What Are You Favorite Black Friday Secrets/tips for Getting the Best Deals?

In regards to Walmart, if you're going there. They have their 'deals' in different parts of the store. For instance, last year we scored a laptop for my son, in lawn and garden. The flat screens were in produce. They do this to keep the crowd managable. Look online and a map of the store and where things are may already be online.

Here's my best tip that I follow myself: I avoid it like the plague!
I refuse to do "Black Friday" OR "Late Thanksgiving" shopping.
Never have, never will.

Happy Thanksgiving and good luck out there!

My tips for Black Friday:

1-Don't leave the house. Driving is dangerous, as the many soccer moms are bargain shopping online while driving mini vans at dangerous MPH. Driving to the mall... well, hope you have a will written out, you're going to die.

2- Since you're home, shop online. Make some cookies with the kids first; they'll crash hard from the sugar buzz, so you can focus on shopping online.

3- Use your husband's credit card for your online purchases, specifically one's you're making for yourself that you have no intention of saving for Christmas... let's face it, you NEED those new boots before then.

4- Periodically call and check on family members who were stupid enough to venture out on Black Friday. Bonus points if you pre-programmed emergency services in everyone's phones.

5- Have a drink, sit back, and watch the 5 o'clock news for casualties.

6- The next day, scan the obituaries to see if anyone you cared for was sacrificed on Black Friday... more bonus points if they already bought your gift and scheduled it for delivery.

7- Say a prayer and begin preparing for next year's Black Friday... the hype starts in only 7 more months!!

;)

This will be my 4th year going, and the reason I go is for the deals. They're worth it. When I know i want a $59 item for my daughter and it will be $30 that night, yes I will go through the mess of the crowd to save 50%. When $25 fleece jackets will be $5, yes, it is worth every minute. Almost every black friday ad is now online. Just get your list together and figure our times. If you spend too much time in a store that opened at 10pm, and you're in a line too long, you'll miss the opening of the store that opens at 12, and miss out on that one thing you really wanted. Really popular things go fast. There's only 50 of them, and 200 people want them.

I will second a previous post. It can be frustrating because the items that are the biggest deals aren't where they are supposed to be. An electronic DS or $5 movie deals will be next to the apples at Walmart - not kidding. They pullout skids and place them around. Maps are handed out to help you.

I get there early to find what I really want on the skids (They're covered in clear cellophane, and only uncovered at the time they allow). But if I can spend 10 minutes figuring out where my items are, it;s easier than seeing an employee and yelling, Hey where's the ?? The usually don't have a clue anyway. Specifically walmart is open 24/7 and just because their deals start at 10 doesn't mean you can't be browsing areas at 9:45. You will see some people who couldn't care less what anyone else thinks, they will rip into the cellophane and get what they want before they are allowed. I would never do that.

Since there are 2 of you, one needs to get into a line and take turns leaving the line, that way you aren't in one store for 4 hours.

***Don't forget the starbucks*** You'll need the energy!

oh my God, rachel, i about died reading your post. me? there isn't anything i want THAT bad. so i won't be going out. and even if i did you would find me at saks or neiman m. hahaha yeah the high end stores not target or wally :)
i mean you can score deals year round, specifically after black friday.

I was going to say the same thing as Jim. My mom, sister & I always start at Target & it seems that every year whatever the really 'hot' electronic is they have over in the men's clothing department. One year it was a surround sound system with 6 disc dvd player, another year it was 42" tv's (which they already had 1 each in separate carts so when you got back there you just took a cart & went on your way to the next thing on your list). Also, I've never waiting in line to get into a store. I find that nothing I want or need is going to sell out within the first 10 minutes a store opens & that's about how long it takes the people who have been standing in line for 3 hours to actually get into the store. If, for example, Target opens at 4 a.m., we'll show up around 4:15 & just walk in & straight back to men's clothes. Good luck!

God bless you girl! I gave up on Black Friday altogether years ago. So I do super early Saturday. I can't hang with the Black Friday crowd. For me if there are too many people around I can't think and focus. Good luck and I hope you find great bargains!

