This year strategically plan your Black Friday adventure with Stephanie Nelson from the CouponMom.com who offers these suggestions:
1. Plan and Budget – Come up with a holiday gift list and plan. Decide who you need to buy for, what you can afford to spend overall, and divide that among all your gift recipients. Then shop the deals, coupons and savings strategies to stretch the budget. Check the store ads and websites for special “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” deals.
2. Compare Prices – When you are shopping for a specific item, compare prices online on the item before hitting the stores or shopping online. Prices can vary significantly, and an online retailer may offer free shipping and have no sales tax.
3. Be Coupon Savvy – Use coupons to drop the price even further:
· Sign up for the email newsletters of favorite retailers and shopping malls to be the first to get special coupons
· Follow a retailer’s social networking page (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to get access to special coupons or limited-time flash sales
· Go to an online coupon site like www.CouponMom.com to find coupon codes for discounts and free shipping
· Watch the newspaper ads and catalog mailings for in-store coupons.
4. Buy Gift Cards – Buy discounted or bonus gift cards to give as gifts or to use to shop for gifts .
· Take advantage of bonus gift card offers that many restaurants offer at this time of year to give as gifts (for example, buy $100 worth of gift cards and get a free $20 gift card)
· Redeem cash back rebate dollars from credit card programs for bonus gift card values. For example, use $20 of your credit card rebate dollars to get a $25 gift card to selected retailers.
· If you are using a gift card to shop for gifts, be sure to combine them with coupons if available.
5. Get Cash Back for Purchases – If you have a cash back credit card, shop through the credit card website’s shopping mall to get extra rebates on your purchases.
Good luck and happy shopping!