5 Money Tips To Survive Black Friday
The most epic shopping holiday of the year is approaching us very quickly. Black Friday is almost here! Actually, some stores are even doing pre-Black Friday sales trying to captivate and persuade us to surrender our wallets even earlier.
I discovered that there is actually a history behind Black Friday. It has been acknowledged as the informal beginning of Christmas shopping since 1952. One explanation for the name, Black Friday, describes this weekend as the time where businesses go from “in the red” (experiencing financial loss) to “in the black” (experiencing a profit). That’s just how powerful this weekend is for some businesses.
As we can see, this weekend has been around a while and the number of shoppers and dollars spent have only grown year to year. The amount of people you encounter in one location on that day is absolutely astonishing. In the year 2016, the National Retail Federation reported that 154 million people shopped in stores and online. Let’s make a comparison with these numbers. Magic Kingdom in Orlando, FL has maintained the highest theme park attendance for years, with an estimated 20,395,000 visitors in 2016. From that info alone, we’re able to confidently say that Black Friday attracts 5+ years of Magic Kingdom’s attendance in a 3 day weekend. So, if you’re claustrophobic you may want to shop from your computer.
With this amount of people showing up for “THE” shopping weekend of the year, plenty of money is spent. According to thebalance.com, this shopping weekend is a major economic event - CLEARLY. As much as 30%-40% of many businesses’ annual sales occur during this time. In 2016, there was an average of $935.58 is spent per person and a total of $655.8 billion total for all shoppers. Talking about an economy surge! However, the sad part about all of this is that this massive shopping event opens the door for debt accumulation. While researching, I discovered an infographic that shared some great info (shown below from visualcapitalist.com). The most noticeable info was this: Each year during Black Friday shopping, approximately 450,000-500,000 Americans sign up for store credit cards. This is a very dramatic difference in credit applications that occur 10 days before and 10 days after the shopping event, averaging between 160,000-180,000.
The realization that people tend to ignore is that these stores are manipulating us. We are “brandwashed” day in and day out. On marketwatch.com, an article shared some psychological tricks that stores use to reel us in to surrender our dollars. Remember this: Money is 80% mental and 20% math. These stores know that. Here are the tricks that caught my eye:
1. They price everything one cent short of a whole number (24.99)
2. They treat you like a long lost friend
3. Price hike, then discount
4. Offer free products if you buy a certain amount
Well, my mission here is to help you avoid all of this. I KNOW it’s hard my people, but you have to stay focused. Here are 5 tips for you to actually make it through Black Friday weekend without breaking your financial dam:
Spending Limitations
Before you even start to shop on Black Friday, you should create some limitations for yourself. If your plan is to spend $500, you should have a goal to be focused enough to not allow promotional signs, good customer service, friends or family get you off target. Actually don’t even take anyone with you. Leave your siblings, mama, kids, cousins, and friends at the house. Most times the company you bring result in you spending more than you planned. SET YOUR LIMIT & STICK TO IT.
Search Ahead
The stores are already sending out advertisements for their deals. Do as much shopping before the day to help you stay focused. If you know that “Granny” wants a Michael Kors wallet, plan to go get her the wallet and leave the store.
Make a list
After doing your pre-shopping, make a list on PAPER. Stick to this list. If you use your phone you’ll end up on the internet or IG or FB looking at other deals and what your friends bought. Plus, Siri is listening to you and will send random, but oh so accurate, ads to your timeline resulting in even more spending.
Cash
The list that you make should give you a pretty good idea of how much you’ll need to spend to secure your purchases on Black Friday. This is the ultimate step - TAKE CASH ONLY or LOAD A PREPAID DEBIT CARD. Black Friday is like going to the casino, losing all of your money and running to the atm to get more. No, no, no! Don’t overspend and don’t go into debt either. People use credit to buy gifts during the holidays and spend the entire first quarter (or longer) of the following year to get out of the debt. Due to interest, this results in you paying $30.00 for the $18.99 toy you got for your niece.
Follow Through
Select “E. All of the above”. Following through on all of these steps will keep you on track. Not doing one step will result in you derailing the whole mission.
Happy shopping y’all! Don’t let Black Friday do this to your piggy bank:
