Gentleman, make room in your basement, shop, or shed!  If you’ve been trying to convince your bride, girlfriend, or roommate that you need more tools, then Plastic Jungle can help you make your case.  Next week, Lowe’s Home Improvement is celebrating Black Friday by giving unbelievable prices.  Pay for these Lowe’s Black Friday deals with discount Lowe’s gift cards and your receipt will be so low you’ll need to look at it twice.

Lowe’s Black Friday Sale includes DEWALT Powertools!

When it comes to powertools, especially cordless ones, no one makes drills and drivers like DEWALT.   Few will argue with that.  Bring home 4-piece DEWALT powertools bundle for more than 50% off when you shop Lowe’s Black Friday sale and pay with discount Lowe’s gift cards.  Who can argue with a discount that high, especially when this same kit sells on Amazon for $348?!  This set include a drill, impact driver, cordless reciprocating saw, and pivoting head flashlight.  With Lowe’s Black Friday sale price and discount gift cards you can save big on this DEWALT combo kit.

Great ShopVac Price During Lowe’s Black Friday Deal!

If bought today, this 14-gallon ShopVac would cost you $89.  Wait a week and pay with Lowe’s discount gift cards on Black Friday and this same ShopVac will only cost you less than $37.  My husband has a ShopVac in his studio and we just love how easy it is to use.  What other piece of equipment do you own that can quickly clean up water (think overflowing toilet) one minute and debris from removing old tile an hour later?

Over 50% off Table Saw with Lowe’s Black Friday Price!

Make a bench, repair your fence, or help your child make a bird house by using a safe and effective table saw.  An essential woodworking tool, you can justify the affordability of a table saw this holiday season when you’ll pay less than $83 for this Ski 10-Inch Table Saw at Lowe’s Home Improvement when you take advantage of Lowe’s Black Friday prices.

Look for an electronic way to keep track of your your Black Friday shopping list?  Download the newly released free BFAds mobile app now available on iPhone/iTouch/iPad and Android.

Some people literally shop on Black Friday.  Others, shop on what some of my friends lovingly call “Black Thursday.”  Since some stores, like Toys R Us, open at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, it’s important to sequence your Black Friday shopping so you know which sales are not to miss.

Toys R Us has some of the best Black Friday kids’ toy and electronics deals for 2012.  Pair Toys R Us Black Friday prices with Plastic Jungle discount gift cards and you’ll save even more!

If you use discount Toys R Us gift cards to buy an Apple 4th Generation iPod Touch on Black Friday, you’ll save 10% AND get back a $20 Toys R Us gift card AND a $30 iTunes gift card.  It’s like paying only $130 for the newest iPod Touch!

Buy your child his or her first car for less than $1,000.    You can get your 3 to 6 year-old child their very own Barbie or Cadillac Hybrid Escalade Fisher-Price Power Wheel for ONLY $249 (normally $419.99) when you use discount Toys R Us gift cards to buy this item on Black Friday at Toys R Us.  My nephew just loves his!

Legos, Legos, Legos.  Toys R Us is giving a 40% price reduction on ALL its Lego products on Black Friday!  SpongeBob Krusty Krab Adventure Legos are on sale for $20.99!  Lego Duplo Disney Pixar Cars 2 Big Bentley set is only $32.99!  (This set normally costs $54.99)   And the Harry Potter Hogwarts Lego set is only $41.99! Save an additional 10% Lego sets at Toys R Us by ordering your Toys R Us discount gift cards now.

Plan ahead.  Know when your favorite stores’ Black Friday sales begin so you can get your hands on all the low priced deals you want.

Whether you have shopped all Black Friday morning long or you find it entertaining to see your friends’ Black Friday posts on Facebook, we all know that while turkey (or ham, or duck, or tofu) is digesting, millions of people across our nation find stellar deals at wee-hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving.

Isn’t Black Friday in November?  Yes.

What’s all the hype about?  Particularly for big ticket items, Black Friday is one of the best days of the year to buy a television, tablet, refrigerator, washer, dryer, etc.  You can make the deals even sweeter by stocking up now on gift cards for your favorite retailers including Best Buy gift cards, Target gift cards, Sears gift cards, and Walmart gift cards.

So why think about Black Friday weeks in advance?  Now is the time to shop the Plastic Jungle discount gift card inventory so you can stack Black Friday discounts later.

If you are planning to buy Bath & Body Works lotions, Wallflowers, or anti-bacterial PocketBac® sanitizing hand gel as stocking stuffers, buy discounted Bath & Body Works gift cards now.

What if the brands of gift cards I want are out of stock?  That’s okay.  Don’t fret.  Sign up for a notification and be alerted as soon as they are available again.

Seriously?  Yep.  And if you think I’m kidding, wait just a few weeks when I share last-minute Black Friday tips and you’ll wish you had stocked up on discounted gift cards well before November.

Michelle Madhok told Rachel Ray and her audience all about how to buy gift cards at a discount and sell gift cards you have on her favorite site  And she has more Black Friday savings tips.  Check it out: http://www.shefinds.com/2010/shefinds-on-rachael-ray-where-to-score-free-money-on-black-friday/

And happy shopping!

So tomorrow’s the big day! By now many of you have your turkey in the oven and are baking pies in preparation for your Thanksgiving Day feast. But in the back of your mind you are counting down the minutes until Black Friday. We totally get you, and to help you out on this gigantic shopping day, here are some last minute tips for those of you who are going to brave the stores, to help make your Black Friday experience both profitable and fun.

