Are you looking for Black Friday Secrets and Strategies to jumpstart your Christmas shopping and savings?
Are you looking for the Ultimate Black Friday Cheat Sheet of Sales?
If so, keep reading – we’ve got lots to share with you.
it’s time to put our gift planning into high gear. One great way to do that is to make a list of all of the people you are planning on buying gifts for.
To find the Best Black Friday Secrets you’ll need to start researching early using sites like BlackFriday.info, BFads.net, BradsDeals, Hip2Save and Fabulously Frugal.com. Get the links below.
Then check some of the websites listed below. They get early releases of most of the major retailer Ads and Prices before the ads are actually released the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Many of them even allow you to simply click and select, to build a customized shopping list.
You may have to stay up late or get up early to stand in line, but retailers typically drop some huge loss leaders to entice consumers to spend. By doing your research in advance you can dial in the best deals and plan your shopping.
Here are the websites and apps we check:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Best Black Friday Deals Websites
- BlackFriday.info
- GottaDeal.com
- www.bfads.net (really easy to build a shopping list of the best deals)
- BradsDeals Facebook Black Friday Page
- SlickDeals.net
- Hip2Save Black Friday Price Comparison Spreadsheet 2019
Fabulously Frugal.com Black Friday Deals Google Sheet was sent to us from a friend. It is without a doubt accurate and comprehensive. It lists just about every Black Friday Deal out there and has tabs for sorting different product categories like electronics, housewares, jewelry, sporting goods and more.
Black Friday Shopping Apps
Remember to do your online shopping through Swagbucks and get SBs along with great deals. If you want to know more about getting gift cards with Swagbucks read this blog (and get an exclusive MoneySmartFamily.com deal that could add $20 to your account)
7 Secret Strategies that helped us score Big Savings
Over the years we’ve honed our Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shopping strategies. Here’s how we do it.
1. Know What You Want.
As a result of our online and newspaper research, we built our hit list and scored big bargains. We bagged more than $400 worth of merchandise for less than $100 after discounts and all rebates.
We made sure to read all of the rebate details very carefully; filled out every form and made copies of everything that we submitted.
Eventually, we did receive every rebate that we applied for.
We used BFads.net to build shopping lists for several stores. Looking at all of the ads can be overwhelming, so creating a single list per store is really helpful.
2. Know What You’re Shopping For.
Use the apps/online ads or the Thanksgiving Day ads to plan your strategy and build a list. We list items we want to pick up by store.
Sometimes several stores will have the same item for sale – so we cross out the higher-priced item and target the less expensive one. If store #1 is out of the item, then we use the backup.
After we’ve assembled our list, then we plan our route. Sometimes we divide up into two groups to cover more territory.
3. Know the Black Friday Rules.
While you’re waiting for the store to open or the deals to be available, talk with employees and learn the ground rules and where the bargains you want are located.
We learned at Walmart that their pallets of limited quantity items were wrapped in black plastic. But the employee we talked to said that they were not allowed to stop anyone who took items before the 10 PM unveiling time.
While we don’t agree with “cheating” we do want to know the rules. While standing in line at Kohl’s we peppered employees with questions about the location of the items we wanted to pick up. It made our shopping much quicker.
We also brought our own dolly. Kohl’s baskets are really small and they run out of their carts really fast.
4. How to Dress for the Best Deals.
This was funny, but we had come from a Family Thanksgiving celebration and Steve was wearing a sports coat.
At Walmart, he was able to move through crowded aisles easily because people thought he was a manager and stepped out of his way. They also asked him questions about where they could find specific items. Truly hilarious!
5. Be a team in the Know on Black Friday!
Having one person “guard” your cart full of bargains and another person running the aisles to pick up sale items is a smart idea. Annette parked the cart off of a main aisle and Steve ran from display to display grabbing the items we wanted. It saved trying to maneuver a cart through the press of people in the aisles.
6. Find Out if Some Ad Match.
Walmart had a nationwide policy of matching competitors advertised prices on similar items. However, we learned that in November 2017 this policy has been canceled for Black Friday purchases. Target has followed suit.
In past years, we’ve ad matched the price of Poinsettias from Lowe’s over at Walmart.
7. Know which stores are open
Know which stores are open, and which ones are closed. Also, know the times that each store opens and when they close. Or if they are open all night.
Every year the list of stores that will be opened or closed changes along with the times their sales start.
We plan our route based on the best deals and when each store is starting its sales. Or sometimes we just get there when the time works for us, and if some of the merchandise is gone, then so be it. Check out our comprehensive list here.
Show up early and put items in your cart- you won’t be able to checkout, but you can score that killer deal before other people do.
Other Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day Shopping Tips
There are a few things that are always steeply discounted at this time of year. If you can hold off until Thanksgiving you’ll get the best prices of the year on:
- Televisions (the other time to buy is the end of January when Super Bowl sales occur)
- Small Kitchen Appliances (toasters, blenders, crockpots, electric skillets, sandwich makers, waffle makers, mixers, food processors)
- Video Games and Gaming Consoles
- Movies – BluRay and DVD – many distributors create low priced deals on many titles for the big box stores.
- Electric Tools: Drills and drill sets are always steeply discounted this time of year. It’s usually cheaper to buy a Black Friday discounted drill set with 2 batteries than to replace the batteries on your older drill.
- Toys – Walmart and Target lead the way with steep discounts on all kinds of toys and games for your kids (and you).
- Home Appliances: Watch the Home Improvement store and Department store ads – One-third of all home deals listed are usually appliances. Things like vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaners, dishwashers, stoves, and refrigerators lead the way.
- Computers and Computer Gear: Don’t expect huge savings from HP, Apple and Sony directly, but DO expect these big retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and others will have some steeply discounted deals on lower end products from these manufacturers.
Walmart checkout with Joe and Abbey
These two videos explain more of our strategies for saving on Black Friday.
Live Replay – Black Friday Haul
Steve & Annette review their Black Friday Haul and share some tips.
Black Friday Savings Ideas
We share our Black Friday Shopping Strategies with host Kathy Rankin
Be prepared, stay safe and most of all, bag some great deals this Black Friday. Post a comment with your Black Friday strategies.
Love your ideas about planning a route and dressing up . . . what an awesome concept. We always check out the sales weeks before Black Friday by using a couple of the websites you mentioned. Black Friday shopping is our way of getting ahead for wedding presents, baby showers and of course some Christmas shopping. We save so much. I just wish it didn’t start on Thanksgiving.