Black Friday online shopping deals for your home – yay or nay? I’ll be honest, I love Black Friday. Now that it’s possible to do 100% online shopping, homebodies like me are in holiday-gift-shopping heaven! Who doesn’t love a great deal?
In theory, it sounds great. Right? But the constant marketing and ads clogging up your email and social feeds can feel overwhelming. My goal here is not to add to this, but to help you wade through it. Here are the home-related sales you might bookmark to make life easier this year.
How to Plan for Black Friday Online Shopping Deals
Strategy + Planning Tools
Go Time! Black Friday Sales on NOW
Amazon, Target, and Home Depot Sales
Women-Owned Businesses to Watch
Ideas for Activities and Passes – Not STUFF
Gift Guide for DIYers and Creative Kids
Strategy for Black Friday Online Shopping Deals
Need a game plan? If you find the thought of planning for Black Friday intimidating, here’s how to keep it simple.
1. Start with a list of favorite vendors to check or items you plan to buy.
When Black Friday rolls around, it’s great to have a cheat sheet so you can stay focused on buying items that are already in the queue. Plus, you won’t forget to check small, local businesses for a potentially rare sale!
2. Prioritize the businesses with timed sales. Amazon does this with Lightning Sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Some of their Early Black Friday sales happening now are also limited-time deals.
3. Don’t make spontaneous purchases. If you know what you plan to buy and spend, then you won’t get in over your head. (I’m trying to practice what I preach this year.)
Level Up Your Planning
Does anyone else track holiday shopping in a spreadsheet? Just me?
For our personal use, I created a simple Google sheet to track holiday gifts. I just list all of the gift givers and receivers, planned purchases, and Santa (so I won’t spoil surprises). Once I’ve purchased an item, I change the cell color to light gray so I will stop thinking about it.
By planning this out early, I can check off most of my gift list during Black Friday sales, especially with smaller vendors.
Obviously, you can use a spreadsheet to track your gift budget, too. I’m trying not to overshare here…
Black Friday… or Black Holiday Season?
It seems Black Friday shopping has joined holidays and elections in stretching out its timeline. Personally, I don’t mind, if that means the sales run longer and I can space out my spending (and credit card statements).
Here’s an interesting side note. You might have noticed in October that Amazon jump-started holiday sales with their Prime Early Access sale. However, a data-tracking company reported that only 29% of shoppers bought holiday gifts, and 69% of those bought less than half of their holiday shopping. So that means that some shoppers (like me) made a few purchases, if we spotted good sales, but most of us still have shopping to do.
The point of that story is that I think plenty of good sales are yet to come.
For example, I haven’t seen Dyson sales yet, but we bought this vacuum (newer version) on Black Friday a few years ago:
I’ve been trying to keep an eye on interesting home items for sale this month, just for this post. Here’s what I’ve found so far from a few stores already running early sales.
Amazon Early Black Friday Deals
Amazon just announced the Black Friday sales that will start Thursday, Nov 24, and run for 48 hours only. Right now they are teasing these brands (select items only): Yeti drinkware, Dell and HP computers, KitchenAid and Ninja kitchen products, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products, and plenty more.
Plus, Amazon is running Early Black Friday deals now, especially for electronics. You can score some Black Friday online shopping deals on video doorbells, home speakers, and all of those smart gadgets for your home. I looked through the home improvement and electronics sales and these are some good deals, below.
Does anyone who wants a Ring doorbell still need a Ring doorbell? IF SO, they are on sale:
A portable speaker for working around the house is a must!
Extra-long charging cords are a hot commodity at my house. Anyone else?
This looks super fun for labeling geeks like me:
I need to order this to replace our broken garage door opener:
Check this out. A color-changing smart thermostat to match your decor! That’s exactly why I chose a white thermostat when we upgraded our last system. This one looks neat.
Read about our smart thermostat in this blog post
Home Improvement at Amazon
You can also find a few great deals on tools and some home improvement items at Amazon. It takes some digging, but here are some quality, brand-name items on sale.
