#2018blackfriday

BUDGET

In order to keep things from getting out of hand this season of giving, it’s really important you create a realistic shopping budget for the holidays. 

I do this by using the app Qapitol. This is my second year using this app and it’s seriously been a life saver. If you use this link you’ll get $5 just for signing up. (Who doesn’t love a company that gives you money?) The reason I love Qapitol so much is that you get to custom tailor it to suit your individual needs and meet your individual goals. You can do the common “round-up” deposit which rounds up your purchases and applies your loose change to your goal. For example, if you bought gas for $23.98, Qapitol would deposit 2 cents into the goal account of your choosing. Lots of apps do this. What makes Qapitol unique is that it has a “rules” function. If you shop at a particular store or eat at a fast food restaurant, for example, you can set custom rules as consequences to these purchases. Maybe you created a goal savings account called “Tummy Tuck” and set a rule that if you eat at McDonald’s, it automatically deposits $2 into your goal account. So, you set it and forget it. Go about your life and then, sure enough, every time you eat at McDonald’s, you’re $2 closer to affording that tummy tuck. Of course, in this article, we are talking about holiday budgeting and Christmas shopping, and personally, this is what I primarily utilize this app for. 

I have a goal account called “Christmas” and I have several rules set up to deposit various amounts of money into the account depending on what my purchases were. I deposit $3 every time I make an Amazon purchase and $2 every time I get Starbucks. I have other purchase rules as well, but those are the ones that contribute to my account the most. I do not acknowledge this account in my day-to-day life. You can transfer the funds out at anytime very easily but Qapitol will also send you a debit card so if you do decide to set up a Christmas account and save all year like I do and you decided that the $721, or whatever sum you’ve accumulated, in that account, come Christmas time is all you’re going to spend on the holidays, you can very easily just use that debit card. That way, when the funds are gone, they’re gone. Your personal debit card and every-day budget completely separate and unaffected. 

This is a great tip and awesome resource to start utilizing for next year, but obviously THIS year you’ll need to look at your own personal account balances and income and determine a realistic budget for 2018.

PLAN

The first thing you need to do when thinking about saving money this shopping season is PLAN. This means write a detailed list out of all the people you need to shop for and anything else you may need for yourself. 

I always start by creating a list of all my family and friends that I know I need to Christmas shop for. From there, I will look at my budget and start breaking it down per person. While I’m doing this I am also accounting for any shopping I want to do for myself. I generally have a separate budget for myself but if you don’t, please do consider your own needs.

An example of what I budget for myself is that every single year I know that I buy ALL of my lotions, hand soaps, and wallflowers (air fresheners) for the year on Black Friday during Bath and Body Works sale. You can’t beat the deals, even at their semi-annual sales. I go through long periods where I won't use these products myself because I simply prefer something a little more natural, but I have found that these are fantastic to keep on hand for small gifts throughout the year. You know, all the unexpected things... like you just realized your co-workers birthday is this week, it’s teachers appreciation day, or someone just needs a “thinking of you” pick-me-up. Utilizing and acknowledging this sale every November means I have planned for these unexpected expenses in a way that saves me a ton of money, time, and stress.

Know the list of stores you need to go to, what you want to buy, how much you plan to spend etc. 

BLACKFRIDAY.COM

BlackFriday.com is a site you can see all the sales ads you could ever want and need in ONE location. It makes planning quite a bit easier. You can compare different stores prices and map out where you want to shop. I do ALL of my Black Friday shopping online so this is a great resource for making sure I know exactly where I am going for what product before the day arrives to ensure I don’t get met with the words “sold out” reflected back at me when looking at the screen.

If you’re one of those people that love the thrill of waking up at 3am and getting those major in-store deals, this is where you’ll want to go to determine what stores have what doorbusters and where you need to be!

EBATES

Seriously, if you’re not utilizing Ebates yet, where on Earth have you been?!?

Ebates is an online platform in which you use to do ALL of your online shopping. Very simply, stores pay them a commission for sending their members to their websites, they then share part of that commission with you via cash back!

If you look at the above image, you’ll see that I’ve made $235.41 cash back off purchases that I would have made anywhere. I NEVER do any online shopping without first going through Ebates.

