As a saving nerd, I love Black Friday, I bet you also do. However, many people are scammed on this date and many others buy things they won’t use just because it’s cheap.
Don’t be fooled on this Black Friday, have a look at the tips below.
1. List What You Need and Want
Avoid shopping for stuff you won’t use by making a good and old shopping list.
You can use a spreadsheet, your phone notepad, or paper. I recommend you add a column for Needs and one for Wants so you can start with the needs when you will actually go shopping.
2. Research
Now that you have a list, research the prices beforehand. Two months before Black Friday is the perfect moment to add the prices to your list so that on Black Friday day you know if that sale is real or not. Some stores increase the prices a few weeks before the sales day and then charge the full price pretending it’s a great deal. This is what we want to avoid by writing down the price months before.
It’s ok to buy something at full price if you need it, not all items go on sale but if they are trying to fool me with this trick I don’t buy it just because I don’t like feeling deceived.
3. Set a Budget
I won’t be a hypocrite saying that I only buy what is on my list 100% of the time. But something that definitely helps not overspend is setting a budget.
Set yourself a limit and be realistic. If you followed the tips above, you know what you need, and you know how much it costs at full price, now ask yourself how important each item is, prioritize them, and think about how much can you spend this Black Friday without ruining your finances.
4. Shop for Christmas
Black Friday is a good opportunity to save on your Christmas shopping but be careful about where the product is coming from and how long the shipping takes. Consider that it will take longer than usual because of the volume of people shopping on the same date, the stores take longer to ship the products and the couriers also take longer to deliver.
5. Cashback
If you are an online shopper, don’t forget to check if you can get cashback in the store you are shopping at. I use Coupert or Swagbucks to get cashback, I have their Google Chrome extension installed so when I’m shopping on a website they have a partnership with a little banner pops up on the corner of the page.
6. Extra Tip – Security! Avoid Scams on Black Friday!
Increase your attention over phishing emails or SMS messages from stores, or I better say, pretending to be a store. Always check the sender’s email and the link address to verify the domain. You don’t need to click on the link to verify it, when you hover over a link, its URL will show up on the bottom left of your laptop screen.
I usually shop on well-known websites, if you see a deal on a website you never heard of and it sounds too good to be true it’s because it’s probably not true. Be careful, always check the store reviews on Google or Trustpilot.
Good to know!