Holiday Shopping Without the Hangover w/ Julie from DealNews #749

Hold on to your holiday hats because Americans are gearing up to break the spending records this holiday season! Deloitte reports an expected 14% increase in spending compared to last year, with the average consumer spending just over $1,600 on gifts and goodies. We’re entering peak shopping season and who doesn’t want to make sure they’re getting the absolute best deal possible?! That’s why we’re excited to be speaking with Julie Ramhold who is a consumer and senior staff writer for DealNews. With nearly a decade of deal-hunting expertise, Julie ensures we all part with as little cash as possible while still getting the stuff we want. Listen as we discuss the secrets of price matching, unveil the items to steer clear of, explore the world of refurbished products, dive into Julie's gift card wisdom, and much more in today's episode!

 

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During this episode we enjoyed a Hazy Dry Hopped Sunset With Yuzu Fruit by Tumbleroot Brewery- a big thanks to Bob for donating this one to the pod! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

 

Best friends out!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
and today we're talking holiday shopping without the hangover with
Julie Ramhold.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, so Americans are about to spend a staggering amount.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Of money in this holiday season. Deloitte.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
They report an expected fourteen percent increase in spending compared
to last year, with the average consumer spending just over
sixteen hundred dollars. But then again, it depends on who
is running the survey, depends on who you're asking, Because
Gallup they're forecasting that Americans will spend slightly less compared
to last year, sitting at around nine hundred dollars by

(00:53):
the end of the year. But either way, there's a
good chance that you are a part of the overwhelming
majority of folks who are going to spend something on
your friends and family and who doesn't want to make
sure that they're getting the absolute best deal possible.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's why we're excited to be speaking with Julie Ramhold,
who is a consumer analyst a senior staff writer for
deal News. For nearly a decade, she's worked to ensure
that we are all paying as little as possible for
all the different things that we want, so, Julie, thank
you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thank you for having me of course.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, no, Julie, We're really excited to talk to you
about this. I confessed before we begin recording that I
have been using deal News since I was a weep up,
since since deal News, probably since it began. Honestly, I've
been I've been a fan for a long time, and
so I'm really excited to have this chat kind of
and really help people when it comes to saving money
over the holidays and on their spend. Well. But first,

(01:45):
the first question we ask anybody who comes on the
show is what do you like to suplore? John, Matt
and I we spend a decent chunk of change on
craft beer pretty regularly, but we're also at the same
time saving and investing for the future. Is there something
like that in your life While you're trying to handle
your money, well, you still like to go spend a
decent bit of money on.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
So I really love to crochet and a friend of mine. First,
a friend of mine introduced me to the differences in
quality yarn. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with going to
hobby stores like Joanne and Michael's and getting yarn there,
But once you use the good stuff, it's really hard

(02:24):
to kind of go back. So we went to Nashville
on a recent trip and we stopped off at a
highly rated yarn store, and I spent far more on
yarn than I had anticipated, to the point where my
job probably should have dropped. But I was also like, no,
this is great, this is great.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I'm in too deep, right, no regrets. What's the average
price difference between the stuff that you get at the
hobby store and the stuff at like a fine yarn
reach high and so are we talking like two x?
Are we talking like five x?

Speaker 4 (02:55):
So?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, it depends.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
So it also comes down to materials, which I'm not
keen on using things like silk because I'm still I've
been crocheting for a while, but I haven't experimented with
a lot of like more complicated patterns or stitches. So
I tend to steer clear of things like silk, just
because I'm not super comfortable with experimenting yet, and I
don't want to run into ruining a project because yes,

(03:21):
you can rip back rows and basically undo everything, but
some yarn can kind of start to freight if you
do that too much, so I'm like, no, we'll leave
silk for later. But a standard two hundred to three
hundred yard scheme can be like five to ten dollars
maybe depending on what brand and what the material is

(03:42):
that you're looking at at a hobby store. And then
when you go to like these indie dyers that are
like making their own yarn and doing their own dies,
it's like twenty eight to thirty DOLLARSS for roughly the
same amount, So.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, getting close to six x.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, it can add up, but I maintain it's worth it.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I love that you are doing that. You are maybe
preparing to be a grandmother. It's thatt a craft beer's
craft yarn, yes, which I totally love. I love that
there are such things as indie dyers. Not something I've
ever heard before, but I love that you're doing that, Julie.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Let's talk about sales.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Let's talk about Black Friday specifically, because it kind of
feels more like it's a season these days, as like
versus just a specific day where it takes place. Do
you feel like that that's the case. Does it seem
like that the deals start sooner and sooner every every
single year definitely.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
So I've been working sort of in the consumer news
landscape since twenty sixteen, really, and we kind of always
joked about this Black Friday creep and it getting worse
and worse year over year.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
And when we.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
Were seeing Black Friday deals pop up in like mid November,
we were like, oh my god, it's not even a
day anymore. And then the pandemic happened, and so now
it's gone from.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Like an extra week or two to like two months.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
So we definitely have been seeing this early rollout of
Black Friday deals, especially over the last few years, just get.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Earlier and earlier.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
And I know this year was no different, but it
felt earlier to me. And I think it's because we
saw other seasonal things coming up a lot sooner than
we expected.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, is that is it good for consumers or is
that bad? Like for instance, I think it was probably
twenty ten twenty eleven when I bought my first flat
screen TV, and I remember going to Walmart with two
of my buddies, and it was back in the era
where you literally had to put your hand on the
item and you had to wait for them to start
selling them like six am or something. We were there, like,
I don't know one or two am we like kind

(05:48):
of stayed through the night. That's not how it rolls anymore.
But I guess does the longer deal season Is that
good or bad?

