Black Friday Tips on a Student Budget

Friday 29th November 2024. Black Friday. It has fast become one of the biggest dates on the calendar each year, despite the whole concept being a US one until recent years. As a student, you are used to living on a budget, looking for student discounts and offers, and learning where to splurge and where you can save on student items.

Black Friday is a day in the year where you can maximise your spending, purchase the items you’ve had your eye on for a while and not had the funds, and where you can buy some Christmas gifts for friends and family without breaking the bank.

We’ve put together a guide to help you, a range of Black Friday tips that will help you make the most of the day and stretch your budget as far as it can go with some great deals and offers online and in store!

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday began primarily as a big shopping day in the USA. It was a term first used to describe the chaos that would surround the day after Thanksgiving, as crowds would descend on shopping malls across the USA. Over time, big brands cottoned on to the idea of big crowds of shoppers wanting to spend their money the day after Thanksgiving and Black Friday became a shopping day that was marked on everyone’s calendar each year. It marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season for most people, a chance to stock up for Christmas, buy gifts, and make the most of some outrageous Black Friday deals.

Black Friday in the UK

For a shopping day that was primarily based in the USA, due to its links with Thanksgiving, it was at first a bit strange for Black Friday to become so popular in the UK. It has become a big deal since the beginning of the 2010s, when American-owned brands and retailers began targeting consumers in the UK, as well as in the US.

British brands took note and added their own offers. Before this, Black Friday as a term was used to describe the last Friday before Christmas (or sometimes referred to as ‘Mad Friday’), where everyone has finished work for the Christmas break and the pubs and bars were at their busiest all year. In 2010, Amazon launched Black Friday sales in the UK and the website crashed, and since then all the major retailers have launched Black Friday campaigns which have grown each year.

Black Friday tips

Here are some of the tips to help you make the most of your budget and to hit the sales come Black Friday.

Save up in advance

It’s no good waking up on the morning of Black Friday and wondering why you’ve missed out on an item you like the look of. The same way that you would physically need to queue outside a shop on a sale day to make sure you had a chance of buying a popular item, you need to know what you are aiming for on Black Friday. One of the best Black Friday tips is to plan ahead.

Save up some money during the year, so that you have a pot put aside primarily for this day. Obviously, only do this if you can afford to do so, putting away a small amount regularly can quickly build up, but you never want to put yourself in financial difficulty to do so.

Wake up early on Black Friday

The best way to ensure that you get the best Black Friday deals is to get up as early as you can, get online and have your favourite stores bookmarked. The best deals are always likely to sell out, so you need to be on top of it and in a queue either in-person outside the store or online.

Find the Black Friday stores

Not every store will be holding a Black Friday sale, so make sure you have done your research fully. Look at different retailers and what is on offer, think about the types of items you’ll want to buy and plan where to hit on the morning of the sales.

Some shops will also start their Black Friday sales earlier in November, allowing you to get ahead of the big crowds on that one day of the year.

Set a budget

You should set a strict budget for your Christmas shopping in general, but it is a good rule to have for your Black Friday shopping too. Set a budget that you can afford and that won’t put you in any danger financially and be strict with it. It can be tempting to go over your budget if you see something that you really want that is a little bit more expensive than you were hoping for, but it won’t be worth it in the long-term.

Use your student discount

You might think that because you are receiving a Black Friday discount that you can’t use your student discount. In some cases, a student discount might not be allowed but it is always worth asking at the stores that you are looking to shop at on Black Friday. The worst case scenario is that they say no, best-case, you get an extra student discount on top.

Be polite to staff

Whether you are dealing with people in real-life at a physical retail store or you are online shopping and need to ask a question of a live human agent in a chat box, on the phone or via email, always be polite.

Living on a budget as a student is natural for many people, whether it’s learning how to budget for a weekly food shop or travelling around European cities on a student budget. This is why it is so much fun to have a day such as Black Friday where there are countless deals, offers, and promotions for loads of big brands and other stores.

What items are you most excited about getting your hands on this Black Friday? We hope these Black Friday tips have helped you plan out exactly what you are going to do on the day to ensure you get the items you want and to use your budget in the best possible way.

If you are looking for student accommodation for the next year, you are in the right place. Visit our Essential Student Living website and browse through the range of properties that cater to every budget.

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