Preparing for Black Friday Shopping

I am not one of those crazy people who gets up extremely early or never really goes to sleep on Thanksgiving night so that I can hit up the good deals on Black Friday.  My mother and I do go out every year, but it is usually not until 8:00 a.m. when most of these people have probably retired home already.  I usually try to get all my Christmas shopping done on this day so we still find great deals, we just don't have to deal with such big crowds.

Here is how I prepare for this big shopping day:

1.  I gather all the Black Friday shopping ads and my iPad together on the kitchen counter.  I also have my Christmas list and a notebook to create my shopping list in.

2.  As I go through the ads, I compare them to my Christmas list and jot down anything that is on my list onto my shopping list.  I also look for possible gift ideas for the people on my Christmas list who I don't have anything for yet.

3.  When I jot down the item that I would like to get, I also jot down what store I need to visit and if the sale only goes until a certain time.

If there is something that I really want that is one of the early morning sales, I will see if I can order it online on Thanksgiving.  This way I don't have to fit the big crowds and some stores will have Black Friday prices earlier online so I can order the items on Thanksgiving or even earlier.  Some stores even offer good deals on shipping if you purchase a certain dollar amount.

4.  After I have gone through all the ads, I look at the shopping list I have created and use this to compile a new shopping list categorizing the list by the hours of the different sales I need to hit.  For example, if there was a sale that ended at 9:00 a.m., I would list that store and the items I need to get there first.  This becomes like my agenda for the day.

On Thanksgiving, my mother and I will sit down after dinner and discuss a game plan for the next day.  What time do we want to leave? What stores do we need to hit up first? etc. 

The morning of the big day, I grab a smaller purse that is easy to carry and only holds my wallet, phone, keys, and shopping list.  I also try to dress a little warmer than usual because I don't want to have to carry a coat around with me.  Usually this means that I am wearing a vest, long-sleeve shirt, and jeans.  

It is a long day of shopping, but I enjoy spending time with my mother and kicking off the holiday season with this tradition.  How do you prepare for Black Friday shopping?