Speaker 4 (05:55):
I think it kind of depends on what sort of
shopper you are. So for the most part, it seems
like it's a good idea to me because it can
help people stay on budget. More retailers know that they
can roll out these deals early and people will still
shop them, and you can shop with some level of confidence,
especially if a retailer has a holiday price guarantee or

(06:16):
something like that in place, just because what you see
at any given time when they roll those deals out
is probably gonna be what you see throughout the season.
So you don't have to stand in front of a
kitchen aid stand mixer for two hundred and fifty dollars
and be like, is this gonna get lower? Probably not.
That's a great price. If you want to stand mixer,

(06:38):
pick it up.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
So I think the earlier time frame can be better.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
But also if you're one of those people that you
like to get your shopping done kind of all at once,
it may give you sale fatigue, just because you're constantly
having to check back and check things off your list
throughout as you're waiting for these deals to roll out,
rather than just going on like Black Friday itself and
getting everything wracked and everything.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
That makes sense. Yeah, it's like it used to be
more of a sprint. Now it feels more like a marathon.
But I mean the way I look at it, I
think it makes it.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
I like it. I like the fact that it.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Takes away It removes some of the circus element of like, okay,
like we're gonna go crazy today all the doorbusters, less
trampling of the elderly as that, right, Yes, I mean
like literally yeah. But then also just the ability to
do some your due diligence, right, Like the ability to
do some research and to make sure that you are
in fact getting the best price, to have kind of

(07:34):
set up, whether it's price alerts, that kind of thing.
Generally speaking, I like the direction I guess that it's moving.
It makes me think of like with real estate, as
opposed to the Okay, everyone's shown up at the same
time and folks are kind of like looking over at
the other party, and I feel like I hear more
and more deals that are taking place more casually, like
not even going on market, but like via an agent

(07:55):
who is able to talk to a few folks. I
feel like it brings a, I don't know, a level
of decent seat to shopping holiday shopping that maybe didn't
used to exist.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
For sure, I think it definitely helps to, like you said,
eliminate some of the circus. At least, Black Friday now
feels a lot less chaotic than it did pre pandemic.
Even when we were getting an additional week or so
of deals, it still felt like a lot and there
was this really deep sense of urgency to like, go
and get it, don't worry about the price, just pick

(08:26):
it up because otherwise it's going to sell out and
then you're just going to be out of luck. And
now it feels like we definitely have breathing room to
kind of decide where we want to shop, who we
want to shop with. And the big players always have
similar prices, so yeah, it's really come down to weighing
which one is best for your circumstances.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
So, you know, so we're talking about timing and the
fact that there's a longer deal season anyway, we're still
more than a week away from Black Friday, Are there
are there items that actually might be a better deal now,
like Best Buys rolling out deals earlier Target as well,
And they've even had you know, like Amazon Prime Day
and other retailers matching Amazon Prime Day last month. And

(09:06):
so how do people know window pounds on the best
deal when there's kind of a succession of rolling deals
that keep coming along.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, so it can get tricky.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
I would say that sort of the easiest way to
tell is if you have something that you've kind of
been keeping front of mind for a long time, you
can generally look at the deals as they come and say,
I've seen it at that price before six months ago,
that's nothing special.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Or you know, Okay, this is the best price I've
seen this thing at and that's pretty.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Good for giving you an indication like okay, I can
go ahead and buy it now. But another thing I
think to keep in mind is if you're shopping somewhere
that has that holiday price guarantee in place, like.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Target does this year.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Their entire thing is basically if you shop from October
twenty second to December twenty fourth, and if you buy
it at Target and then it drops in price at
Target before December twenty fourth, you can get a price adjustment.
But the thing it's great, But the thing that really
makes the most sense to me is that this is

(10:14):
a busy time for these major retailers. It's a busy
time for everybody, but these major retailers will often hire
seasonal workers to kind of help out with the extra load,
and they don't want their associates to be tied to
a register having to do.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Price adjustments constantly.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
So if you see a Black Friday deal at Target
right now and it's a good price and it fits
your budget, I say go for it. You can keep
an eye on it, but it's probably not going to
drop in price. I think they sort of use these
holiday price guarantees as a way to boost confidence on
shoppers to make sure that they are shopping these early deals,

(10:49):
but also as a kind of way to entice people
who might be on the fence to shop with Target
in this case, or you know, if best Buy is
doing something similar, then they'll use it so that they
can kind of entice shoppers to go there. And ultimately
you're probably not going to need a price adjustment. If
it does change in price, it's probably not going to
be by much if you want that extra five to

(11:09):
ten bucks back, whatever, but it's not going to be
anything groundbreaking, gotcha.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, So certainly keep an eye out for specific deals.
Are there any like categories, any purchases to just completely
avoid on Black Friday?

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Are there any like.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Headfake deals that aren't actually deals and everyone thinks they
are maybe it gets them in the store, but in
reality they're not.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
I think this was more of a problem before we
really started to see retailers move their sales online, because
we would see these sort of vague Black Friday ads
in the papers that were like, oh, you can get
this massive TV for super cheap, and then you'd go
in and find out it's a brand you never heard
of or something like that. But I will say that

(11:53):
now we still may see vague deals and ads online,
but at least if you're shopping online then you can
kind of quickly avoid something. And one of the biggest
things we say to avoid period, whether it's Black Friday
or not, is off brand TVs.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
And I'm not talking about like high sense. Highcense is fine.
Visio is fine. Yeah, I have a high sense TV too.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
It's totally fine, but it is interesting because there are
some brands that will be at specific retailers like Walmart
or something like that, and they are super cheap sets.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
And if you're looking for a super cheap set, debt
may be fine.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
But in general, we try to look at the longevity
of something too, and I feel like this is just
one of those situations where you get what you pay for.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
So if you really.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
Cheap out on that TV, you may be lucky if
it lasts to next Black Friday. And considering the prices
that we see on these big name brands that pop
up for Black Friday, I mean you might as well
just try to get what you actually want. Don't cheap
out just because you want a new set or something
like Shoot for the Stars.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah yeah, okay. So you mentioned online shopping, and I
feel like it used to be that the best deals
came to those who woke up early, who ventured forth
into the icy cold tundra of their local Walmart or
Target store or whatever. But it seems like the deals
are better. And I remember the shift probably four or
five years ago, when it kind of was like, oh,

(13:28):
retailers like no, no, no, we're gonna put our best deals
online now is that the case can people. Are people
going to score the best price shopping online, or are
they going to score the best price going into a store.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
I would honestly be surprised if a retailer tries to
bring back in store doorbusters the way that they used to. Now,
most deals are completely the same whether you shop online
or in store, and very rarely will we see an
in store exclusive. More often you're gonna see something that
can only be found online at that price point. So

