Black Friday

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving - one that traditionally sees a ton of retail discounts as means to get retailers "back in the black" financially. Usually, stores don't release details of the sales they'll feature on the kickoff of the holiday shopping season until Thanksgiving (or sometimes the day before Thanksgiving), but some Web sites get a hold of stores' ads and post them before then. By doing a simple Google search for "Black Friday," you can find of plethora of these sites, but there are two I use the most - Black Friday Ads and Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com.

What I like about these two sites is that they present the sale information very systematically and neatly. It's very easy to find what you're looking for, especially if you search by store or by product. For example, on Black Friday Ads, if I decide I want to look for what digital cameras will be on sale on Black Friday, I can either click the "search" link and type in "digital camera." On Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com, I can simply click the "digital camera" link under the "Sales By Category" heading. Both sties offer links to the stores of which they have sale information - clicking these links will take you to a listing of all the deals that store will offer. So easy!

Both sites also offer straight item lists and scanned copies of the ads that will arrive at your doorstep right before the big day. They can really help you plan your trip if you're a heavy-duty Black Friday shopper, or if you're not, you can see if there might be a deal you would be willing to brave the biggest shopping day of the year for. Supposedly retail sales have been down this year, so keep watching these sites and expect some really great deals for Black Friday!