Free Apps: Black Friday Shopping
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores offer various deals and incentives to try to turn a profit for the year, has grown into an intense, competitive, in some cases week-long or month-long shopping extravaganza. If you're planning to head out this Friday, please keep these tips in mind:
1. In most cases, the store employees would rather be at home with their families (or in bed sleeping) than ringing up purchases at 5:00 a.m. Be courteous, be respectful, be friendly, and make sure to say "please" and "thank you" and "Happy Thanksgiving!" or "I hope you have a good day." A little kindness can go a long way to make someone's day better, and you'll usually get a better experience out of it, too.
2. Be safe and be cautious. It might sound ridiculous, but people really have been seriously injured and even killed in Black Friday chaos. Keep your wits about you, don't try to fight over anything, and, if possible, use the buddy system.
3. An advertised price isn't always a good deal. Just because it's Black Friday doesn't mean that all the prices are the best they'll be all year, or that every store has the best price on every item. And, in general, just because a price is listed in a weekly advertisement doesn't mean it's a significant sale, or even a sale at all. So have a rough idea of what you're looking for and what the "regular" prices are; you can also use a comparison app to scan barcodes to check prices at other stores.
...which leads me to the main point of this post: free apps (for Android, since that's what I use) to help you with your Black Friday shopping. Just click through for a run-down of the best apps to help you find deals, score more, compare prices, and calculate your discounts.
DEALS, Deals, and More Deals
As we get closer to Christmas, stores are offering more and more discounts, deals, and special offers to entice customers. this year, there are more Christmas-focused pre-Black Friday deals than ever before, with stores in a never-ending competition to snag the most customers and the biggest profits during the most shopping-focused time of year.
Some pre-Thanksgiving deals have already come and gone, and the Black Friday deals are too numerous for me to detail here. Instead, I'm simply listing some of the current offers that I find to be the best deals / the ones I'm most likely to use myself.
Because there are so many deals this time, I'm putting them all below the fold, so to speak. Click through for all 8 deals, which include Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Sears, Target, J.Crew Factory, Snapfish, and Bath & Body Works. Happy shopping!
RANT: Poor Service at Giant & Chipotle
Tonight was a bit of a "terrible horrible no good very bad day." In addition to a lack of progress on our household chores, a husband very frustrated about the Ravens game, and a warning for speeding, I had very disappointing service transactions at two of my most frequented establishments: Giant, my grocery store, and Chipotle, the fast casual Mexican restaurant.
DEALS: Snapfish, Victoria’s Secret, & Old Navy
There are a few great deals going on right now that can be particularly helpful for Christmas gifts...
1. Buy 1 Photo Book, Get 2 Free at Snapfish
Snapfish is offering a buy one, get two free deal on 20+ page photo books through November 8 (Tuesday).
Sound good? Head on over to Snapfish to start creating your photo books.
The Limitations:
- Must use the discount code MYFALLBKS at checkout.
- All 3 books must have the same base price.
- Disney-themed photo books are excluded.
- Only one coupon, promotion, or account credit can be applied per order.
- Offer applies to first 20 pages of photo book only. Additional pages will be charged at regular prices.
- Coupon code may be used up to 5 times per customer.
- Expires November 8, 2011.
2. Secret Reward Card with $10+ Victoria's Secret Purchase
>Now through November 30, receive a free secret reward card (for $10, $50, $100, or $500 off a future purchase) when you spend $10+ at Victoria's Secret, in store or online. Since you only receive one reward card per order, regardless of your order's total, I'd advise placing multiple orders if you want to make a large purchase, in order to maximize your rewards.
Sound good? Head on over to Victoria's Secret to start shopping.
The Limitations:
- Purchase in-stock item(s) totaling $10 or more now through November 30, 2011.
- One Secret Reward Card per order.
- Secret Reward card has no value until December 1, 2011.
- Secret Reward card is redeemable December 1-21, 2011 online, by phone or in stores; excluding outlets.
- Offer not valid in Puerto Rico stores or for customers in Canada.
- Valid while supplies last through 11:59pm EST on November 30, 2011, online, by phone and in select stores.
3. $10 in Super C-A-S-H for Every $20 Spent at Old Navy
Earn "Super C-A-S-H" at Old Navy now through November 13. For every $20 you spend, you'll receive $10 in "Super C-A-S-H." The "Super C-A-S-H" can be spent at Old Navy between November 17 and November 22.
Sound good? Head on over to Old Navy to start shopping.
The Limitations:
- Qualifying purchase to earn Super C-A-S-H includes merchandise only, excluding gift cards. Packaging, applicable taxes, and prior purchases do not qualify.
- Super C-A-S-H cannot be redeemed on purchases of jewelry, Gerber®, Susan G. Komen iPromise®, merchandise or gift cards.
- Promotion ends November 13, 2011.
News & Links: 11/02/2011
A semi-regular round-up of fashion and shopping-related news and links.
» Filene's Basement and its parent company, Syms, filed for bankruptcy this morning. Going out of business sales are expected to be completed by January.
» With Google Wallet, Google is attempting to turn your phone into your wallet, so to speak. They've partnered with stores so you can pay, redeem coupons, and/or earn rewards points, all with one tap of your phone. (They also have exclusive limited-time offers.) To encourage people to try out the new service, they're heading out to NYC, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; you can get $10 towards your purchase when you use a demo phone to tap and pay at one of their store demo events.
» Jon Bon Jovi has opened a new restaurant, "Soul Kitchen," in New Jersey. But it's not just any old restaurant: it aims to serve as an alternative to soup kitchens; the hungry can pay what they're able or, if they lack the ability to pay, they can "bus tables... wait tables... work in the kitchen as a dishwasher or sous chef." I have a newfound respect for Bon Jovi.
» You no longer have to wake up at the crack of dawn to battle it out for Black Friday deals: The new trend is for stores to open at midnight. Macy's is set to do so at all but 20 of its 810 stores. (Many outlets, as well as Target, will also open at midnight.)
» I love the idea of a fruit label that turns into soap when wet!
» Fashion terms are tossed around all the time on TV shows and blogs, in magazines and newspapers, but what does it all mean? Lucky has the answers.
» A new company would like to help you find the perfect fit while online shopping with the help of a webcam and a CD.
» Or, if you're shopping in person, you can just use a fancy-schmancy 3D body scanner.
» In recycling news...
- A bridge in Scotland was built from 50 tons of recycled plastic
- Lifehacker has a list of 5 easy places to recycle your old gadgets
- eBay now offers "instant sale" — you can trade in your electronics for cash, without having to wait for a buyer
» IKEA now has a MANLAND?
» If you live in the DC area, check out the dewdropDC Clothing Swap and Pop-Up Shop next Saturday, November 12. I'm really disappointed that I can't attend.
DEALS: November $5 MP3 Albums
Amazon.com offers a variety of $5 MP3 albums each month; the November ones are now up on the site. In addition to 100 regular MP3 albums, Amazon.com also has 102 holiday MP3 albums for $5/each this month.
A sampling of the 202 albums currently available for $5 each:
I bought the Hotel Café's Winter Songs album in CD form two years ago; it was pretty much all we played on the drive home from a Christmas visit in New Jersey.
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