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First word that you think of when you hear “Black Friday”, shout it out! Okay, now for me… I think MADNESS and shortly after I repeat Aragorn’s entire speech from Return of the King in my mind to prep myself for the battle I will soon face. Truly, when people think of shopping they think of fun and twerking in the dressing room to see if those jeans really do look that good, but on THIS DAY shopping is a battle of epic proportions. So what can you do to keep your sanity intact? Well here are my five Black Friday tips!
1. Budget!
I mean it should go without saying, but we need to keep in mind that even though the sales may be crazy ridiculous and crazy tempting, no matter how much you are saving you are inherently SPENDING. Don’t go in blind! What are you even looking for on this day? Make a list! Then pick a max budget that you can spend without having your mother cry and telling you that you need to re-evaluate your life and making you watch Confessions of a Shopaholic on repeat. Just remember that at the end of the day, money doesn’t buy happiness. Yeah those shoes may be fabulous, but you don’t need them, you want them. Because, let’s be honest the only thing that money can buy that will make us happy is puppies.
2. The Early Bird Gets The Worm!
It is not uncommon for stores to give gift cards or merchandise to the first (insert number here) customers that are in line. Hence, this is why you see some dedicated shoppers out there in tents! The earlier you get there the more you may receive. Here is a link for some stores having specials such as these! http://couponing.about.com/od/…
3. Do Your Research!
Like I did for the link above, you should do your research! Find out what stores are offering. A huge thing to keep in mind is to ask for both the store’s return policy (some, like Target, have a hefty back-stocking fee!) and to see whether or not a store will engage in price-matching. You don’t want to see your dream t.v. at Sears for $400 only to go check out Best Buy and see the same one at $200 and then not be able to do price matching! (This is real, it happened to my Dad one year – luckily they did do the price match. But the odds may not be in your favor – forgive me, I just saw Catching Fire. P.S: If you need a rest break from all the deal-hunting, I highly recommend seeing it!!!)
4. Pack a Snack!
As treacherous as the line into the store may be, we cannot forget that the line out may be even worse… Last year, I waited in the line at Old Navy at the Paramus Mall in New Jersey for forty minutes. (And you wondered why MADNESS was the first word to come to my mind…) In dire times such as these we need to remember the necessities. So please, before you dive into the trenches make sure that you use the bathroom before you leave home, pack some crackers in your bag, and bring some H2O too!
5. There’s Always Cyber Monday!
Let’s look at the worst case-scenario: You didn’t listen to ANY of the tips I’ve listed above. You sleep through your alarm and miss out on getting in line early. No early bird special for you! You finally get into the store, find what you were looking for and get on line. You wait in line for two hours (because you want whatever mystical object it is that has lead you to wait in line for this ridiculous amount of time). Since you practically barged down the door to leave, you clearly didn’t listen to my advice on using the bathroom. Also, you forgot to eat so you have got the hangries BAD. By the time you are finally out of line you rush to the bathroom passing deal after deal on the same object that were better than what you’d paid (now you’ll go home crying to your mommy, because you didn’t listen to me and she’ll make you return it since it’s so over-priced and then you’ll have to pay the back-stocking fee). Then, you pee your pants because you held it so long.
Alright, that was the WORST case. Even then, you could have skipped all that freaking out and just waited an extra few days for Cyber Monday!!! So do your research here, I’ve got links to some amazing deals going on!!!
http://www.walmart.com/cp/546840
Picture Resources:
http://motleynews.net/2011/11/25/chaos-ensues-at-walmart-and-other-stores-on-black-friday/