The thrill of staying up all night shopping with your friends, drinking massive amounts of coffee and getting hyped up on adrenaline to find that deal of the century is often what Black Friday shopping is all about. Many shoppers skip their Thanksgiving dinners to wait in line for days to get an inexpensive TV at Best Buy and some shop online. But what is the best way?
There are many conventional ways to shop on Black Friday, including standing in line and waiting for the store to open. But there are also many unconventional ways that can get you the same (and often better) deals, but some of them are off the beaten path of your traditional Black Friday savings ideas.
Here is your complete guide to unconventional Black Friday shopping. There are no lines to wait in and no one to push around so you can get the item you want, just massive savings and a belly full of Thanksgiving turkey!
Look at leaked Black Friday ads: Take time to look through the Black Friday ads as they come out. Many of these store ads are leaked throughout the month of November on websites such as bfads.net or BlackFriday.com. The conventional way to get your ads is to get your Thanksgiving Day newspaper, but now you can get it all online early.
Be prepared with gift cards before the big day. My grocery store has double gas points on gift cards right before Black Friday. After I’ve seen the ads, and know what big ticket items I am going to purchase, I will go and buy the gift cards at my grocery store. For every $100 I purchase, I get 20 cents off a gallon of gas. That is a big savings for doing basically nothing. The conventional way is to pay with your debit/credit card, the unconventional way is to save even more money by purchasing gift cards that can help you save in other areas.
Shop online through Swagbucks.com to layer-on triple cash-back. Most Black Friday sales are also online. You can layer additional savings by using Swagbucks.com to get cash back. Here’s how: After you have an idea of what items you are buying and you’ve purchased your gift cards, go to Swagbucks.com and search for the store where you want to buy it. When you shop through Swagbucks on November 27 (Black Friday), you will get triple cash back.
The conventional way to shop on Black Friday is to head to a store and pay for your item, but you are missing out on huge savings if you do this Why not get cash back into your wallet by using Swagbucks?
Shop in pairs in the store. Don’t shop alone. Split up instead! Latisha Styles from YoungFinances.com suggests that you go with a buddy that loves to shop, or stay home and let them do the shopping. “If you know someone that just loves to be out in the crowd and has an eye for a deal, partner up with them. Give them a few items from your list and stay by the phone. When they call, verify that is the item you want and pay them back afterwards,” she suggests. If you prefer to shop in the store, then split up and go after the two items on top of your lists. Then have one person watch the items in a cart, while the other runs around to grab the other items on your lists.
Keep an eye on in stock and price trackers. There are websites that help you track prices, as well as when items go in and out of stock. One tracker that I love is at camelcamelcamel.com, this website tracks Amazon prices and the items sales history. You can also search at zoolert.com. Zoolert tells you what is in stock and where. It also has the ability to send you text message alerts when items are back in stock and price comparisons across all stores. This is a great way to stay on track of those hard to find items.
Don’t skip the drugstores. CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid have some of the absolute best Black Friday sales. Almost every one of them offers iTunes gift card deals and well as other gift card deals. There are so many freebies that you can score on Black Friday at the drugstores. Rebecca Stapler from StaplerConfessions.com recommends picking up not only gift cards at drugstores on Black Friday, but also purchasing toiletries, wrapping paper, stocking stuffers and packing materials.
Stay home. Holly Johnson from TheSimpleDollar.com says the best way to save money on Black Friday is to stay home. “Avoid the crowds and eat some Thanksgiving leftovers instead. Saving $20 on a flat screen TV isn’t worth getting into a shoving match with strangers or spending hours in line. Remember, your time is valuable too,” she says. What is your time worth? It is worth skipping your Thanksgiving Dinner and family time, to save $100? To some it may be, but to others it may be a waste of time.
The conventional way to shop on Black Friday is to stay up all night, face the crowds and miss your family. Why not be unconventional this year, save more money and have a Black Friday to remember with family and friends?
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The Unconventional Guide to Black Friday Shopping originally appeared on usnews.com
