10 Hacks To Have The Best Black Friday Ever

[les]

                

                

The biggest shopping day of the year is just around the corner, and while many people have visions of turkey and stuffing dancing in their heads, you can be getting ready for some truly great deals. With only a few days to go until the big day, check out the Black Friday hacks below to make sure that you’re armed and ready to go. All of these hacks cover ways that you can keep more money in your pocket and avoid the exhaustion and stress that often accompanies shopping with crowds full of people. Enjoy!


                 1. Do Your Research

It’s impossible to be in 5 places at once, so you’ll need to prioritize. Do you want to get a great deal on a TV or were you hoping to score a power tool on sale for that upcoming bathroom renovation? Either way, you should read through all of the catalogs for the major stores that carry the product that you want. This will help you to be in the right place at the right time.


                 2. Get Some Team Spirit

I said you couldn’t be in 5 places at once, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get together with friends and family members to split up and go to different stores. You can send your spouse to purchase a new dining room table while you head over to get the bike your kid has been asking for. That way you can get everything on your list all at great prices.


                 3. Go To Bed Early

There’s no glory in shopping while bleary eyed and exhausted. Instead of staying up late and waking up early to get in line, try going to bed at a reasonable hour. This would work especially well if your family has your Thanksgiving meal in the late afternoon. That way you can go to bed as early as 8 or 9p.m.


                 4. Be Efficient

It might sound overboard, but when you have hundreds of people shopping at the same store as you, you have to shop efficiently. This includes going to the store ahead of time and finding out what aisle your product is in. That way, you won’t have to worry about spending needless time searching when you could be headed home to enjoy your new gadget.


                 5. Use Social Media

Many shoppers and stores will be using social media to share coupon codes and deals. Make sure you are subscribed to your favorite stores so you are aware of any coupons that can be scanned in using your phone.


                 6. Shop Local

It’s tempting to shop at places that are big box stores with glossy ads. However, if you know there’s a local home improvement store or an electronic store, call them the day before Black Friday and ask if their deal is going to be any better than the ones advertised at bigger stores. That way, you can support local businesses and get great deals at the same time.


                 7. Pack Snacks

I know I sound like a mom saying this, but packing snacks is the best hack I can give you. Seriously, you could be waiting to check out for over an hour at some of the bigger department stores, so keep your energy up by bringing a handful of peanuts or popcorn to enjoy.
8. Be A Night Owl Instead of an Early Bird

The early bird may get the worm, but if you love staying up late, that could actually be to your advantage. Many stores will start their deals at midnight, so you can easily shop from midnight until 2AM and then sleep in the next day.


                 9. Read The Fine Print

Many stores will advertise a price, but it might only be valid for a certain period of time or certain part of the day. To avoid disappointment, read the fine print. Also, bring your ads with you so that you can prove a certain price. This is also beneficial because many stores offer a price guarantee. If you can bring in a competitor’s ad, you can often get what you want for even less.


                 10. Stick to the List

Sales can be addicting like something shiny to a goldfish. We can go in planning to only buy one thing and then get caught up in the excitement of great deals and buy more than we can afford. To ensure that you don’t overspend, have a friend or family member keep you accountable. Even better, only bring the exact amount of cash that you will need to buy a particular product.

With this list of hacks, you should be well on your way to actually enjoying your Black Friday shopping excursions without the exhaustion or the regret experienced by many customers.
                                  Good luck and have fun!

