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Black Friday

Black Friday is an annual shopping event that originated in the United States. 

Traditionally it takes place the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday (which is the fourth Thursday in November).

Black Friday marks the unofficial start of the what can be called the ‘holiday shopping season’.  It is famous because in the USA, retailers offer amazing discounts and fabulous low cost promotions, slashing prices on various in demand products.

These days, many local retailers start offering early access to Black Friday “specials” or even run a Black Friday month long event with daily specials offering discounts. And Black Friday is often followed by some sort of Cyber Monday, with lots of specials on tech and IT gadgets.

Black Friday sales can be quite substantial, and it’s not uncommon for people to wait in long lines overnight or go shopping at the crack of dawn to get the best deals. We have all seen those videos of people storming into stores and knocking over old grannies to grab sales items.

Why “Black Friday”?

The name “Black Friday” is said to have come from the idea that retailers’ financial records would go from being “in the red” (where in the olden days people wrote losses in red ink) to being “in the black” (indicating profits) on this day due to the high volume of sales.

It has become a significant event for both retailers and consumers and social media and sales emails can really get you all hyped up to spend, spend, spend.

It is shopping FOMO on steroids.

When everyone around you is spending and talking about the amazing deals they got, it can be hard not to just join in, even if you can’t really afford it. This is why it can be difficult for those sticking to a budget to avoid giving in and splurging on something nice even if they do not really need it or really need it now.

But the retailers are eager to get you in their stores spending all your money so they can go from being ‘in the red’ to ‘being in the black’.

Careful!!!

If you are in debt review, carefully consider if you need to get something for Black Friday.

Beware of the FOMO getting the best of you. While instant gratification can be fun, it can seriously impact on your saving towards other important annual costs. And if it messes with your ability to make your debt repayment in November it is simply not worth it. You can lose all the progress you have made to date. That’s a bad exchange no matter how good the deal.

If you have slowly been saving towards a certain item and will do some shopping around for the best advertised deal then that’s probably ok but beware of just buying something on impulse because it is a good price.

Some people who are living on less simply decide to totally ignore all the media hype and adverts instead of being sucked in. Others decide to keep an eye out for items they are actively shopping for or have been saving towards.

Whatever you decide to do this year, beware of Black Friday Hysteria!