(13:58):
it's kind of swung the other way, which is funny
to me. But also, these major retailers are closing on
Thanksgiving now, so you don't have people lining up outside
the doors for twelve hours or whatever to make sure
they're first, And nobody's camping outside of Walmart for twenty
two days anymore to get a massive TV deal.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
So I miss those day chills, like the golden days.
It was only because I was like really young and
so am. I was with my buddies and so we
had the best time. You make it a thing hanging out, Yeah,
it was an event, but I'm so glad. There's no
way I would do that now. And that's that's the
part of the circus that we're like we were talking
about earlier being able to remove and I really do

(14:40):
just like the direction. It just feels like such a
better direction that we're going in. Right, Like you said,
stores that are closing that aren't even open on Fridays
sometimes too, where they're like you know what, or maybe
I'm thinking of ARII or they're like, sure, go outside.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
The ability to step away from consumption a little bit
is you know, obviously you want to make sure you're
getting a deal, but if there's a way to maybe
deemphasize that to a certain incident, that's something I can
get behind. But you're saying that there's not likely to
be better deals in person. So one of the problems
with that is shipping right, shipping delays And we're way

(15:13):
past the what is it the container ships parked off
the coast of California where they have nowhere to dock.
We don't have those kind of delays like we've dealt
with over the past few years, but it still looks
to be a problem as more and more folks are
looking to participate in online shopping. Is the solution simply
just to order stuff.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
A little bit earlier.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
I mean to some degree. You can.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
If you really need something and you can't get it
any other way, or you don't want to get it
any other way, sure, go ahead and order online. Try
to order as early as you can. But the good
thing too, is that even though our shipping carriers are
kind of overwhelmed, anybody who's had a package delivered in
the last year has probably experienced at least one delay

(15:56):
from somebody. So even though the kind of overwhelmed, a
lot of retailers will put on their website like a
clear day of you need to order by this day
to have gifts under the tree or in time for
Hanukkah or other holiday that you celebrate. So it's entirely
possible that you're going to kind of gamble a little

(16:20):
if you wait too long. But my solution to that is,
if it's at all possible, buy online and pick up
in store.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
There you go. Okay, that's a good one.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
At that point, you get it so much faster. You
still have the convenience of shopping online, but you get
your items faster, So to me, it's the best of
both worlds.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yes, okay, when we're buying online, there's another problem that
arises or at least it has in my shopping history.
It was a couple of years ago, I think on
a Black Friday that I think it was Walmart, and
I don't really chop at Walmart very often, but they
had an inflatable hot tub for two hundred bucks, and
I was like, Okay, this is that's a great deal.
My kids and I we will use the mess out

(16:57):
of this. This is going to be the greatest thing
ever bought. And they're normally four or five hundred bucks,
and I was like, yeah, that's too rich for my blood.
But if it's two hundred bucks, I'm in. And I
was on It was like a seven PM release or
something like this. I was on the website at six
fifty six, like just like preparing mentally to buy this
inflatable hot tub. It was going to be the best
Christmas and then at seven o'clock it was like sold out.

(17:18):
And so the quantities were so limited. Even somebody who
was ready and ready to pounce when the deal got released,
like I don't know how many they had, like four
or something that nation of the nation. And so is
that a problem when it comes to the deals and
finding them online? Are the best deals going to sell
out really quickly and they're going to be disappointed. Joels
everywhere not getting their inflatable hot tubs.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
I'm sorry you missed out on the inflatable hot tubs.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
I will say it's it is a risk.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
In a perfect.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
World, everyone would only buy the amount that they need
and it would be for themselves and that would be that.
But if you don't think there are resellers trying to
shop these Black Friday sales and get these massive items
that they can sell at a huge markup afterwards, you're
probably fooling yourself a little bit. Yeah, so it is

(18:09):
definitely a risk, but that's also part of what makes
the lengthier season so much better. I think at this point,
the only time that we really see those super excellent
deals that sell out and just the blink of an
eye is if you're looking at certain lightning deals on Amazon,

(18:30):
or if the items are in such limited quantities that
they are literally running for like it starts at six
am online on Thanksgiving until supplies last, and that's it.
You can usually tell the really in demand items based
on where they fall within the ad. But if there's
something that you're looking at and you're like, that is
a really good price that's probably gonna sell out really quickly.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
It is definitely a.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
Risk, but also if it goes live on Thanksgiving, there's
only so much you can do, So I would say
if you're trying to kind of gauge which ones are
going to have the most potential to sell out quickly,
it's probably going to be the ones that are actually
available on Black Friday itself in store. So that at
least should make it a little bit easier to navigate,

(19:16):
because they don't want to deal with people crashing their
site on Thanksgiving when the stores are closed and a
whole bunch of people are off anyway, So they're going
to be strategic about rolling out these super in demand deals.
And it's kind of why it's a good idea to
start looking now, Like we've seen some things that target
already that are basically last year's Black Friday prices and

(19:37):
they're just already there, ready to shop and you don't
have to worry about them selling out yet.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Okay, so you're talking about specific items, Are there any
particular items that are going to be like really hot
this year like it like in years past, maybe it
was like the instant pot or from maybe a decade
ago take me on share. Yeah, have there been any
signs that there's going to be an item like that
that's just going to be crazy hot, It's going to
go immediately. It is something that everybody's wanting.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Oh, I have to imagine that some of the hottest
things that are going to be really in demand this year,
probably to some degree video game consoles. But the thing
that really amuses me about that whole situation is we
see the same bundles every holiday, So there will.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Be switched bundles with Mario Kart.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
There may be potential for something like a PlayStation console
bundles with Spider Man two as like a really popular one.
I feel like Barbie toys are going to be pretty
up there this year too because of the move.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Maybe fewer Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer toys, maybe more more on
the Barbie side. Nuclear bombs right there, great toy because
a lot of destruction. We've got more questions to get
to with you, Julia, and specifically want to talk about
maybe some unlikely deals that maybe people don't think to buy,
but they're often the best prices around this time of

(20:59):
year as well. Get to get more questions about finding
the best deal, what to buy, when to shop, where
to shop with Julie. Right after this, we are back.
We're talking with Julie Ramhold, who doesn't want to be

(21:20):
able to exit the holiday shopping season without that financial hangover.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
So, Julie, earlier before the break, you were talking about
Target specifically, and you were mentioning, did you say starting
October twenty second is when their price match guarantee period started?

