Black Friday Shopping Like a Boss

Black Friday, like fried chicken and every single Real Housewives franchise, is one of the American imports I’m happy we in the UK have adopted. What’s not to like about a crazy pre-Christmas sale shopping frenzy, eh?

Last year I was working with a retailer on their own Black Friday campaign which meant I didn’t get as involved with the shopping as I would have liked. But this year it’s every woman for herself, and I’ve been in cahoots with top money saving website MyVoucherCodes to bring you my top black Friday shopping tips to make sure you – and I – get the very best bargains.

Here’s how to get the most out of the busiest shopping day of the year:

Top Black Friday Shopping Tips

Have your money ready
When it comes to getting the best deals in the short time you might have on Black Friday, it’s extremely beneficial to have your cash as accessible as possible so you don’t miss out. I try to check-out with Paypal.com where possible as that’s as easy as clicking a couple of buttons.

Otherwise I have my address and card information stored within my account on my favourite retailers’ websites, as well as in my browser (I use Chrome’s brilliant autofill function), making sure I’m not wasting minutes typing in my details. It’s an easy step but one that can save you valuable shopping time!

Sign up
So many deals are snapped up quickly by shoppers who have signed up to email lists, a mega easy way to find out which of your favourite stores are offering the best deals. Sign up individually as well as with a site like MyVoucherCodes, which will provide you with an aggregate of loads of online offers. You can always unsubscribe an email, but you might not always be able to get those leopard print boots for 30% off…

Get to the shops… if you can handle it
I remember accidentally wandering in to Selfridges one Black Friday, and on being greeted by absolute chaos in the accessories department I walked straight back out again. I’m not one for in-person jumble-shop mayhem, but if you can face a little skirmish over a half-price handbag there are some real sales bargains to be had in-store.

Know what you’re looking for
We all have those niggly purchases we have to buy that cost more than we’d like to spend. For me that’s mostly skincare, like my usual Chanel day cream (10% off already, this stuff is amazing) or Clinique face balm (15% off), or winter coats/accessories for the kids.

Do you need a larger household item like a microwave or TV, or have you got a long Christmas list to shop? Have your product links ready for these items and check your favourite retailers on the day to see if they’re discounted – if you can save between 10-30% it’s an effort well worth making.

Pre-shop
Some people are calling this time of year ‘Black Five-day’ because of retailers propensities to have their deals running all week. A friend of mine already snapped up her in-law’s Christmas present (a Google Home mini) at 20% off!

Retailers are running flash sales throughout the week, so check out sites like Amazon, John Lewis, FeelUnique and ASOS every day for some sweet bargains.

Shop around
It’s worth knowing which shops are selling your favourite products so you can make sure you get the best deal: Black Friday offers are not all equal! If you’re a compulsive organizer like me it’s worth keeping all your product links in a spreadsheet so once it’s Go Time you can methodically run through them and check to see where the biggest discounts can be had.

What will you be shopping for this Black Friday? Let me know if you’ve got any tips to be added!

Huge thanks to MyVoucherCodes for working with MTT so we can have a great time Black Friday shopping this year.