that because some of the things in a store are on sale, that everything is on sale. But no store will knock down the cost of all its merchandise (definitely not to the point that everything is a good buy), so you’ll still have to be careful and do the proper comparison shopping in order to determine that you are getting the best possible price. If it’s not on your holiday gift list or you aren’t sure it’s the best price for the item, just leave it; there will plenty of time to pick it up later (there are plenty of sales leading up to Christmas, and even more once the holiday is over).
3) Consider shopping online – In recent years, ‘Cyber Monday’, a huge internet shopping day on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Shopping online can save you time, money, and having to fight your way through huge crowds in order to get the last Zhu Zhu Pet. As with shopping in the real world, make sure to do adequate research in order to ensure that you are getting the best deal.
4) Take your own food – If you’re planning to spend your day in the mall, you’re going to need to eat at some point. While I’m as big a fan of mall food courts as anyone, it’s going to be cheaper and probably much more nutritious to pack your own food and drinks. A simple sandwich or other meal you can leave in the car will enable you to take a break and then return to your shopping without having to pay for mall food. That way, you can stay fueled up and return to shopping as soon as possible.
5) Be safe, and be courteous – Every year, there’s some story about someone being trampled to death or otherwise horribly injured when a crowd pushes into a store for some break of dawn ‘doorbuster’ sale. Please, please, please, if you follow no other advice on this list, avoid the crazy crowds and horrible rushes during the early morning sales unless you are young, fit, and can handle plenty of jostling to get into the store. (Even then, consider whether it’s really worth it to put yourself through that sort of thing.) In the same vein, please help anyone you see who is having trouble when you go out shopping, on Black Friday or really, anytime. Keeping little old ladies from trying to carry 80′ flat-screens by themselves is surely worth a few points with Santa or anyone else who might be keeping a cosmic score.
Above all else, just be careful out there, alright?
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dadewell
on November 27 2009
My Advice is: DO NOT GO, JUST leave away from the major retailers if you cherich your life! It’s crazy for me to battle the holiday shopping crowd and fight for the best sales. The rush,traffic,even death…I’d rather stay at home, sleep late tomorrow and go to retailmenot.com or http://www.followsales.com, where could find more great deals easily. A calm, quiet Friday is enough.
Roger
on November 27 2009
That would be my view as well, dadewell; unfortunately, there are so many people who are planning to shop (and others like my fiancee who are working at a retail outlet), so I felt I should share some advice for those who are out and about on Friday.