Saving the Most Money on Black Friday

As most of the world realizes by now, America is the land of the consumer.  We even have our own holiday called Black Friday.  It is not necessarily an evil holiday despite its menacing name.  In fact, it is the official start of the Christmas Season in America.  It derives its name from the fact that it is the day that most retailers will finally start earning a profit for the year after paying for all their costs.  The black denotes profit on an accountant’s balance sheet as opposed to red ink which denotes a loss of money.  Of course Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving.  Thus, Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year.

As mentioned, Black Friday has become an event unto itself even in our household.  It has become part of the traditional Thanksgiving weekend celebration and has evolved into a well planned and scientific assault on high prices.  If you want to save the most money on Black Friday, then you are in for luck since I have first hand knowledge of the best way to do this.  My brother-in-law is an incredibly savvy shopper.  He is not necessarily materialistic but enjoys saving money and obtaining bargains.  Allow me to share with you his battle plans for each Black Friday for the past several years.

The first thing you must do is make sure that you have your Christmas shopping list complete before Thanksgiving.  It is impossible to conduct an effective battle without knowing your objectives and targets.  The goal is to get all of your shopping done in one day so that you can enjoy the remainder of the Christmas Season.  Once you have your list, you should have a rough idea of the cost of each of the items and where you would purchase them if not on sale.  This will be useful later on to determine which deals are the best.  All of this information should be recorded before Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day, you want to purchase the newspaper with all the local store ads.  That evening while trying to stay awake following the mandatory overstuffing yourself with turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and… (you get the idea), review all the ads for several pieces of information.  You want to find out when the store will actually open and when the deal is for the particular target item you wish to purchase.  Some stores are opening at midnight now.  Some will open at 4 am.  Some will have items on sale only for the first hour or two.  Compare prices from store to store and opening and sale times as well.

Start with the most expensive items first since those are the ones most likely to yield the biggest discount.  Determine what time you would need to be at which store to get the deals you want and map out a plan showing up at store A at time A to buy item A, then driving to store B at time B to buy item B.  If you have the assistance of others, you can drive around and drop them off to wait in line for you at one store while you shop at another.

This technique of dividing and conquering has worked well for my brother-in-law seeing as I have six kids.  Four of them are old enough to help out.  He will drop off one or two at Target to wait in line for a 6AM sale while he goes to Best Buy to purchase something at 5AM then goes over to meet them, pay for the item.  Then he will drop them somewhere else to purchase some more stuff while he goes to get other things then comes back to pick them up.  It is really a well planned operation.  By 10 AM, the entire crew is back home for some brunch, and my brother-in-law is done will all his Christmas shopping.  The kids really enjoy it, too, and it has become quite a tradition.

Personally, I am not a shopper but I ventured forth at 4 AM last year for my very first Black Friday excursion.  I had my eye on a flat screen HDTV that I could mount on the wall in the family room.  There was a great deal at WalMart so I went and waited next to the stack of TVs sitting in the middle of the aisle on a skid for about an hour waiting for a teenager to come along and cut the shrink wrap announcing the onset of the sale.  The stack was about ten high, and I was one of the first ones there.  There turned out not to be a line but people were just milling around the skids of the item they wished to purchase.  When the time came and the shrink wrap came off, I placed my hands in the cut out handles in the cardboard box only to have it ripped out of my hands.  I was shocked but persistent.  Finally, on my fourth TV, I was able to slide it off the skid and lay on it.  Eventually I got it into my cart, made the purchase, and safely arrived home.  I am never going shopping again!

But, if you are a shopper and want to beat up little old ladies for your HDTV and save a ton of money in the process, then these tips should be helpful:

• Have your list complete prior to Thanksgiving and write it down
• Know the typical price for the item
• Develop your plan on Thanksgiving evening paying attention to sale times and store openings
• Organize your day to provide maximal savings
• Enlist as much help as possible

Have fun saving money while I sleep!