Last Minute Black Friday Tips:

• Know where the sales are – By now you should already have a list of the things you want to buy and where they are on sale for Black Friday. It’s a good idea not to step blindly into the throng, but rather to have a plan of action.
• Carry store ads with you – If you found something that is going to be on sale, be sure to clip the ad out or print it off your computer and carry it along with you. Store employees are going to be very busy and mistakes in pricing could be made. This will ensure you get the advertised price on your item.
• Take advantage of credit card holiday specials – Often credit card companies offer holiday incentives, like discount fees, bonuses and extra reward points. Check with your credit card company in advance to see if there are offers like these that you can take advantage of.
• Ask for gift receipts–A gift receipt is for the person you are buying the gift for, in case they need to return it. The gift receipt will have the item information without the price.
• Make a list–Things are going to be loud and hectic, so before you leave home make a list of what you plan to buy. This will help save you a major headache once you begin your shopping experience.
• Be kind and courteous – Everyone who is going shopping on Black Friday knows beforehand that it is going to be crowded, and that there will be long waits in line. Remember that you are all in this together and display toward your neighbor and store employees the reason for the season, which  is love.

From the PJ team to all of our readers, we hope you have the best Thanksgiving ever and find loads of great deals on Black Friday!

And, with Cyber Monday just around the corner, be sure to check back here for additional savings opportunities…

Although Black Friday is a THE day to save tons of money on your Christmas shopping, whether you are braving the crowds the day after Thanksgiving or shopping online, it can also be a day that makes your head spin! Even if you choose to do your Black Friday shopping online and avoid the chaos at the stores in the wee hours of the morning on November 26th, it can still be a daunting task to figure how who has the best deals, where to shop, and how to save the most money. However, it doesn’t have to be hectic. You can have a positive Black Friday experience!

To help make this possible, we have compiled a short list of helpful websites, advice and places to find Black Friday deals without having to scourge the internet or walk out of the house empty-handed on Black Friday. By using the list of resources below, you can save yourself a big headache on Black Friday, whether shopping online or in the stores.

Oh, and if you have a scary or funny Black Friday story you want to share, enter this contest (just a 200-word essay is required) held by the Big Crumb Facebook page and you might just win a $100 American Express gift card!

A Full Cup has a great Black Friday guide.

If you are shopping in the stores, here is a great Black Friday Survival Guide from Business 2 Consumer Marketing Insider.

There are several websites with the actual name “Black Friday” in them that offer information on sales, but this one I found to be the easiest to navigate. BlackFriday.info has a list of stores’ sales papers for Black Friday deals, and each listing is short, simple and in bold type, easy to navigate and super simple to find the ads at a glance.

Another easy way to stay informed about Black Friday deals, if you belong to Facebook, is to “Like” the Facebook pages of deal, freebie, coupon, and Mom blogs. You could simply go to Facebook and type in “Black Friday” and you will come up with an instant list of pages listing Black Friday specials. Many of these sites are also holding contests and giveaways of their own to celebrate Black Friday.

A really good site to pay attention to all year long when it comes to personal finance is Wallet Pop, but they are doing a smash up job of bringing the latest and best information on Black Friday. The Wallet Pop blog is being updated regularly with where to find deals, what to avoid, and just generally how to maneuver through the Black Friday wealth of information without going nuts.

The above information should supply you with enough, but not too much, information to help you have a positive Black Friday experience. If you have another great suggestion don’t hesitate to comment and let us all know!

For serious, bargain-hunting shoppers, this is the most exciting time of year! Thanksgiving is on Thursday, November 25th, and the day after that is BLACK FRIDAY.

Curious as to how the day after Thanksgiving came to be called Black Friday, I did a little research and discovered some interesting facts. First of all, there are several usages for the term Black Friday. It was originally coined in 1869 to describe a financial crisis, a stock market catastrophe set off by gold spectators who tried and failed to corner the gold market, causing the market to collapse and stocks to plummet. (This information was found on a site that is actually called Black Friday.com, great place to find your sales information for retailers early.)

However, the definition of Black Friday we are most familiar with began with retailers and became a regular term of use in the 1960s. Believe it or not, many retailers operate in the ‘red,’ (their profits in the loss column) for the whole year until the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest Christmas shopping day of the year. When their sales skyrocket on that one shopping day, retailers finally operate in the ‘black,’ (in profit) thus the term BLACK FRIDAY. What this means for consumers is that retailers bend over backwards to get your business on this awesome of shopping days, and items can be found for rock-bottom prices.

Many consumers love the hustle, bustle and chaos of being in the midst of other like-minded shoppers on Black Friday. It is part of the enjoyment for them. There are just as many consumers who dread the crowds and only go shopping the day after Thanksgiving to find the bargains. This is where the internet can be your best friend. More and more often, bigger retailers offer early bird specials and sneak peeks at their Black Friday sales on their websites, so now is the time to start preparing for Black Friday, whether you are planning to brave the crowds or you will be shopping online.

Now is also the perfect time to buy discounted gift cards to your favorite retailers. First you save money by buying discounted gift cards for your favorite retailers at Plastic Jungle for up to 30% less than you’d pay for them elsewhere, then you save on the specials, discounts, coupons and promotions retailers are running for Black Friday, and you have banked like a bandit!

Check out the large selection of gift cards available at Plastic Jungle now in order to get your gift card in the mail (there is free shipping!) in a few days and be ready to save like crazy on Black Friday deals.  (There will be a post later this week about how and where to find Black Friday deals, so be sure to check back!)