how to shop for Black Friday/cyber monday deals

I know it's a little early to be talking about Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but I wanted you guys to be able to start your planning now. Let's face it, for many of us, the smartest way to shop is to already know what you want, set the money aside/start saving & plan accordingly on when is the best time to make the purchase. It's especially important to start early because  Black Friday is expected to look completely different this year due to COVID-19. Many retailers aren't even planning to open their doors for this coveted event due to it being next to impossible to social distance. So, majority of the deals will likely just be online. Either way, my years of learning how to best shop for all the deals without feeling all the guilt are still key.

The single most important factor for me has been to PLAN.  I am such a planner. I love to write things down, keep to do lists, write out my monthly budget, etc. I purchased my first home recently, so as you can imagine, I’ll have a pretty big list this time around. What I like to do is think of each area in my home, and the things I would like to purchase for it. Then I write out the things that either myself or the kids are wanting. Once I have this list, I begin to look up the current price in order to kind of gauge what it may be once the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals start rolling in. Once I have an idea of what everything is going to cost, I can start to prioritize them into wants vs needs and give them a mental ranking so I know exactly how important it is for me to be able to purchase that thing. Lastly, I budget accordingly. So instead of putting an extra payment on a bill, I may use that for my shopping. Or I will even decrease the amount of cash I withdraw for my envelopes in order to have some extra for shopping also.

Here’s an example of the list that I like to make (If you’d like a free downloadable pdf copy click on the black_friday_worksheet below.) For my room, I’ve been wanting either a headboard or a canopy bed (Still can't decide...). The one I'd like to get is pictured below. Taking a screenshot before Nov., gives me an idea of how much I can maybe expect to pay. The website currently offers 15% off when signing up for marketing and promotional materials, so I would imagine that their black Friday sale would be at least 25-40% off. In doing the math, I’d hope to be able to purchase this bed for $824.25-$659.40. I then repeat this step for all of the other items on my list. Depending on your list, it can be a bit time-consuming, but if you take it a day at a time, I promise it's worth it and makes your shopping experience less stressful. 
​ I hope this helps you guys to plan your shopping. I'll have some special deals for MML that I'm super excited to share. Imagine a new deal for each day of the week leading into Black Friday/Cyber Monday. If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for our emails so that you're the first to know about them!
XoXo,
Tierra

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black_friday_worksheet.pdf
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File Type:	pdf

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