Black Friday is not for the meek at heart. It's not a fun shopping experience. It's crowded and people are crazy. You stand in long lines to check out - hours sometimes. I shouldn't say that it's not fun. I enjoy a good bargain and get a ton of satisfaction from that. Many times I can give an expensive gift that i wouldn't otherwise buy. But my recomendation is to plan it out. Look at the ads and the times the stores open. Figure out what is most important on your list (i prioritize by how much i'm going to save... so i go for the big dollar items first). Alot of the door buster or early bird savings are only for a few hours and are "while supplies last". so, in my mind, if you get that big screen TV that you wanted and save $500 and that's all you get, it's a success. I wouldn't want to just be "out shopping around to see what i find" on Black Friday. It's just too hectic and I wouldn't want to stand in line for an hour to buy a pair of pajamas that i saved $5 on.... So, get the black friday ads, get your gift lists. I pick the expensive items on people's wish lists and look to see if i can get them for a price that is in my budget. (if i'm not successful on Black Friday then i get them a less expensive gift that's on their list later). So i go for the MP3 players, video games, cameras, small appliances, sets of dishes - that sort of thing first - figure out what store has the best deal on the items, then make a game plan based on what time each of those stores opens. I go in, look for that item, grab it if i can and check out. then we head for the next store. I shop with my guy so if we have more than one item we want in a store, we can split up and each grab an item. Then one can get in line while the other scopes out any other deals we may have missed. Good luck. take a bottle of water with you!

I am totally with you. I've gone Black Friday shopping once, and was SO disappointed. It was totally not worth it!!! What was on sale was big ticket (several hundred dollar) items in electronics, and a few select toys that were not things I wanted for my kids. NOTHING else was on sale. The next day, though--the next day they discounted everything a normal amount (25% or so) and I scored decent deals by just browsing! If you don't know what you're looking for, and you don't enjoy the frenzy, it's not worth going!

Take the ads with you. Have a definite plan as to what you want from which store. Organize the stores that you want to go to by opening time.

Just stay away from Best Buy entirely. You literally cannot even get into the store...it is just that busy. Best Buy is also shady and only stocks a few of the doorbusters at the great prices. So unless you are willing to camp out for days prior, just not worth it. Sometimes you can get some of the same deals online on their website too.

Check websites on Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes you can get some of the same deals online with free shipping.

You are probably out of luck with the Kindle Fire. It is so new that everyone seems to have it at $199. I have not seen ANY sale on it.

Good luck.... you'll need it will all the crazies out there!!

As for me......... you could not pay me to go out on Black Friday, Day after Thanksgiving, Tax free weekend, etc... not worth it.

Last year I got what I wanted online. We are also on the West Coast so the sales started at 12 a.m. east which is 9 p.m. pacific. I'm not sure if all websites do this but I had great luck and noticed things were sold out not soon after I was done.
Have fun whatever route you take!

We have gotten some great deals on Black Friday and we have to travel to different towns that are 30 and 85 miles away. We leave around 5am taking my granddaughter in her pjs, messy hair and all. We have done this since she was only a year old. We go to the town 30 miles away and go to Walmart and Kmart then go on to the town 85 miles away and hit Toys R Us and the mall and Target, shopko, kohls. Then we are worn out and head home...lol. I have found that they only stock a few of the best sales but if you are lucky they will have something compairable. My favorite black Friday buy was a Rose Petal Castle. This is over 5 feet high and is over $200 and we got it at Toys R Us for $30. We found by starting at 5am, the crowds are thinning down as we get to the different stores and there is still enough great deals that makes it worth it. Have fun, Keep an eye on your cart (some people will take the sale items from your cart if they think they can get away with it) and keep in mind that you won't get all that you want but you will find things you didn't know you wanted..lol

Oh.. one of my favorite memories of Black Friday was when my granddaughter was 2 and when we got her out of the car the sun was coming up. She looked at the sunrise and exclaimed "Look, the sun is painting the clouds red!"

You definitely need a plan if you're braving black friday shoppers. I've done it almost every year, but only if there's something on my list that's at a great price. The ads are online now or the paper ads should be in the Thanksgiving day papers. Plan where you're going, plan what you're looking for, plan to get coffee or have a stress reliever afterwards!

And for the Kindle Fire, it just came out on Nov. 15th and it doesn't sound like anywhere will have a lower price this holiday season. I just got mine as a birthday gift from hubby and $200 isn't bad. It's already priced below what it costs to produce it. They're counting on you buying lots of books, apps, and Amazon Prime to make up the money they're losing.

I think you have to know exactly what you want and where and when it is on sale, I usually dont go but last year I wanted a Wii and they had a good bundle going on sale at midnight, it was fun to go in a group (and my nice BIL was driving!) This year I have NO list yet so guess I'm not ready to shop

Stitch! You just blew my mind. THAT"S why when I sat down at my computer at 12am (central time) last year, everything was already sold out!! Wow, I'm a dumbass.

My Black Friday plan this year is to divide and conquer. I have a few specific things I want from Walmart. I am going to have hubby try online while I go to walmart. Staying in contact with each other, whoever gets it 1st wins the bet. My sil and I have exchanged lists. She gave me her items to look for at Walmart, I gave her my items to look for at Toys R Us. If we have any $ or energy leftover, we will meet at Target. Last year I went to Target late Friday afternoon. There was no crowd and they still had many of the door busters left.

My husband and I get the paper on Thanksgiving. After all the kids have gone off to bed he and I read through all of the ads. We have ideas on what we want to get everyone (I have a lot of family) and then we look for the best deals. We circle and save the ad. We compare better prices. I make a list of where I am going and what I am getting at every store, that way I am not purchasing things that I don't need but just GOTTA have because they are a good price! lol
This year may be different since things are opening on Thanksgiving.
L.

The secret is to know what you want and not to just go wondering around the store like you would usually do when you shop.

Most stores will have their super special deals that are designed to get you into the store. BEWARE, many of them will state that the have only 2 or 5 per store. I sent hubby to buy a kayak at Dick's a few years ago, he was the 2nd person in the door and they were sold out. How is that possible, but we fought and they found one at another store and put a 24 hour hold on it.

I've found that if I'm at the store about 15 minutes before it's opened, I can go in and get the items I need and only have to wait a minimal amount of time in line.

Go with a friend.

Bring something to do while waiting in line.

I've had good experiences with Kohl's, they have the whole process set up really well. I'll never go to JC Penney again.

Except for some very limited quanity items there are NO GOOD DEALS on Black Friday.
I worked at Penney's for 3.5 yrs and the regular sale items are usually 30%-40% off or buy one get one free (also known as 50% off). Wait another week or two and all the great deals on Black Friday will be on clearance so the stores can make room for swim suits.

Really Boycott Black Friday and save the money you would spend on gas circleing the parking lot for 30 minutes looking for a parking space that is closer than Pluto to the store you want to shop at. Save the money you will spend on new shoes, a foot massager, physical therapy, emotional therapy, asprin and other pain klillers, antacids, ...

I'm staying home and either watching TV or reading a good book.

There are no real deals on Black Friday. If you want deals, shop clearance.I bought all my kids their toys this past July, when all the stores do a toy clearance. I even bought my son one of his presents last January ( a $60 P olar express train for $12).

Don't you know black friday takes away family time from all those sad workers?! HA! As far as toys go toysrus has some good deals going, and for other stuff like electronics I would go to best buy. And yes divide and conquer if you can! Good luck with shopping have fun! Oh and bring some snacks! And water!

I haven't seen anything in the ads in the last 7 years to make going out on Friday worth it.

This year, since my husband and I are starting online businesses, we've decided to give all our Christmas shopping money to small online businesses, like The Pleated Poppy and any store on Etsy.

In other words, except for the little stocking stuff, I will not be buying any christmas presents in a brick and mortar store.

No battling the crowds for me!