Thanksgiving is this Thursday, which we all know is followed immediately by “Black Friday.” Often regarded as the kick off to the Christmas shopping season, Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year.  Recently retailers have been opening  their stores earlier each year (in some cases controversially bleeding into Thanksgiving Day) and offering deep discounts on products. This year, a lot of malls and stores have pushed their hours back to actually start on Black Friday instead of Thanksgiving but many stores start sales as early as Wednesday. These promotions create a frenzy among consumers who want to land a great deal.  A wide variety of items are traditionally on sale for Black Friday including: appliances, electronics, movies, home goods, clothing and much more!  If you’re building a new home Black Friday can be a great way to get things you’ll need for great prices!

Shopping can be stressful enough and adding large crowds can make it even more overwhelming.  So we want to help make your Black Friday shopping easier with these tips:

Plan Early & Search The Ads: Before you ever head out to the stores you need to know the deals. Many ads for Black Friday come out Thanksgiving Day so check the local newspaper while you are waiting to the turkey to cook.  With the power of the internet now in the palm of our hands, be sure to search around for deals online.  There are a number of websites that try to gather Black Friday deals, but no list is all encompassing so don’t stop there!  Companies’ social media accounts could be another place to look if you have a specific store in mind.  When reading the ads go through and make a list of the ones you’re interested in.

Narrow Down The Products: Once you have your list of potential ads, go through them again. Prioritize the deals and narrow down your list to the products you wish to purchase the most. Reducing the number of products you’re looking at will help you when you go to compare prices.

Research The Items: It’s important that you do a little research on the items that are on your list. Before making any purchases on items/brands that you are unfamiliar with be sure to check the quality of the product, its features, and customer reviews. A little research can help weed out which products are worth the effort.

Compare Prices: Often times multiple stores will off a discount on the same product.  Take time to compare prices between stores (and also check on how many of the product will be available) to determine which store is the best option.  Note: sometimes the lowest price isn’t the best deal if they only have a few available. 

Make A List: Once you’ve narrowed your list, researched items, and compared prices you should make a master list of what products you want and where to find them.  This will help you make a plan of which stores to go to and when (make a note of when each store will open).  An advantage to making a list is that you can cross out what you have bought, shopping on Black Friday can be hectic so it’s easy to forget items that you’ve bought. Also, bring the ads with you so you can refer back to them if need be at all.

There’s An App For That: Thanks to recent technology there is now apps for smartphones that allows shoppers to receive the latest deals, create wish lists, and keep track of their favorite stores’ ads.  Go to your phone’s App Store to check out all of the Black Friday Apps available!

Have fun and good luck!