How To Survive Black Friday

November is coming up soon (as I type this), and with it comes the biggest shopping day(s) of the year: Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Truth be told, the deals start even before Thanksgiving, and for people pursuing financial independence, most just tune out the ‘deals’ because some people end up buying stuff they don’t need just because it’s on ‘sale’.

However, I say utilize these deal days especially if you really need something. This has been our strategy on Black Friday week from 4 years ago and continues to be our strategy until now. In fact, we shop a lot more during this week compared to the year because we anticipate what we need and stock up!

Listing What You Need is Essential

We own two rental properties, along with a primary residence, so we definitely need cleaning and maintenance supplies to maintain our primary property and short term rentals on an almost daily basis, and our long term rentals whenever we have a turnover. After renting carpet cleaners from Home Depot or Publix and realizing we are not happy with renting, so we put a carpet cleaner on our list.

During Black Friday 2018, we ended up buying one of the better carpet cleaners that were on the market, $200 cheaper than regular price (oh trust us, we tracked prices long before Black Friday on this particular model).

By listing what you need before a big event, you’ll end up saving more in the long run. Make sure that you always track the price on a regular day to identify what’s really a deal or if the price has been marked up and made to look like a deal.

Lists are also essential when pouring through the Black Friday ads. Chances are, you won’t even need 90% of the items that they are putting up for sale. By sticking to the list and cross-checking them with what’s on sale, and what you need, you can create your black friday route (if you are keen to go to the stores).

Shopping once a year also gives us a chance to save up and prepare for what we need. We stock up on laundry supplies, on sheets, towels, cleaning & maintenance supplies, as well as tools that we need for the lawn, the car, and the house in general. We also did this technique during Black Friday in July (and Amazon Prime Day), when we needed a lawnmower, a mattress, and a bed frame when we first moved to our new house and lots of baby stuff (i.e. diapers & wipes).

Before Black Friday actually happens, retailers leak deals/ads. Some of them could be found early in a deal site I follow called SlickDeals. I cross-check these ads versus the things we need and create a shopping list!

Free Deals (with Rebates) Are Amazing

These items may not be on your list but could be useful in the long run. Macy’s is our favorite place to shop for free with rebate deals (or highly discounted items).

For small appliances and cookware, Macy’s definitely delivers during Black Friday. Note that some of these free with rebate deals are not exactly free: you’re still liable to pay for taxes & the shipping of the form to the fulfillment center (which only accepts snail mail). This would cost anywhere from $1-2, depending on how expensive the item was.

We have since bought frying pans, slow cookers, a rice cooker, oven toasters, bath rugs, t-shirts, sweaters, perfume, jewelry, pillows, and many others with these free with rebates deals. These make amazing gifts for loved ones during Christmas (I gave my mom a nice watch that we got using a free with rebate deal), and chances are, you’ll end up using them as well – we needed the small appliances anyway.

If you can also get the credit card point bonus for shopping in department stores or use discounted gift cards, then you’ll end up earning more from these deals.

Note that most free with rebate items require you to go to the store personally. To appease the husband from being bored, I made sure he has enough battery on his phone in case there’s long queues, and I normally go to the queue with the shortest line so he won’t blow a fuse.

We have also gotten a lot of XBOX 360s as part of the free with rebate deals (our total cost was the taxes, which is around $5 in our city). This definitely appeased the husband – who doesn’t want a free console? He still plays with them now.

Black Friday is a Great Time to Shop

If you know what you’re doing, then Black Friday is definitely a great time to shop. As long as you have space to store the items in that you won’t need as of yet, then you’ll definitely come out in the long run.

Also, why pay for something when you can get items for free or highly discounted? While planning for Black Friday definitely takes a lot of time in prepping, listing & checking prices, I find that it is a game and one where I know I’ll use the items and get what I’ll need anyway.

What Are Your Black Friday Hacks?

Leave some on the comments section below – would definitely love to include more hacks for our Black Friday preparations

*Note: this post is sponsored by SlickDeals.