Black Friday Deals For Your Home are Coming: Where Should You Go?

The deals are coming, so this is a great season to think about home upgrades or upping your equipment roster when it comes to maintenance. Whether you’re thinking about saving on your electric bills by upgrading to an energy-smart appliance or getting ahead on your home landscaping with a new lawnmower or weed-whacker, you can save tons this time of year if you pay attention and make a plan not only on what to buy, but where and how to buy it.

It’s hard to decide where to go to take advantage of pre-and-post-holiday deals between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. If you monitor sites like Digital Trends and Engadget, you’ll get a better idea of what’s coming, but here’s a general guide to this year’s home deals.

Black Friday is the traditional kick-off to the holiday shopping season, occurring on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but the break between deals is becoming slimmer.

There’s a strategy behind the Black Friday creep, with stores and online retailers attempting to get consumers to shop all month, rather than just after Thanksgiving. There’s more at stake this year, given predictions that consumers will boost spending as much as five percent this season. Strong consumer confidence and a growing economy are adding up to a promising holiday season, adding to trends in buying patterns.

Some of the bigger retailers in home improvement, such as Lowe’s, are offering deals as early as the first of November. The home improvement giant starting offering specials just as soon as Halloween ended, including a 40 percent discount on some appliances, and a $50 gift card with the purchase of some artificial trees during November.

The home retailer has a huge sale going already, discounting large appliances from fridges to dishwashers to laundry appliances up to 40 percent off, and if you buy multiple appliances, you can get additional hundreds off, potentially.

Something to keep an eye on: a lot of the home retailers are starting to roll out free shipping for online shoppers to compete with Amazon, which has radically reduced its requirements for free shipping this season, even for those that aren’t Amazon Prime members.

Believe it or not, Target’s preview ad for Black Friday is already out, and if you’re into smart home technology, the retail giant has a pretty big bargain for you: $50 off the Google Home and the spanking new Google Home Hub, plus money off the Google Home Mini and for TV junkies, cash off the Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra.

Amazon has a big stake in the game this year after rolling out a whole bunch of new hardware in October. Look for a series of rolling deals all this month that includes sales on Fire tablets, Echo devices, and new smart home tech like Amazon’s new smart plug.

Walmart has named its early Black Friday sale the Dashing Through the Deals event. Each day, you’ll find new deals on home appliances, electronics, and more. The deal covers a wide array of things to outfit your home, from flat-screen smart TVs to KitchenAid mixers.

Homeowners don’t generally think of Kohl’s as a source for home goods but the brick-and-mortar retailer has a surprisingly large home section, as well as a healthy collection of electronics. If buyers are savvy, they can collect “Kohl’s Cash” — a coupon that can be redeemed on Kohl’s merchandise – from November 24th through December 5th, potentially saving hundreds on electronics products that are already discounted.

Don’t forget that the joyride doesn’t end just because the Black Friday madness has ended. The following morning launches Small Business Saturday, a national initiative to celebrate small businesses and everything they do for the community. It’s a great day to visit local hardware stores and other local retailers to see what they’ve cooked up in terms of sales this season.

And while you’re dozing at your desk at work, why not check out all the crazy Cyber Monday sales.