Hey Kadets! I know this isn’t 100% fashion, but you can only look good if you can afford it – so here are some tips for the best shopping day ever.  Whether you are looking for new styles for your body or your home, Black Friday is the day to do it!

Everyone loves the end of November.  Is it for the big turkey and mashed potatoes, or, like in my house, the amazing deals the day after? As an avid bargain hunter, I like to think I try to find the best deals, and that’s why my favorite holiday is Black Friday, or as my family calls it, “Gray Thursday,” because the deals now begin as early as 5pm on Thanksgiving. Leaving promptly after pie, my dad and I hit out first store at around 8pm and don’t usually return until 1pm the following day. Beginning on Wednesday, my army father types up a detailed schedule of the time and place we need to be to get our best price. Even if it means having us stand outside the BX at 3 in the morning for an hour, just for a $300 laptop. If it isn’t over 50% off, it isn’t going in the cart! It has become a tradition that we value and take very seriously in the Flicker household. From our 15 cups of coffee throughout the night to my 75% off sweater, don’t mess with me while I’m on the hunt. Since I lost my house in the Waldo Canyon fire, and just moved into my home this summer, we have a lot to replace…so Black Friday this year is going to be a wallet breaker. So as Thanksgiving draws closer, so does the intense, and sometimes violent, shopping holiday. We’re here to tell you where to go to get your game plan.  Stores have already started to announce what days and times that their shopping will begin, with some of their hot deals on the internet. One of my personal favorites to use is called theblackfriday.com, and it is the official Black Friday 2014 website, which you can get as an app on your phone. Ranging from Best Buy to Target, the website offers a wide selection of different stores to choose from. In addition, it includes pre- Black Friday deals and a variety of popular items that will be for sale — like that sweet Easy Bake oven for $10. On the other hand, with such good deals some people want to take the fun out of bargain shopping. There are rumors that a few newspapers are going to charge a fee for their Thanksgiving edition that contains the ads for Black Friday, which I think is ironically disgraceful to increase the price on a discount holiday. I like to feel the paper while I have my sharpie out, circling my prey. For example, the Chicago Tribune will cost two extra dollars on Thanksgiving, and The Detroit Free Press will be an additional dollar. Contradictory to what people would think, the Wall Street Journal states, “It turns out that gifts from Barbie dolls to watches to blenders are often priced below Black Friday levels at various times throughout the year, even during the holiday season, and their prices follow different trajectories as the remaining shopping days tick down.” So even though you may think you’re getting the best deal, don’t be fooled, keep a look out even before the madness of Black Friday begins. So check your sources, pack your knuckles, and buy some Redbull because this year is going to be a good one.