Black Friday Madness

Black Friday is only 2 days away. It's the day where intense shoppers wake up before sunrise to fight for crazy deals. If this is your first time being one of those shoppers, here's a few tips to make the morning more manageable.

1. Make a plan. Make a list of the specific items you want to purchase. Sometimes stores will have a big ticket item discounted and claim they only have a few. You get to the store and, of course, they're out. so you end up buying a similar item that's either is more expensive or is cheaper and they need to get rid of them.

2. Have a budget of how much you want to spend on each item.

3. Drive in one car. Parking is a nightmare and outrageous. I was trying to find parking at a mall a few days ago and that was crazy, too.

4. Leave the kids at home. They'll only slow you down or get hurt in the overexcited crowd.

5. Avoid rain checks. If a store is out of stock of an item, they may offer you a rain check. However, if there are more rain checks than the store can handle you might be waiting months to get you product or not get it at all.

6. If you want to wake up later in the morning, make sure to get to the stores before 11 am. You don't all the good deals to be gone before you get there. Also, some stores are extending their Black Friday deals into Saturday. Nothing like extended store hours.

7. Stay home!!! There are still alot of good deal online as well. They may not be as great as a $3 toaster, but still pretty amazing. Plus some stores rely on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday, to sell more electronics.

8. Wait till after Christmas. The shopping season doesn't end because the holidays are over. If you're shopping for digital cameras or other electronics, wait till late January or February. That is when the fiscal year ends for foreign countries and the new models come out. The old models go on sale in the U.S.