How's this for holiday savings: Bringing home a haul of remote control cars, tablets, coats and boots worth $8,000 for just $1,300. That's what extreme couponer Joni Crothers and her "coupon-tourage" accomplished on a Black Friday shopping spree to fulfill the wish lists of 16 children in need.
Holiday shopping season kicks off next week with Black Friday's big sales, but you don't fight through the throngs to snag savings: Here are four ways the best shopping rewards credit cards can save you a small fortune.
Black Friday sales circulars for several major retailers are already out online, and the deals look tempting. And at some chains, you won't even have to wait until Friday. We'll update as we learn more, but here's the scoop on the deals and sale times that we know so far.
Target's Black Friday Sale will begin at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, three hours earlier than a year ago. The discounter joins several other major retailers, including Walmart, that are kicking off the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Day and staggering deals over the two-day period.
Black Friday sales have been starting earlier and earlier, and now, Walmart is pushing the retail craziness even further: It will open its doors at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, before the evening's football game between the Jets and the Patriots even kicks off.
The good news is that the election is behind us, so expect political ads to disappear from the airwaves. The bad news is that you can now spend the next six to seven weeks getting thoroughly sick of Christmas advertising.
If you're one of the throngs of shoppers who camp out all night outside the nation's stores before Black Friday in hopes of nabbing a huge deal when the doors swing open, you've been duped.
Big merchants got an early Christmas present this year: Better-than expected November sales. This group posted 6% sales growth compared to 2009, far ahead of most forecasts for 3% to 4% growth. But bargain-hunting is likely to continue in December.
More stores are open on Thanksgiving, traditionally a day when shops have been closed, to get a jump on Black Friday, the most important shopping day of the year. The bargains have drawn some shoppers -- and also some grumbling -- but traffic is nowhere near as busy as retailers expect it to be this weekend.