Speaker 3 (21:35):
That's right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Are there other specific retailers who are offering a price
match like that? Does it just vary depending on the
actual specific retailer.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Are there a group of retailers who are all doing this,
or they ever give you a better deal not just
because the price dropped at their store, but because it
dropped in another store.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
As a general.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Rule, No, you're not ever going to get a better
deal for Black Friday. I will say that most retailers
suspend their price matching, Paul, we'll see during Black Friday
period some of them won't even price match themselves.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Okay, so it's.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Very weird during that time.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
I think it's probably generally safe to assume that if
it's the week of Thanksgiving or the week of cyber Monday,
you're probably not going to get a price match. You
can try, I say, go for it, make sure you're
polite and patient, but don't count on it. Aside from that, though,
it's one of those things that will definitely depend on
which retailer you're shopping. So if you're really curious, I

(22:30):
would say google something like Best Buy Holiday price matching
policy or something like that, and you can usually find
the information on it pretty quickly so that you're kind
of prepared before you start really getting into your shopping
and adding things for your part.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Gotcha, Okay, cool?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
So you just mentioned cyber Monday, which actually got me thinking,
is that even a thing anymore? Because again, with these
deals starting sooner, with most retailer switching to online as
opposed to having the in store deals, cyber Monday, is
that even a thing.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
So it still is, But.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
It's so funny to me because we talked years ago
about how Cyber Monday has this weird reputation as having
Black Friday's leftovers, and that was when people were still
going into.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Stores to shop for Black Friday. And I feel like
now that might be more true than it was then
it's strange.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
We always see certain categories that really stack up as
being better to shop on Black Friday, better to shop
on Thanksgiving, better to shop on Cyber Monday. But for
years now we've also seen Black Friday start on Thanksgiving.
So even now with retailers like Target and Walmart being
closed on Thanksgiving Day, they still have their deals starting online.

(23:42):
Then when Cyber Monday rolls around, everything is online again.
It's gotten to the point where you kind of look
at what you see on Black Friday could come back
for Cyber Monday.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Or it could be slightly worse.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
So it's kind of weird, and you do have to
decide how much you're willing to risk. I will say,
in the past couple of years especially, it seems like
Thanksgiving and Black Friday have been more about individual deals,
so that's where you find things like the super cheap
cureg coffee makers, or the really great price on small

(24:19):
kitchen appliances in general, or something like that.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
And then when you.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
Shift into Cyber Monday deals, that's when you may start
to see sitewide offers. So if you're shopping for clothing
on Black Friday, you may find something like boots for
by one get one fifty percent off pairs, not you know,
individual boots. You'd be surprised how often that conversation comes up.
But you know, you'll see things like that, or sweaters

(24:45):
for like ten dollars or something like that. But then
when Cyber Monday rolls around, it'll be a site wide
like forty percent off sale or something like that. So
it kind of leads it open for having some better
discounts on Cyber Monday, but it's also not a guarantee.
So I usually tell people, if you're really concerned with

(25:07):
getting the best price, the best thing you can do
is make a list of everything you want to buy
during Black Friday, start looking for those deals no later
than Monday of Black Friday week, and just check in
periodically through Cyber Monday at least. And I mean, the

(25:27):
sad thing is too, is that you just kind of
have to be prepared that at some point you may
have to say it's good enough and you're not going
to get the lowest price, or you might not get
the lowest price, but it fits your budget, so go
for it.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
So so much of the time during this kind of
this period of the shopping calendar year. I think so
many people are thinking about deals on TVs, or thinking
about deals on kids toys, gaming systems, inflatable hot tubs.
Sometimes so, but there are other things that you write
about on the deal new site, and you include like predictions,

(26:01):
let's say, about travel deals that are likely to come along.
That's something I don't necessarily think about as being oh,
I should totally look to book a trip over during
Black Friday for future travel. Are we likely to see
deals on travel and if so, what are those deals
likely to look like?

Speaker 4 (26:16):
We're definitely going to see deals on travel. I was
speaking with someone this morning about how it seems like
the travel industry has finally recovered enough to the point
where recovered from the pandemic, I should say, to the
point where they aren't afraid to offer up significant deals.
And so we're already seeing some online travel agencies rollout offers.

(26:38):
I think it was price Line that basically had some
of their things kick off on November sixth, so they're
sort of also getting in the early Black Friday deal game.
But they'll have sales over Black Friday and Cyber Monday
for sure, and also Travel Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Wait Travel Tuesdays. I think I don't think I knew
that any.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
It's a thing.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
It's okay, all right, there's a day every worry.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
So yeah, I mean there will be sales that are
going to be something like up to thirty percent of
hotel stays or something like that. The biggest thing is
to remember to kind of read the fine print and
make sure that whatever deal you're trying to take advantage
of is going to be for a time period that
you need.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
I think a lot of people when.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
They book travel, unless they're booking some massive trip for
like way out, they're probably booking travel closer to like six.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
Weeks out because it's for the upcoming holiday or a
holiday weekend, or like a little.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
Trip they know they want to take or something like that.
So they may not be thinking ahead. But we've seen
cruise deals pop up on Black Friday before that are
basically valid for the end of twenty twenty three through
the end of twenty twenty four or something like that.
So you can definitely get this sort of wide swath
of travel dates of vail by looking for these epic

(28:02):
sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday
and So it may just be something that's kind of
not the mindset that a lot of people have when
they're thinking about booking travel, but it definitely is worth
checking it out and going, oh, I'm planning to go
to Japan in three months, and I can book this
great package right now. It's like, yeah, absolutely, go ahead

(28:26):
and do that. If you know that you want to
travel somewhere, and even if you want to do something
like a Disney cruise or go to a Disney park,
look for deals. There is a really good chance there
will be deals on tickets to the parks, on cruises.
It could be something where you know you not only
get a great fare, but you also get some extra
perks added on.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
So nice.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's definitely worth it.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
All right, So let's let's go back to the shift
back to like actual items. Definitely going to keep an
eye out for potential travel deals. Maybe GOI my first
ever cruise, which I've never never done before. But when
it comes to items to gifts that you would purchase,
somebody you say to not ignore refurbished items, and you know,
like I feel like it's always tough to know whether
or not buying referb is a good idea or a

(29:10):
bad one, especially if the warranty is a lot shorter.
But do you like the idea of folks kind of
taking that route to save?

