Is Black Friday actually a good deal?

Black Friday has been getting bigger and bigger over recent years and it is seemingly now an integrated part of the UK’s buying habits in the lead-up to Christmas, but it begs the question whether we are actually getting a good deal or not as prices have spiralled higher and higher this year.

Before we even look at the pricing, I think it’s key to understand that any deal on Black Friday is only a “deal” if you were planning on buying the item anyway.

For example, a number of years ago I was after a new phone but waited until Black Friday and ended up saving £100 more than if I’d bought the phone a few months prior. In this type of instance it is well worth shopping the sales and seeing what options are available to save you some extra pennies.

But it’s clear that some sites ramp up prices ahead of Black Friday just to reduce them to give the illusion of a great big discount. One of my favourite sites that I use to identify anything like this is called CamelCamelCamel which tracks the historical prices of Amazon listings to show if you are actually getting a good deal!

How to maximise savings

So once you have identified whether you are actually getting a saving, and ensuring you aren’t buying stuff for buying stuff’s sake, we want to make sure that you are saving as much money as possible.

The best way to do that is by using cashback sites on top of your purchases. Here are the one’s that I use all year round:

• TopCashback (get a £10 bonus as a new customer via my link once you have earned £10 of cashback)

• Quidco (get a £15 bonus as a new customer via my link once you have earned £5 of cashback)

• JamDoughnut (get a £2 bonus on your first transaction using my code “5ZNC” when you sign up)

• AirtimeRewards (get 50p when you sign up + a £1 bonus when you spend at one of their retailers within a week “AUWX6FFC”)

The reason that using cashback sites and apps like the ones mentioned above is so powerful is because not only can you potentially grab a bargain during the Black Friday sales, but you will also be getting extra money back in your pocket ON TOP of these savings which is certainly difficult to say no to!