With Thanksgiving a mere week away, marking the beginning of the official holiday season, our old nemesis, "Black Friday" will be rearing its ugly head once again, turning once reasonable citizens into villains starring in their own network production of, "Invasion of the Barbie Snatchers."
While we can't avoid the holidays, lunatic shoppers, and cranky sales associates, we can avoid the majority of the chaos by completing the majority of our Black Friday shopping- online???
Yes indeed, not only can we use the internet to find a spouse, order our groceries, and stay in touch with our president elect, but we can use it to avoid holiday insanity! If you have a quick finger, purchasing limited quantity items on retailers' websites can be easier than saying, "EBay!" However, if you'd rather avoid the stress altogether, try checking out retail websites on "Cyber Monday," the newest shopping holiday to grace our calendar. "Cyber Monday" falls on the Monday after Black Friday and offers a plethora of hot online deals for those who would rather spend November 28th eating leftovers than getting jabbed in the ribs by mean-spirited elbows.
Whether you'll be shopping at a store on-site, or browsing through internet sites, it helps to learn the lingo. Take note of the bellow abbreviations before you hit the check-out process:
AR- After Rebate
MIR- Mail in Rebate
B&M- Only at retail locations
And if you do decide to brave the crowds, remember to be safe. While most customers take the day with a grain of salt, a lot of people are generally one shopping basket short of a stack on Black Friday, so don't antagonize any situation.
-Contributed by Alicia Butler
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