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!)