A few Delta faucet options at Amazon are on sale, including this one:
Check out the variety of Bosch tools on sale:
Combo smoke + CO detectors from Kidde:
For the yard-work lovers, a Black + Decker power duo:
This Shark cordless stick vacuum is a great price right now:
Target Early Black Friday Deals
Target has joined Amazon in running early Black Friday sales, and they rotate through deals from week to week. You might want to check in occasionally so you don’t miss a great buy for someone on your list.
Here are the current Target Black Friday Deals
I just ordered this HP printer for $50 on sale.
For obvious reasons, you won’t find these Google Nest products highlighted on Amazon (but you can order them from Amazon, too).
Why are there so many robot vacuums and how does one choose? If you’re shopping around, this Shark robot vacuum looks great and is $200 off.
Home Depot Early Black Friday Deals
Home Depot is also running plenty of early Black Friday online shopping deals. This is a great time to invest in a power tool for your collection or for a gift. We already have a lending library’s worth of tools, but I know Wyatt still checks out the sales. He likes to have extra power tool batteries on hand, so that’s a good gift idea to consider if someone in your life is a tool fanatic.
This is a great DeWalt cordless drill set, if you want to upgrade your drill or gift one. The latest batteries are slim and this drill is so much lighter than older versions, which we still have because DeWalt tools last forever!
How about a screwdriver bit set to go with your drill of choice?
If you’re looking for a starter set, this Ryobi power tool kit is a great deal. This line is good for the weekend-DIYer who just needs power tools on occasion.
Ridgid makes great tools, too. Here’s the current Ridgid power tool set for comparison, if you want a middle-road option between DeWalt and Ryobi.
Here’s a really handy tool for the person who already has the basics. This Ridgid oscillating multi-tool is great for cutting at awkward angles. We reach for this tool often; I just used ours to trim under door jambs when I installed new flooring.
Know a mechanic? This Husky tool set is currently $70 off!
Everyone with a yard needs a cordless blower, IMO. If you have the Milkwaukee line of tools (and therefore batteries) this cordless blower has incredible reviews:
Often lock yourself out? Or own rentals? These keypad deadbolts are really handy and this one is currently 50% off!
Saving the most unique for last… I haven’t tried this product, but I hear bidets are all the rage (in the US, at long last). Wouldn’t you want warm water from a bidet?? Save $80 on this Bio Bidet seat and please report back, if you try it!
Great Women-Owned Businesses to Support
Finally, do you try to shop local and support small businesses? Here’s my personal list of favorites I plan to support, and I hope they inspire you to seek out some small businesses for your own holiday shopping. These are shops I genuinely love; I am only an affiliate for The Bali Market.
LINNEA – gorgeous candles and diffusers. The sea salt diffuser is fantastic.
The Bali Market – lovely Turkish towels, which I rave about in this blog post. I have a post coming up to show how I use them as the “wrapping paper” for kitchen and bath gifts. Use my code LIST20 for a 20% discount.
Ink+Alloy – Really fun, handmade, beaded jewelry.
Blue Egg Farmstore – herbal and plant-based skincare, fun gifts for kids. I just ordered these clever donut bath bombs and cinnamon roll soaps.
HumbleSuds – natural, plant-based cleaners with incredible scents. I just discovered this Denver-based company on Etsy and the orange+clove scent smells like the holidays. Yum.
Want Less STUFF, More Activities?
Sometimes companies offer memberships and tickets for sale on Black Friday. Just planting the seed now, if you’re trying to steer away from buying more stuff. Here are some ideas:
– local memberships
– museum, botanic garden, zoo tickets/passes
– community theater or art exhibits
– gift card for exercise, art, massage, or hobby classes
– national or state parks pass
– meal kit/service gift card
– gift card for Audible or Spotify (or another digital service)
– fund a child’s upcoming day camp – for enrichment or on work days when school is closed
Gift Guide for DIYers and Makers
Want more gift inspiration? Check out my “makers” gift guide with great DIY-themed gifts for makers of all sorts. It’s an expansive list, with ideas ranging from art to crafts, engineering to coding, home improvement goodies and tools, and more.
Makers Gonna Make: Ultimate Gift Guide for DIYers
