GREENSBORO, N.C. — 2 Wants To Know is all about saving you time and money. And over the years we’ve learned some great tricks to do that on Black Friday.
Make Sure You’re Getting A Good Deal
Before you go shopping, type what you want into Google. Then click on the shopping tab. This is the absolute best place to comparison shop because it pulls prices from all over the internet and gives you reviews of every product.
What’s even cooler is if you’re out at the store and what to check prices on an impulse buy, the Google App has a great feature to help. On the search bar click the square with a dot in the middle. Then click the shopping cart. It lets you scan barcodes to make sure you’re getting the best price.
Don’t Miss A Sale
It used to be you'd find out about all the sales looking at the ads in the paper.
But now you'll find the best sale through apps on your phone. To make sure you don't miss the discounts, you'll want to turn your notifications for the apps on.
For iPhone:
Go to settings
Then notifications.
Slide them all to on.
For Android:
Go to settings
Apps & Notifications
Look under Recently Sent
Click on an app
Click on type of notification
Turn it on
But make sure to set an alarm on your phone on Tuesday to turn them all back off.
Ditch The Cart
When you're shopping on Black Friday with all those people around you, the last thing you want is to be trying to zip around with a huge shopping cart. Skip it and bring an Ikea bag or another large reusable shopping bag instead.
You also want to ditch the cart online. Wednesday or Thursday select a bunch of stuff you want to buy and add it to your cart. Then close the browser.
Stores don't like losing your business. So sometimes, if they see you walk away mid purchase, they'll send you a discount in an e-mail. Coupons which you can often use on top of other deals like Black Friday.
RatherBeShopping.com found at least 17 popular online retailers will send you those extra deals this way.
Dress The Part
Black Friday morning is supposed to be in the 30s. So you’ll want to dress warm. There’s a science too it.
Obviously, there’s the big coat. The middle layer needs to be a synthetic fleece. But the real key is the under layer against your skin. It could not be cotton.
"If you wear cotton, then that's just going to stick to you, and then the cold air is just going to make you cold, so you're going to stay cold,” said clothing expert Annette Blanton. “Where moisture wicking is going to pull the sweat away and keep you drier and warmer"
Experts say that's because cotton comes from the ground and has a cellulose fiber which makes it super absorbent. Polyester is synthetic made from plastic and coal and is great at wicking moisture.
Skip These Items On Black Friday
First up, toys. You’ll get the most play for your buck in the two weeks before Christmas with deeper discounts, but the hottest items might be hard to find by then.
Hold off on the holiday decorations too. The day after Christmas you can score that for up to 90 percent off.
In January, there’s a Black Friday like event just for bedding called The White Sale with savings up to 70 percent off.
Also in January, you’ll see the best deals on TVs right before the Superbowl.
Treadmills prices are slimmed down the most in February after people have given up on their New Year’s resolution.
Around Father’s Day in June is when you’ll drill down the best prices on power tools.
And July is a great time to buy jewelry. It’s their slow season meaning you can haggle for better prices.
Finally try to hold out till September for a new iPhone. That’s when Apple normally announces new models and the older ones get discounted.
Skip The Crowds
Camping out for hours in the cold. fighting all the other folks in the crowd sounds likes a blast! There's a way you can skip all that and still get the best deals.
For this trick, you'll need that trusty stack of ads in the newspaper. Look through and see what you want. Then go online before Black Friday buy the same items at full price.
But only buy them with your credit cards that have price protection on them. Once they go on sale Friday, you submit a quick form to the credit card company. They will refund you the difference.
Here's the catch: you want to look through your credit card fine print first to make sure the item is covered. And you've got to buy the item before the sale.
Also, hold on to your receipt and the hard copy of the Black Friday ad. Some credit cards won't take deals advertised on the internet.
If it sounds like a lot of work, there's apps to help. Paribus will scan your receipts and automatically submit claims for you.
Know The Best And Worst Stores For Deals
Black Friday experts say at most, you should stick to just shopping at 2 stores. So you want the best deals. The Krazy Coupon Lady did the calculations and found these three stores come out on top.
At Kohl's you can get a 53% savings on your average purchase. Macy's a 56% savings. And JCPenney a 58% savings.
You'll notice these are mostly clothes and household stuff. If you want something like electronics your deepest discounts probably come as no surprise: Best Buy offers an average 41% off deal. Compared to 39% at Walmart and 38% at Target.
The worst places to Black Friday shop are Costco and Sam’s because they already offer such deep discounts.