How to: Shop Like a Pro
Tori Wilcox, Staff Writer
December 7, 2009
Filed under How To..., Top Stories
As many of you know Christmas is a time of giving and recieving. It is a time when everyone is nice and there is a sense of happiness in the air. Unfortunately for some people it can be a crazy time of year filled with crowds and crazy mob scenes. These enormous crowds and wild sales are known as Black Friday. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving where people wake up in the middle of the night to get the perfect Christmas presents for everyone. Sadly Black Friday has just passed. Many of you may ask now how will I get the best present and what are the best days to go shopping? So if you missed Black Friday and don’t know when to shop, not to worry because here are the steps to getting the best bang for your buck and not having to tackle the Christmas shopping crowd.
First, make a list of all the people you need to go shopping for. You don’t want to forget anyone so make sure you check it twice. Next, put the amount of money you will spend for that person next to their name. After that figure out how you are going to buy all these fabulous goodies, either from your savings or by asking mom and dad. Now that you have your list and money, it’s time to shop.
The best days to go shopping are two weeks before Christmas. This will give time for the crowds to settle down a little bit from Thanksgiving sales. If you can, try to go shopping on a weekday. On weekdays there are fewer people in the mall and it will also be way quicker and easier to find things. If you want to know about sales going on check the newspaper and store advertisments or ask friends and family. Most of the time if you ask someone about sales going on, there are usually pretty good chances they will know of some. Also when you buy something from a store ask for a box to put it in. It will save you time and money on gift wrapping presents.
If you don’t want to take the time to drive to the mall or are just way too busy, try online shopping. Sometimes the best deals are online and you might be able to get things from online are that are sold out in stores. Amazon is a very good place to shop online. If you buy something from Amazon you can get the present wrapped and shipped to the house of the person who you bought it for. Since we live in Hawaii and we don’t have all the stores the mainland does, online shopping can help you buy a unique and cool present from a store that someone may never have even heard of before.
By now some of you may be asking, what about Christmas Eve? Is that a good day to go? Well, Christmas Eve shopping has two sides to it. There are very good deals, but at the same time, by the night before Christmas many presents will be sold out. But if you’re on a budget, down to a few hours to shop, and don’t have specific things to buy, go for it!
Hopefully now you are now educated on how to shop like a pro, and will get the best presents for everyone on your Holiday giving list.