Black Friday shopping can be stressful with all the crowds, checkout lines, and pre-dawn deals. And before long, you may find yourself questioning why you even decided to leave home.
But with a little planning, Black Friday can actually be rewarding. You just have to make the best use of your time.
With just days to go before Black Friday, creating a plan and finding resources to help you efficiently get through the shopping day is critical. So we’ve compiled some tips for maximizing your time and minimizing the annoyances that go with one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Read on to learn more:
Plot Your Plan
There’s nothing worse than guessing where to go on Black Friday. Instead, use online services like Best Black Friday or The Black Friday to find the best deals ahead of time. The sites list store ads and help you search for certain products — all for gathering some much-needed intelligence before hitting the road.
Use Apps to Find Deals
It’s Friday morning, and you have some idea of where you want to go, but you could still use some help. Download one of the apps we listed here in our Black Friday app guide. All of them will help you find discounts, save items to a shopping list, and even help you compare prices between stores.
Amazon Can Help With Price Comparisons
The Amazon app has a handy price-checker tool. You can scan a product’s barcode and immediately compare its in-store price to what Amazon charges for it. It may be the one app to use before you decide whether to buy a product online or in a store.
Use Waze to Beat Traffic
You can expect traffic jams on Black Friday. But if you use Google’s Waze direction service or even the company’s Google Maps, you can find ways to get around it. Want to learn how? Click here for our guide.
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Consider Shopping on Thanksgiving
Black Friday may be the traditional day for deals, but many retailers are open on Thanksgiving. And according to an analysis of discounts by deals site DealNews, Thanksgiving sales are actually better than most Black Friday discounts. Whether you’re in the market for electronics, kitchen appliances, or movies, Thanksgiving shopping may be your best bet. And chances are, you’ll beat some of the crowds.