Why do I need a Black Friday Plan?
Have you ever gone grocery shopping while hungry and without a shopping list? If you have (and you are anything like me) then you probably came away with a quick and easy dinner from your grocery store’s pre-made section… like I don’t know, maybe a couple pizza slices? Some chicken tenders and fries? A meatball sub? Any of those delicious smelling foods that are high in calories and low in nutrition. Then, after choosing a quick and easy dinner I’d probably head over to the bakery section and/or the snack section.
Once I finally get to the checkout line I look in my cart and see quite a few boxes and bags of food and no fresh produce. I make those guilty voices in my head go away by telling myself, “so what? I ate so healthy yesterday, it’s ok to have a cheat meal every now and then! I’ll go to the gym tomorrow, no harm done!” But as soon as I finish eating my hot and ready meal and snacking on boxed/bagged foods until I just want to lay on the couch the rest of the night, do you know what I think? Not, “well that was a good life choice!” No, no no. What I think is “welp… that’s the last time I go to the store while I’m hungry without a shopping list!”
Well guess what? If you go holiday shopping without a plan you will go through a very similar set of emotions! Will you have fun shopping aimlessly? Probably! Will you find some cool items you didn’t know about before? Maybe! Will you buy items you didn’t need? Absolutely! Will you save money on your purchases? Definitely not!
The point I’m trying to make is that if you want to (a) get a lot of holiday shopping accomplished, (b) be proud and satisfied with the items you end up purchasing, (c) get great prices on those items, and (d) have more time to spend with family and friends, then you will need to have a great plan for Black Friday shopping!
How I Make My Black Friday Plan
The easy part of course is acknowledging that you need a plan, and the hard part is establishing that great plan! That’s where we come in to help! Following these simple steps will help you come up with an effective Black Friday shopping plan that you’ll be able to stick to.
1. First and foremost you need to write down a list of who you are shopping for. For example, this holiday season I will be shopping for my husband, my sisters, my parents, my in-laws, my friends, my nephew, my pets, and I will be buying a couple toys for local kids charities. This means I will start by writing down each and every one of their names either in an electronic notepad or with a good old fashioned pencil and piece of paper. Doing this will help keep you focused while shopping. It will help you eliminate any cool new gadgets that you see and are contemplating buying if you really can’t imagine giving that item to any of the remaining people on your shopping list. Of course with Black Friday prices as good as they are there is nothing wrong with writing your own name on the list! But it still will help to just have a physical list of names to stay focused on who you are shopping for.
2. Next is to narrow down what you are shopping for. Go ahead and write down any gift ideas you have for the people listed in Step 1.
• There are probably some people that you already know are getting something specific like an iPad, a set of golf clubs, or a KitchenAid stand mixer. These are the easy ones. You just need to find the best price!
• The next set of people will be the ones where you have a general idea of a gift but need to pick out something specific. Maybe you know you are going to get them a new sweater, new scarf, or a nice piece of jewelry. These will probably be the most fun to shop for, you just have to pick out which item fits their personality!
• Lastly are the people who end up looking like this on your shopping list: “Steve – ???????????” (Yes, Steve is my husband, and yes, this is how my shopping list looks for him every year. He is so hard to buy for!) These are going to be the hardest to shop for but don’t worry, everyone has someone like this on their holiday shopping list, you aren’t alone! Just by having these people on your list of names will keep them on your mind. Maybe something you see while completing the easier shopping will help spark an idea!
3. Now that you have completed Steps 1 and 2 you can probably write down a list of where you want to go shopping this Black Friday. Knowing which stores you will visit will also help you save money. Before you even leave the house you can:
• Plan out a travel route. We all know to expect a lot of traffic. Plan your route ahead of time in a logical order to circle back to your house in the end. This will keep you from spending too much time in the car driving back and forth around town all day, wasting gas, and losing patience before you even get to the store!
• Determine when each store’s Black Friday hours are.
• Check retailer websites to know which items will be on sale and whether those items are available for the same price online. This will help you determine if it’s better to buy that new TV at Target or Best Buy. Maybe it’ll be the same price online and you can save yourself the hassle and buy it online when you wake up before even leaving the house!
• Search for any coupons offered for the items you know you are going to purchase or for the stores you know you will be visiting.
• Buy gift cards ahead of time for the stores you know you will be visiting. Sometimes you can find a $50 gift card on sale for $45 or can buy a gift card at face value while accumulating fuel perks to save on gas next time at the pump.
Maybe you put together a great plan but end up eating too much turkey tomorrow night and don’t want to take the sweat pants off on Friday morning. No problem! As long as you keep our DealTrunk extension installed we’ll bring the great deals right to your computer and you’ll never have to put those skinny jeans on!
Where will you be shopping this holiday season?
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Shopping!