28 November 2007 No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

It’s freezing cold, my body has just began to function correctly and here I am in a long line among hundreds of anxious shoppers that don’t look too friendly. No, this was not the release of the latest hit movie or Apple product, its the yearly phenomenon known as Black Friday. I chose to shop primarily at Target since they have a bit of everything in one store. A lot of people and many of my fellow personal finance writers don’t care much for black Friday. Thursday even wrote about why she avoids black Friday here on Money Socket. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly look forward to waking up at 4 AM to spend my hard earned money, but I did get some great deals which I’m happy for and I did save about $500. Let me explain why. I like to treat black Friday like a credit card, as it can hurt you or it can be beneficial, like in my 8 reasons to love credit cards article.

I think Black Friday is taboo in the personal finance world because it promotes irresponsible consumerism. I do agree as one can easily get carried away among the frenzy. Here are two things you have to avoid on Black Friday:

1. Buying because it’s on sale. Don’t just get something because it’s on sale. I know some people who buy the sale and not the product, but I’d rather save 100% of retail on something I would have never bought then to pay 60% of retail to have it. It’ll end up sitting there and collecting dust while your money is long gone.

2. Buying on impulse. Black Friday is when you’ll see some funny things. I noticed that everyone around me picked up a 42 inch LCD TV the moment the doors opened, as if they were free or something. The funniest thing about last Friday was when my good friend stuffed a 37 in HDTV in his cart. I asked him how much it was and he told me he had no idea. He ended up buying it for $550 (regular price $799) and on Monday he was thinking about returning it since he has no use for it. Luckily he was able to pawn it off to another friend for $600.

If you avoid buying because it’s on sale and buying on impulse, there is some good to the Black Friday door busters. Here are some reasons why I like black Friday.

1. There are real deals. If you were going to buy something anyway, you might as well buy it on this day. I bought a 22in LCD computer monitor for $167 from Target, with a regular price of $279. I do a lot of graphic design and writing, and I was going to buy a large monitor early next year anyway.

2. Get gifts! It’s funny how creative you can get with gift giving when you see something on sale. All of a sudden that $5 toy is “perfect” for so and so’s kid. This is exactly what we did and we got some great deals on Christmas gifts, the most noteworthy being a GPS navigation device my dad always wanted.It’s $299 at regular price and I paid $139. I would have paid $299 had I waited another 2 weeks.

Overall, black Friday is not bad in my book, but I would only go if there was something that I was going to buy down the line anyway. For example, if things go as planned and I purchase my new house by next year, I’ll likely be among the first in line at Best Buy to save hundreds on a TV among other household items. If I have the time, I’ll do my gift shopping as well.