Are you worried about the long list of gifts you have to buy this season and the little number on your bank account balance? Well, worry no more. The holiday shopping season is coming and this year it doesn't have to rob you blind. There are tons of ways to cut your costs and save money even on the high demand items you never thought you could afford. This year, the people you're shopping for will get the gifts they deserve and you'll even have enough money to treat yourself to those shoes you've been eyeing. By using these simple tips, you'll get through Black Friday and live to tell the story.
The official start to the shopping season, is kick started by Black Friday, which sounds scary and stressful, but it offers great prices. Each year, Black Friday sales get crazier and crazier. You can benefit from Black Friday because of how much stores slash their prices just for this one day. Blackfriday.com provides the ads to the biggest stores and sales; it shows you what the prices will be and lets you compare them to other stores.
So far, Blackfriday.com has ads posted from Walmart, BestBuy, Amazon, Macy's and stores you can find at your local mall, like Express, Old Navy, Gap and Sephora, just to name a few. These stores are offering big deals and selling great products on discount for this one day only.
Black Friday is the world war of the big-box stores. You'll want to take advantage of this as much as you can. With each big store selling this year's top items, each and every store will be dropping the price so consumers will buy from them. Big-box stores like Walmart and Kmart mostly offer the same items each season, like the season's hottest electronics and toys, and they will be ordering a large amount of them to sell to the shoppers for a cheaper price than the other. If you really want the best deal, look at their websites and catalogues to see what their prices are compared to what else you have read, this way you are paying less money than the people who didn't do their research. Walmart is opening their Black Friday sale at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and offering a 40-page catalogue filled with slashed prices on their best products. One of Walmart's biggest competitors, Target, will be opening their Black Friday on 8:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and are offering free gift cards if you buy Apple products.
Senior Shannon Collins can't help but fall into the Black Friday craziness.
"I work at the mall, and it's always mobbed of course, but I usually spend my break trying to get into a department store before all the good stuff is gone," she says, "I'm definitely shopping again this year…it's crazy but worth it."
While you still have time to prepare before the big day, you should sign up for rewards, like coupons, up-to-date notifications of upcoming sales and markdowns from your favorite stores. Just adding your email to a store's mailing list can benefit you. Your stores, and the favorite stores of the people you are shopping for, can email you coupons for ordering items online. If you want to skip the hustle and bustle, emailed coupons can give you a discount or can text you promo codes to take an extra percentage off your already marked down bill.
Now that you're a Black Friday whiz, get prepared to start shopping. Try to keep a log of how much you are spending and make an estimated budget for yourself. Be that person with the folder of coupons you always thought was obnoxious. You will feel a huge weight lift off your shoulders with each low-price gift you buy, and your bank account will thank you for it later.
bdonova2@ramapo.edu