Utilizing cash back opportunities stretches your budget and allows your money to go further. Furthermore, online shopping is far more efficient than aimlessly browsing at brick and mortar stores, the gifts arrive at your home in boxes ready to wrap, and you can do it from the comfort of your big cozy bed while wearing fleece pajamas and sipping hot cocoa.

Win-Win-Win.

RETAIL ME NOT

Much like Ebates, Retail Me Not will offer cash back on purchases but I honestly think Ebates is way more lucrative for this. What I really love to use Retail Me Not for is their coupon codes.

So, when I’m ready to get down to some serious online shopping business, I will log into my Ebates account and browse the stores through there. When I am ready to check out in Ebates, I will open another tab in my internet browser and go to Retail Me Not. I’ll quickly type in the name of the store I’m about to check out at and see if they have any coupon codes that may be applicable to my order. If so, I hop back over to my Ebates tab, insert the copied coupon code, and check out.

Now I have saved money with a coupon code AND earned cash back on my purchase. Where this becomes REALLY powerful, is when it is strategically combined with sales. You won’t believe the amount of money you save by using these two resources in combination with a special holiday or store sale.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY CYBER MONDAY!

Yes, you will still get amazing deals on Cyber Monday online. There is no doubt about it. However, the best deals are and always have been, generally speaking, on Black Friday. 

Many people get fooled into thinking they should wait for Monday to do their shopping since they don’t want to go out into the madness that is retail brick and mortar shopping. Wrong. Most/many of those amazing deals in the ads are also online! 

If you see something you want/need, buy it on Black Friday! If by small chance you see it at a deeper discount the following Monday, simply cancel or return your Black Friday purchase and purchase it again for the lower price on Cyber Monday. 

DON’T IGNORE THE MONTH-LONG SALES!

Just as important as not being fooled by Cyber Monday, don’t be fooled by Black Friday! 

The entire month of November is littered with sales from every retailer you can possibly imagine. Sometimes you’ll find that something on your list is featured at a deep discount two weeks before Thanksgiving. Often times, this item will NOT be included in the Black Friday sale. 

I can’t tell you how many times I saw things on my shopping list on sale and thought, “Well, I’ll just wait until Black Friday, I bet the price will be even lower then.” This thought was only followed by disappointment, of course, as it was either not as deeply discounted the day after Thanksgiving, or it wasn’t included in the sale at all. Another thing that has happened is that by the time Black Friday rolls around, that item is no longer in stock... as it had been sold out during the previous sale.

I no longer make this mistake... I buy it when I see the price drop significantly. Then, as part of my planning for Black Friday, after I’m done making my designated competitive purchases, I have a list of the items that I’ve bought all month to check and see if the price is better. If it is, I simply do as I would with Cyber Monday and cancel/return for the better price. 

CASH BACK STORE DEBITS

Many companies offer store debit cards now in place of credit cards, the pioneer for this, as far as I know, is Target.

While I wouldn’t really ever suggest using credit cards, I can get behind debit cards that give you a little something back when you purchase at their associated store. Target, for example, gives an additional 5% off your purchase! Bonus- If you are a Target cardholder, Black Friday specials open up early giving you first dibs on those hot items that will quickly sell out!

MANY SALES ACTUALLY START ON THANKSGIVING!

This is true for soooo many stores! Many times you’ll see that a store actually launches their Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving, many times in the evening. If not the evening of Thanksgiving, at midnight on Black Friday. I know that WalMart is one of the major retailers that launches their sale the day before. This year the sale starts in store at 6pm on Thursday and actually online even earlier at 10pm on Wednesday!

PLAN ALL YEAR FOR MAJOR PURCHASES!

Black Friday, or the month surrounding it, is when I plan to buy major purchases like kitchen appliances, etc. I have saved THOUSANDS of dollars over the years doing this. Combining the sales with RetailMeNot and Ebates rewards me with a big fat check too! 

If you notice in July that your dishwasher may be on it’s way out, plan to buy a new one on Black Friday! This not only allows you to budget accordingly, but it will give you deep discounts you won't see at any other point during the year. 

This year, my partner and I know that we “need” a new TV, a new vacuum, a deep freezer, and a plethora of expensive baby gear for our expected arrival in the new year. We’ve been putting aside money since May knowing that we would be spending thousands of dollars on Black Friday to make these purchases. Sure, we are spending a lot at once, but we are saving way more by waiting for the biggest shopping sales day of the year. What’s more, we are prepared for it because we’ve been planning for months and months.