You may recall that last year I posted 5 Stress-Busting Black Friday Shopping Tips. In employing those tips this year, I realized I had a few more dollops of wisdom to pass along. Thus, bonus tips 2-4, below.
Bonus Tip 2 – Make a list. Yeah, it seems old fashioned, but not if you use Google Docs or some other spreadsheet-type program. I use this to list the family & friends I buy for every year (and sometimes others, too). I used to keep paper lists, but I would lose them from year to year — and part of the point of list keeping is to keep track of what you’ve given and not give that same present again. So, now my list is stored in the cloud.
Bonus Tip 3 – Check your inventory. When you’re buying all year long, you tend to forget what you’ve accumulated. So, before you go out this year, check what you’ve got at hand. Much to my delight, I discovered I had more than 50% of my shopping already done.
Bonus Tip 4 – Check the sale hours. Since you’re not going at the crack of dawn, you should find out when the deals that you’re angling for end. Many stores run certain sales all day or even all weekend. Some, though, have cut-offs during the day. This year, I got caught in a cut-off at the cash register, where all my $4 videos suddenly went up to $10. I literally missed the sale by 2 minutes — after spending the 15 previous minutes browsing “for fun.” Thing is, I knew when that store’s specials ended from last year. I just managed to forget it until 2 minutes too late. Good thing the things I missed getting were “spare” presents I was planning to stockpile, not something vital.
That’s it for this year. Happy Shopping & Happy Holidays!