Speaker 4 (29:16):
In general, I think it's a good idea, mostly because
as long as you buy from somebody that's reputable, you
should be fine. So if you buy through like EBA
certified refurbished, or if you buy open box or refurbished
from Best Buy or something like that, you're going to
have steps to take if something doesn't work as it should.
And like you said, you usually get at least a

(29:38):
year warranty or something like that.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
So I think it can.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Be a really smart way to get your hands on
the latest tech. But I also will note that depending
on what generation of product you're looking at, you may
be able to get it brand new for around the
same price. I think one of Walmart's deals that went
live on November eighth was for the second generation air

(30:06):
pods with a charging case. They're normally about one hundred bucks.
They dropped to sixty nine. That was like the best
price we had seen for those new. The next closest
thing we had seen was sixty bucks for a pair
that was refurbished, So at that.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Point, you're worth the ten bucks.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
Exactly if you can get new ones for really close
to what the refurbished price is. I mean, at that point,
just I say go for the new ones.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Just to be safe, Yeah, and just to avoid somebody
else's ear pods that have been in somebody else's ears, right, just.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
To avoid the addition the whole comes with freaks.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
You know.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I feel like there's a way to embrace the open
box as well, because as I think about it, I'm
picturing like old school. It makes me think of like
a Norman Rockwell painting, and you've got under the tree.
There's presents that are rat but you also like there's
the there's a few toys and whatnot that maybe have
a bow perched on top. And I think that I
could totally be a way to embrace literally the open boxing,
because sometimes if you're like, oh wow, you can kind

(31:05):
of tell that this was pre owned or something like that.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
But what if you just go ahead and embrace it,
you take it out of the box and set it
out there all right? That doesn't maybe I feel like
that's a that's an approach a lot of Folskus. I'm curious, Matt,
you know, I we've talked about this on the show before,
but Julie, what's your take? Is it kosher? Is it allowed?
Is it okay to buy a used gift for a
loved one, like, for instance, let's say they wanted some
free weights or some disc golf equipment could Is it

(31:27):
okay to go to play it against sports and buy
some of that stuff? Or is is buying something used
and then gifting it? Is that just beyond the pale?

Speaker 4 (31:34):
I mean, as long as it's in decent shape and
doesn't so you don't want to buy like a set
of discs for disc golf and one of them have
like a glaring crack down the middle.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Or something like that. Yeah, problem.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yeah, as long as they look at best gently used,
I would say it's totally fine, okay.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
And it kind of depends so much on the item, right,
because you know, if you're into like vintage watches, well,
obviously they're all us, they're all they've all got some
some wear and tear on them. I'm not into the
vintage AirPods.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Technology wise, vintage doesn't really work with electronics. But Julie,
you've written about budgeting and you say that that's Basically,
your number one tip when it comes to holiday spending
is to actually set a budget. That's something we can
obviously appreciate here at how to Money, But do you
have any specific tips, any specific recommendations on that front
when it comes to budgeting. Do you have like a

(32:28):
even a dollar amounts that you'd be willing to throw
out there for folks as they're considering different members of
their family.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
Ooh, that's tough, because I think it also comes down
to how close you are to said member of the family.
Like I'm really close to my dad, so I wouldn't
bat an eye at spending, you know, fifty two one
hundred dollars or something like that on a gift for him,
especially if it's like a first edition book that I
know he's gonna love or something. But like my cousin's wife,

(32:56):
who I might not be so close to.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah, she said, probably just in case she happens
to be listening. She's thinking twice about it, So yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
Think it it comes down to it's kind of like
when you get an invitation to a wedding that.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
You're like, oh, man, I haven't seen these people since college.
It's been like ten years.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
I don't even know the person they're marrying, and then
it's like, oh, but I still have to send a gift.
What am I going to send off? It's kind of
along those lines like how close are you to the gifty?
That will help you determine how much is okay to spend,
And then when you're putting your budget together, the biggest
thing I think is to decide if you're doing like

(33:39):
a budget for the entire holiday season, which can get
kind of big and overwhelming, but also can potentially help
you save money, or are you just worried about setting
a budget for like gifting.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Yeah, okay, So that brings me to I think a
really really important question, one that we face more and
more of these days, is people buying stuff for themselves
and that can often blow up a holiday budget. Right
You've you've maybe said, okay, cool, I'm going to spend
seventy five bucks on my dad. I'm going to spend
two dollars for my cousin's wife because she's not that great.
But she did not say that. She said I put

(34:13):
words in your mouth. I'm sorry. Okay, so you kind
of have those numbers broken out, but man, one of
the most insidious things. One of the things that causes
that parts us from our dollars so often during the
holidays that maybe we hadn't planned on, is we say,
ooh deal, I'd like that. Oh other deal, I'd like that.
And this is something I used to struggle with more
in those in those young pub days where I was
addicted to deal news. I still like deal news, but

(34:35):
I've had to kind of rein it in a little bit.
But like, what what is how do you help people
think through or what do you say to folks who say,
how do I make sure I don't spend too much
money buying loads of stuff that's on sale for myself
during a time where it's supposed to be about buying
for others, or even just not buying as much at
all and just togetherness.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
So I think there are a couple of ways to
navigate this. If you tend to be one of those
people that like to treat yourself a lot, go ahead
and put yourself in the budget, you know, title it
self care or whatever, and put a cap on it
and then just try to be really mindful of it.
But the other sneakier way to work around this, I

(35:17):
would say, is figure out a way to make it
for yourself but also someone else.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
So if you're looking ahead buying an.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
Experience, for instance, like oh, this place is having a
great price on their massage gift cards for you know,
a spot a, you can get that to treat yourself.
You can also make sure that it's enough to treat
your best friend while you're at it. Yeah, and then

(35:46):
it's like, oh, hey, instead of getting you another sweater,
I got us gift cards so we can go have
a spa daya together, and you know, it's it kind
of evens out that way.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Honestly, I feel I can get behind that because what
you're also doing there is you're creating uh some quality
time for you. I mean, and I've never been to
the spa with my best buddy, but I envisioned that
we would have some discussions there.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
And I'm ready to talk.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Golf then or instead or something like.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
That, which I also have never done. I feel there's
a lot of fun things that I might be getting
for you, Joel.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
I think I'm doing that with my cousins. Is this
holiday season really yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Uh, well, like what's your what's your take on gift
cards Julie, because I think I read somewhere that it
looks like it's projected that more money is going to
be spent this year, in particular on gift cards. But
the problem is there are so many dollars of gift
card money that just end up languishing in underwear drawers
because people forget where they've placed it, kind of fall
under the socks. Is that a gift that you think

(36:46):
folks should give. I'm curious to hear your thoughts there.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
I am ready to banish the stigma on gift cards.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
I love getting right.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
We can butt heads on this one.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
I always hate it when people ask me, oh, oh,
your birthday's coming up?

