Money Saving Tips

You can almost smell the turkey now. Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away. You can look forward to a festive day filled with lots of fun, lots of family gossip and loads of carbs. This year, you can also add shopping to your Thanksgiving activities. Yes, many stores will be rolling out the special deals early and opening on Thanksgiving.

Prep Work

Just like Thanksgiving cooking, you need to do lots of prep work for Thanksgiving shopping, especially this year with so many changes.

1. Get your list – Make a shopping list of all the gifts you need to buy and the amount budgeted per gift.
2. Browse the ads – Do not go shopping without first having browsed all the store ads. You can find them in your newspaper or at bfads.net or dealnews.com/blackfriday. Dealnews even has a handy search feature so you can easily search for a specific item instead of going through all the ads.
3. Pay attention to the fine print – Most of the really good deals have fine print. Read the fine print and know the quantity and time restrictions on the deal.
4. Know when to shop for the deals– This year some of the most popular stores will be open and offering special deals on Thanksgiving Day. The stores include Sears, Walmart, Old Navy and Toys R Us. But some will be open in the morning and some in the evening. Others will open at midnight such at the Outlet Centers. Visit their website or call to learn their hours.
5. Know where to shop for the deals – If you will be shopping at mall stores, choose your mall wisely. Malls and shopping centers are competing against each other for your business and offering you many goodies. Check out the mall or shopping center’s website before you head out. You may be surprised to find your mall offering an extra bonus for shopping there. This is especially true for many GGP malls. For example, half of the GGP malls in Atlanta will be offering a free $10 gift card with a $100 purchase before noon on Friday.

Things to Remember

1. Price match policies – Instead of running around town from store to store, ask your favorite stores about their price matching policies. Many stores will honor the price in a competitor’s ad, you just have to ask and show the ad. However limited quantity or time items may be excluded from these policies. Amazon.com will even price match major websites.
2. Get and save your receipts – Stores have gotten even more stringent with their return policies this year. Make sure you know how and when an item can be returned. It is also helpful to provide a gift receipt with the gift. This is most important when purchasing electronics as many times they have limited return periods and even restocking fees.
3. Don’t forget about coupons – It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the sales and promotions but don’t leave money on the table by forgetting to use coupons. Stores have many coupons this time of year, so pair them with the sales and get even more savings. ShoppingQueen.com will feature lots of printable coupons.
4. Don’t worry about missing out– Black Friday is no longer the only big shopping day. So if you didn’t get all your shopping done, don’t worry. Cyber Monday is next week and you can take advantage of sales and promotions online.

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