[SexualChoc]

perhaps off topic but also about shopping...
Activist Groups Boycott Cyber Monday

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/20 ... er-monday/

In preparation for Cyber Monday, the Day of Virtual Shopping that takes place on the first Monday after Thanksgiving, online retailers are pulling out all the stops. Free shipping deals! Exclusive online promotions! A set of Ginsu knives with every purchase! (OK, maybe no knives, but you get the idea).
Clearly, this year’s Cyber Monday — a term coined in 2005 by Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation — is shaping up to be a big one. According to comScore, which measures digital commerce, consumers spent some $1.25 billion in 2011, up 22 percent from 2010. And this year should show similar growth.
Not everyone is happy with the online consumption. Some organizations and companies have asked shoppers to take a deep breath before pulling out their credit cards — or, more pointedly, to boycott Cyber Monday altogether.
On Nov. 8, Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work, a labor rights advocacy and campaign organization, launched an anti-Cyber Monday campaign. Its goal is to get consumers to sign a pledge not to shop on Cyber Monday because of “dangerous, sweatshop-like working conditions facing U.S. warehouse workers who fulfill online orders for retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon,” Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work, said in a statement to ABC News. On its website, the group cites workplace injustices including the “backbreaking pace of work,” “extreme temperature,” and “expendable employment,” among other issues.
The group says it was inspired by recent strikes by Wal-Mart employees and warehouse workers. In mid-September, workers in Southern California went on a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs. Around the same time, hundreds of people marched in Dallas and San Diego, demanding better work conditions.
On Wednesday, workers at a Wal-Mart-contracted warehouse in Mira Loma, California went on strike to demand better conditions at their facility, according to Warehouse Workers United, a union-backed group that represents workers. The workers are employed by NFI, a logistics company, and Warestaff, a temporary labor agency–not Wal-Mart. But all of the merchandise that flows through the facility is headed for Wal-Mart stores.
Chris Allen, 39, a striking worker, told ABC News, “The conditions inside the warehouse are really unsafe. We don’t have good equipment to perform our job. We need new dock ramps, new carts, new scan guns. People are still getting hurt out there.”
Kathleen Hessert, a spokeswoman for NFI, said that the allegations against its warehouses are “totally false,” and that the company “unequivocally maintains a safe workplace where people are treated with respect and dignity and it holds the staffing agencies to those same standards.”
Kory Lundberg, a Wal-Mart spokesperson, said that the boycott “is just another exaggerated publicity campaign aimed at generating headlines to mislead our customers and associates.”
But Wal-Mart is not the only target.
Two years ago, PETA staged a Cyber Monday protest against DKNY’s ”pelt-pimping” Facebook page. This year’s target is the fashion store Bebe, said PETA spokesperson Danielle Katz. She said PETA is encouraging consumers to complain to Bebe’s customer service line and tweet anti-Bebe messages.
Last year, Patagonia, the sportswear company, asked customers not to purchase the 60 percent recycled polyester R Jacket, one of its best-selling items, because making it “required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people.” On its website, the company noted that transporting the jacket to its Reno warehouse generated nearly “20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product, and that the jacket left behind two-thirds its weight in waste.
“Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time — and leave a world inhabitable for our kids — we want to do the opposite of every other business today,” it wrote. “We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.”
(Of course, this begs the question: If Patagonia is so worried about the environment, why offer the jacket in the first place?)
This year, the website’s homepage will feature the message “Don’t Buy What You Don’t Need,” Patagonia spokesperson Jen Rapp told ABC News.
Representatives for DKNY and Bebe did not respond to calls from ABC News.
Kathleen Grannis, a spokesperson for the National Retail Federation, told ABC News that “retailers monitor working conditions both in stores and in their warehouses very closely, abide by the law and take employee relations very seriously. Not just during the holidays, but every day.”
But Gupta said she was unimpressed. ”Our goal is to get this message to the retailers: that consumers care more about the workers in these warehouses than just getting a good deal.”

[Snoopy76]

I want a Black Friday too!!! Always after an excuse to hit the shops and this sounds perfect! How did I just miss such an amazing shopping event!!!



Snoopy x

[les]

Well snoopy ours used to be the January sales, then they started on Boxing day

Now you can't tell when one sale stops and another starts
Or is it one starts when another stops.

I am in a mucking fuddle over it all.
Prices go up and down faster than a Brides Nighty!

BTW Amazon UK has some "Black Friday Sales"