How to Shop on Black Friday

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. This day is considered the worst and best day for doing all your Christmas shopping. The lines will be long and you will find the store shelves empting faster than usual. It will take longer to get into stores and there will be long lines at the checkouts. This is the day that all store employees dread, but the storeowners enjoy. The sales are incredible if you are one of the lucky ones to get to the store early.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Christmas shopping list
• Fanny pack
• Cell phone
• Planned store route

1. On Thanksgiving Day, the flyers come out advertising all the sale prices for the Friday after Thanksgiving. Black Friday has some incredible sales that you will not find any other day leading up to Christmas. Look at the flyers to see what you might want to buy.

2. Write down every store you plan to visit and at what time. If there is something you really want at one store, make sure to go to that store first. Plan you day by writing down every store in the order in which you will visit.

3. Write down every gift or item that you want to buy. If it is in the store flyers, make sure to write down the store name next to the item on your list.

4. Buddy shop to cover more stores in a shorter time. If you have a friend that wants to shop on Black Friday, you could split up the list of stores between the two of you and give each other the list for that particular store. For instance, if you both have things to buy from Wal-Mart and Sears, one could take both lists to Sears and the other one could take both lists for Wal-Mart. That way, you do not miss out on the items you want. Take the cell phones along to keep in touch.

5. Shop without heavy jackets and purses. Use a fanny pack to carry your money and charge cards. Your cell phone and list will fit into the fanny pack as well. Dress in layers if you are going to be standing outside in long lines waiting for the stores to open. As the time nears to go indoors, you can hold places in line for those people that need to take extra clothing to their cars before the doors open.

6. Plan to arrive at the stores at least two to three hours before the doors open. The long lines start forming very early. Some people are known to start the line as early as midnight to make sure they get in the doors early.

7. Leave the small children at home. Black Friday can be rough and little kids can slow you down. All you need is your shopping buddies and a fanny pack on this day.

Tips & Warnings

• Make your shopping list and shopping route and check it twice.
• If you plan to shop for the entire day, take along a cooler in the car so you can take a lunch break. Sandwiches and drinks will save you money.
• Charge the cell phone batteries the night before.
• Be prepared for some very rude people.

[mello10]

on 11/16/2009 The only shopping I do on Black Friday is on the computer. Good luck and patience out there!!

[joshy22]

on 1/28/2009 i like it! 5 star!

[justmeboy22]

on 1/10/2009 nice article