Speaker 3 (37:01):
What do you want? What do you want for Christmas?
And I'm like, I have no idea? Are you kidding me?

Speaker 4 (37:05):
So I usually don't have an answer to give them
other than gift card. And the good thing is too
that December especially is going to be really great for
buying gift cards.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
But there's also a handful of.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
Retailers and restaurants that already have their special holiday promotions
rolling out now, so it can be hard, especially to
get older generations on board with giving gift cards as gifts.
But if you can tell them that they'll actually be
stretching their dollar and making it go further because of
bonus cards and other freezies attached, maybe they'll lean into it.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
But that's the only time that I get behind gift cards.
And I get that it's an easy gift so much
of the time, but I see those stats about the
billions of dollars that end up just going kind of wasted,
and I can't help but think that just giving somebody
cash would often be more effective and you're not turning
US currency into something that can only be used at retailer.
But I agree this time of year is the best

(38:02):
time of year to actually look for gift cards because
there's often deals and incentives attached right that make that
turn the value of a dollar into more than just
a dollar. So I'm with you on that. I guess
question about payment methods buy now Pay Later was around
last year. Of course, it's been around for a little
while now, but it's gaining a lot of steam. It's
getting a lot of momentum. I've all the stats point

(38:23):
to people using buy now, Pay later more and more
and more, and I think this is a way people
think maybe that oh, I'm saving money or oh I'm
budgeting more effectively by paying for this in for easy installments,
But like, do you have any insight on the best
way to buy presence? Is there is there a specific
method of payment that you prefer, and how do you

(38:45):
think about buy now, pay later and how that's affecting consumers.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
So I think by now pay later is definitely valuable.
It's just one of those solutions where it's best to
know yourself, be brutally on with yourself about what your
spending habits are, what your financial weaknesses are, and then
decide from there, is this something I can handle? Is

(39:09):
it worth the potential risk of running into more financial
trouble later?

Speaker 3 (39:14):
And also, there's.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
So many different companies out there now that it's like,
if you do decide to lean into buy now, pay later,
and you're using multiple companies for the love of everything,
keep us spreadsheet so you know that you've got something
from here and here and here and you can pay
your bills off.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
That's honestly, that's one of the biggest things that I
have an issue with is the fact that it's essentially
each item that you buy. It's almost like that there
is a statement, a credit statement. It's almost like each
one of those is a credit card where you have
to keep up with a billing statement when it's due.
And in my mind, I think of the same person
who may not have a solid credit score, which means

(39:51):
they don't have a maybe a great credit card, that
they're also going to have run into the same struggles
when it comes to being able to stay organized. But
I like what you said, which is to make sure
that you know yourself. And this also makes me think
of even just shopping and deals just like kind of
stepping back, like zooming out a little bit, like the
same way we talk about credit cards, right that you
can use them as a tool, but you need to

(40:13):
be careful because if you're going to be tempted to overspend,
then maybe you don't want to use this tool. Do
you think that there's a similar subset of people who
might should be careful when it comes to looking at
all of the different deals out there. If there's somebody
out there and they know that they might be tempted
to overspend because it's going to be hard for them
to resist because it's such a great percentage off. Do

(40:36):
you think it's better for those folks just to avoid
the sales all together.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Honestly, it can be and I usually, especially around the
first of the year, will have someone ask me what
are your tips for trying to cut back on spending
in general? And one of the first things I do
is tell people to unsubscribe from all of the retailer
newsletters they subscribe to for the holiday season.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Because if you don't want to know about the sale,
you can't be tempted.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
I am horrible about this, don't get me wrong. My
inbox is full of stuff, especially right now. But I
realize too that if you're not great about talking yourself
out of a purchase, you don't really need or even want.
And some of the deals around Black Friday especially can
be so incredible that you're like, I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I'm gonna do with that, but that's such a good deal,
I'm gonna get it anyway. It can make it hard.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
So if you're one of those people that may fall
for buying something because it's a good deal and not
necessarily because it's a good deal on something that you
need or want, it could be worth avoiding the sales,
maybe not all of them, but pick your favorite retailer
and try to stick with them. If you really like

(41:51):
shopping at Target, then you know, try to stick with
just their newsletters instead of getting like Target and best
Buy and Walmart and everything else.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Well, it sounds like you were describing ten twelve year
ago Joel right there for a second, and I was like,
I was, I was a deal nerd, and it was
I came to realize, wait a second, I'm just loading
up on stuff, and it turns out I'm buying stuff
that I'm either not going to use or I'm not
terribly happy with. But I thought it was because it
was a good price. And I think that certain people
with hyper frugal tendencies can fall victim to that and

(42:22):
they end up actually it's the opposite of frugal to
buy stuff that you don't need, even just because it's
a deal. But that is that is a common trap
that a lot of people fall into around kind of
Black Friday time period. So yeah, long before A was
Girl Math, it was Jordan. That's right. I started the trend.
Little does everyone know it should be named after me, folks.
I probably I need like a like a big statue

(42:42):
in my honor for the inception of that. But Julie,
we got a few more questions we want to get
to with you, specifically about avoiding the holiday hangover come January.
We'll we'll get to a little bit more with you
on this topic right after this break. All right, we

