Black Friday weekend is fast approaching, and it’s the time when you’re going to find all the best seasonal deals for the upcoming holidays. If you utilize this weekend wisely, you’ll be able to get all of your shopping out of the way, so you’re not scrambling towards the end of the season.

Before you jump into all of the season sales, you should do some preparing for your shopping trip to ensure you get everything you need for as little as possible.

Research deals before you go:

You might have a list of everything you want to get, but do you know where you need to go to get the products?

A helpful website to avoid this scenario is blackfriday.com. The website offers you insight to what retailers plan to have on sale. This will help you in deciding where you want to shop, how you will budget your time and your money and in determining what you still need to shop for.

Shop carefully:

Don’t take the first deal you see; compare the prices before you shop to see where you can get the best deal. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t get too excited over the first sale you find. Always make sure you check out other places before purchasing.

Pay attention to wording:

Some things to look out for when shopping are when retailers offer a “stripped down” version of a product. This means it doesn’t come with the accessories you would normally expect it to, so you would have to go out and spend more money on buying it.

When you see a low price for an item, make sure that you know all that you are getting. Take the time to see what the cost of the accessories are so you know if you are actually getting a good deal.

Sales ads:

Another tip is to bring sales ads with you when you shop. Bringing store circulars with you gives you an advantage because you can call a store out on their lowest price guarantee offer. Most stores, especially on Black Friday, will have a policy that allows them to match or beat a lower advertised price, even if it’s offered at a different store. To take advantage of this, you’ll need to have proof of it. This is where the sales ads come in handy.

Specials:

Look into the early bird and night owl specials. The early bird specials are usually between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m. The night owl specials tend to be from midnight to 4 a.m. The early bird and night owl specials are great deals that allow you not only to beat the crowd but also to get the products you want before they are gone.

Policies:

The last part of Black Friday shopping that you should know is store policies. Since stores are becoming stricter on return and exchange policies, it is important to know which stores have more shopper-friendly policies. The amount of time that a store allows for a return is important if you are buying a product a month in advance. Holding on to the receipt is a good idea, as well as asking for a gift receipt.

If you cannot get everything you need on Black Friday or still want to shop more, there is still Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday weekend. These two days are also great opportunities to cross gifts off of your shopping list.