(43:03):
are back.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
We're still talking with Julie Ramhold and Julie. So a
quick personal question you're talking about you know, you mentioned, like,
I guess one of the best ways to say this
by unsubscribing to those newsletters. We were just talking about
that come January. That way, you don't even know about
those deals, but you mentioned January. It made me think,
are you one of the folks who starts to budget

(43:24):
for the holidays a year in advance, where you just
have a nice, solid year of build up so that
you are fully prepared.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
I am not, okay.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
I am a procrastinator to the biggest degree. And I
think we probably don't start considering holiday budget shopping until
maybe three months out, so like July or so. Usually
about the time I start writing Black Friday content for
deal News is about when we're like, okay, we should
probably start looking ahead to the holidays and figuring out

(43:55):
our budgets.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Well, honestly thought like better late than ever, right, you know,
I feel like in a perfect world if you can
be I don't know, a little more robotic with your finances. Yeah,
like you are looking like a full year in advance.
But better July than very November.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
I mean, because that president for your cousin's wife, you're
going to find itself. Well, one of the last you
just mentioned procrastination. One of the things you don't want
to procrastinate on is returning stuff that you end up
not wanting. You place the order, maybe because it's a deal,
you realize, oh wait, I don't want that. Oh I
forgot I already bought a present for my mom, and
so I actually don't need this, need this thing. Talk

(44:30):
to me about holiday return policies and are there something
like sometimes more and more we're seeing fees attached, especially
if you're mailing something back to a retailer where you're
not going to necessarily get the full price of what
you ordered back into you account.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
Yeah, I would say, if you think that you're going
to have to return something, try to figure out a
nice way to ask for a gift receipt if you're
getting it from someone else. If you're giving something to
someone else, I would say make sure to include a
gift receipt unless you just don't like them, just because
it will the process easier. But overall, yeah, if you're
looking at returning something, especially if it's electronics, that's when

(45:07):
we really see things like the restocking fees apply. And
at that point, sometimes it'll be a flat rate, sometimes
it'll be something like fifteen percent of the purchase price.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
So they're really trying to discourage you.

Speaker 4 (45:22):
From returning items, which from a business standpoint I can understand.
But because of that, it may come down to kind
of weighing your options, like is it worth returning, especially
if you have to ship it back and pay for shipping.
So if you if you're kind of weighing your options
and you're thinking about returning something, I would definitely try

(45:44):
to factor in restocking fees, return shipping to see if
it might just be worth it to turn around and
put it on a local marketplace or something like that.
You may be able to recoup more of your costs
that way. But it's just it's one of those situations
that's going to kind of vary from retailer to retailer
and based on what you buy as well. Another big

(46:06):
problem we see with electronics is that they have a
much shorter return window. So in general, we tend to
see retailers saying, you know, like items purchased in late
November or early December can be returned until like mid
or late January, sometimes even later. They will extend their

(46:27):
return policies for these items by a good margin. But
when it comes to things like electronics, you may still
only have like fourteen or fifteen days from purchase. So
it's important to note those differences and kind of realize
what you're getting into before you buy something, especially if
it's a pricey electronic item.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Sure, yeah, yeah, and that's yeah. That's assuming too that
you have the ability ability at all to make the return,
because sometimes you've got there's different sort of tricks that
get played on you, whether it's something being final sale
and oh, turns out you actually don't have the ability.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
To return this.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Are there are there some other sort of marketing retailer
tricks like that where those different stores are trying to
trying to part us from our money, whether it's to
spend additional money or to make a purchase that maybe
we wouldn't have made at all.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
So that is definitely where the urgency of Black Friday
comes into.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Is if you can sometimes buy.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
Floor models of things, for instance, whether it's electronics or
furniture or something like that. But the problem with that
is that typically it is final sale, so they may.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Or may not tell you that at the time of purchase.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
But if you're having to kind of jump through those
hoops to get your hands on something because the standard
boxed inventory sold out or something like that, it's something
to definitely be aware of. Pay attention to exclusions and
things like that, because it may say like, oh, you
can buy anything purchased after December first until you know
January twenty fourth, and then there's a mile long list

(47:56):
of fine print exclusions.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
But if you don't read that, then you won't know.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, yeah, who's reading all the fine print. We're so
used to just scrolling to the bottom, ye clicking except all,
whether it's on terms of service with apps or yeah,
the fine print app retailers, I'm seeing a whole lot
more final sales, especially clothing items these days than I've
ever seen in my life, and so you definitely have
to notice that, and it varies between individual items. It's

(48:19):
not like everything on the site is final sale. It's
certain specific items, right, and so you just have to
note that when you're making the purchase and all.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Julie. Final question for you, I guess not Black Friday specific,
but maybe zoom out just a little bit. You've been
in the deal space for quite a while. What's your
take on finding deals on the internet in general? Like
best practices? And then I think in some ways we
all thought it would that the Internet was going to
make it easier to comparison shop to find a deal,
but it feels like that hasn't really been true in
a lot of ways either that it's still just as

(48:48):
opaque as and if I'm wrong, let me know. But
still it feels like finding a deal or knowing whether
something is a deal is still pretty opaque. Even given
kind of the advantages we have as consumer shopping on
the internet, what ways can we maybe use the internet
and the realities of kind of shopping e commerce, how

(49:09):
can we use that to our avantage to actually make
sure that we're getting a good deal.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
So this is where I contradict myself and say that
if you're kind of looking around and you've realized that
maybe something you want to purchase is only available direct
from the manufacturer, or they're the ones that are most
likely to have a good.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Price, or something like that.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Try to sign up for their newsletter because they will
alert you to sales, as we've talked about, but they
will also potentially send you a discount code as sort
of a welcome thing, and it could be ten percent,
it could be fifteen percent. Probably not going to be
anything crazy, but it will definitely help to cut down
on your order and help you save a little bit,
at least initially. Outside of that, it is really hard

(49:56):
to do comparison shopping. I know that when we're kind
of looking around trying to judge what deals our best,
we will use Google shopping just because it pulls up
results from a whole bunch of different places.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
But it's still a lot of work.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
To sort of sift through those and figure out which
ones are reputable sellers, which ones are actually selling the
object I'm looking for, and it's not just a scam
with the picture, it can get tiring.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
And you mentioned reputable sellers, Is that a problem to
like just crap websites that don't if a deal is
it looks too seems too good to be true. Is
it probably too good to be true, and it's from
some sort of website that doesn't actually stand behind what
it sells.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
I feel like this is a huge problem. So in general,
it's gotten easier to sort of open a store on
the internet, and if you're not shopping through something like
Etsy or eBay, where you can look at seller ratings
and see like, oh, okay, this one's actually pretty highly rated.
Oh this one has a notorious track record of not

(50:56):
sending the right item or not sending anything at all,
then you know you're kind of leaving it up to chance.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
And there have definitely.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
Been cases where I've seen products listed online that are
like clearly claiming to be something they're not and hoping
that shoppers don't notice. And some shoppers won't. Not everybody
does their research. Sometimes they see a price on something
that seems like it's great and they just assume they
found a great deal, and then they get stuck with

(51:26):
this headache of trying to either get their money back
or get the item that they ordered or something like that.
And it is kind of a good idea to always
stick with sellers that you can at least research, whether
it be a big brand or if you're on eBay
then a highly rated seller, or even a big brand

(51:48):
on eBay because they also have eBay storefrones now stuff
like that. I'm so torn because I like shopping small
and I like shopping indie, but it definitely pays to
try to find reviews before you make your first purchase
from somewhere. Especially if something seems like a really great deal,
you want to make sure that it's as good as
it seems.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
And the lesser known the store.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
Kind of the more potential it has to be something
potentially shady.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
If that makes sense, it makes all the sense in
the world. Julie, we really appreciate you talking with us.
We're definitely going to link to deal News, and specifically,
we came across a page that had all of the
different Black Friday flyers essentially listed out by retailer.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
We'll link to that. But do you have any other
extremely helpful resources for folks who are looking for specific deals.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
I would say, if you're shopping online, lean into using
extensions that give you cash back, especially around Black Friday.
Stuff like Rakutin will be increasing their rates for some
stores so if you're earning something like three percent cash
back normally, then around Black Friday it could or even triple.

(53:01):
So definitely use that as much as you can.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
That will help you save.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
Maybe not upfront, but when you get that check with
the cash back, it'll make the holidays feel a lot
less stressful.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
Love it, Julie, Thank you again for joining us. We
really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Well, all right, Joel, who doesn't want an amazing deal
on whatever it is that they want to buy for
the inflatable hot tub, Matt, I told you what I
want for their loved ones. And that's just for me though,
well not just for you, for your buddy as well.
It kind of goes to over. Maybe that'll be my
big takeaway, the fact that if you are able to
maybe justify a.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Purchase, that it's not just for me. You're not doing
this just for you, Joel. This is for you and
your kids. It's the ability to create memories. Yeah, actually
that's not gonna be my big take but yeah, no,
it was great to talk with Julie from deal News.
But yeah, did you have a specific takeaway big takeaway
from this episode?

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is buyer beware. Like
she talked about restocking fees, she talked about when with
travel deals, read the fine. And I think ultimately where
you buy matters because when you buy, let's say, buy
from somebody where you know the return policy and it's
a good return policy. For instance, Costco has a ninety
day return policy on electronics. That's you know, they don't
make it a pain for you to return it and

(54:15):
they don't charge a restocking fee. But if you buy
from somewhere else, yeah, maybe you saved an extra ten bucks,
but what if you need to return the item. So
sometimes the absolute lowest price isn't necessarily even the direction
you want to go. You want to go with the
retailer where you're like, oh, that's five minutes from my house.
They'll take the ability to make the return in person, yes,
goes a long ways, and being a being able to
offset some of those costs. Guess my big takeaway is

(54:36):
going to kind of be in that vein as well
that in an attempt to get the absolute best deal,
to pay the absolute.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Least amount on something, sometimes you will end up getting
an inferior product. And I hadn't heard someone talk about
the different off brand TVs before, but that's an area,
like she said that oftentimes you are getting what you're
paying for as opposed to looking for a legit deal
on a legit company, like a company that it's going
to make a quality product, and instead to not focus

(55:04):
on the absolute lowest dollar amount and to not focus
on some of the different retailers that you might just
happen to stumble upon on Google.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Was also glad to.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Hear though Julie was down with those gift cards drillers. Yeah, no,
you didn't like that. Yeah, sorry, Julia.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Well but I will say this, if there's any time
of year to do gift cards, it's when there are
more deals on gift cards special incentives.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
So yeah, paying two hundred bucks, you're getting three hundred
dollars worth of goods. Sure, that's a pretty sweet deal.
I'm down with that gift card then. Yeah, but all right, Matt,
let's move back to get back to the beer. This
one is from Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery. It's called Sunset.
It's a hazy, dry hopped IPA I guess with yuzufruit.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
What were your thoughts on this? Yeah, do you have
you ever had uzufruit before? I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
It's an Asian citrus basically, and you can totally taste
those kind of lemony, almost grapefruity notes coming through. Definitely
get in that flavor, uh huh. So it's almost like
a way for them to have created a like a
West Coast hazy, which isn't a thing because West Coast
IPAs are normally very citrusy, pithy, bitter. Yeah, but this
one is hazy, and it also has some of those

(56:02):
brighter citrus notes which I can totally get behind. So, yeah,
this is a different kind of hazy that we have
not experienced before.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
But says it's a malt beverage, which always throws me off.
I'm like, why is it a malt beverage not a beer?
But I like it.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
It's in a tall, skinny can like a red Bull,
so it also doesn't feel like a.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Beer definitely, and it's from a brewery and a distillery.
So I just didn't know what to think about this
one in a lot of ways, like I don't even
know what I'm drinking. Yeah, I guess I like usu fruit.
I'd love to try just a bite from a user.
But this I like the beer. It was just also
like what am I? It was hard to put my
finger on exactly what I was drinking at the same time.

(56:40):
And this is by the way, from our friend Bob.
Thank you, Bill, Yeah, thank you Bob. You're the best.
All right, Matt, that's gonna do it for this episode.
We'll put show notes up on the website at how
to Monday dot com links to some of the sites
we mentioned today, including deal News of course, which is
one of the best apps, slash websites to track deals
and to look at the Black Friday flyers and all
that stuff so you can plan your holiday shopping so
you're not spending more than you wanted to. My buddy,

(57:02):
that's going to do it for this episode. Until next time,
Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.