We all have that one item – the one we bought on sale, wore once and now sits shamefully in the back of our closet. The kitchen gadget we bought at half price, which promised to help us transform from amateur cook to pro chef, currently taking up precious counter space and gathering dust.
And with the high volume of sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s a good chance some of us will experience buyer’s remorse. But this doesn’t mean we have to skip out on sale season altogether. Instead, we need to go in with a strategy.
To learn how to be a smarter shopper this season, and hopefully snag a good deal or two along the way, I consulted neuroeconomist Dr Uma R Karmarkar, whose research focuses on consumer decision-making.
She shared her best advice for making well-informed purchasing decisions during Black Friday, so that you won’t end up with a pile of items you’ll regret in a matter of weeks.
Set boundaries
Before shopping Black Friday deals, Karmarkar advises setting boundaries on how much money you’re comfortable spending. That way, the thrill of a good deal or the desire to spoil your loved ones doesn’t get in the way of what you can realistically afford.
“We make boundaries in our personal lives, and we make boundaries in our calendars. It’s not the worst thing to put boundaries on [shopping and gift giving] so that you can have the fun part and enjoy it, and not have that regret afterwards,” she said.
Know the normal price
While browsing holiday deals, many of us are tempted by the promises of savings. Marked down 60%? Add to cart! $45 off? Buy!
It’s important to go into Black Friday with a rough idea of how much items on your wishlist actually cost, so that you don’t mistake the price on the retailer’s site for the deal of a lifetime. (Last year, our colleagues at the Filter UK wrote a great guide to making sure you’re not getting ripped off by bogus discounts.)
“Have a sense of what things cost ahead of time, which sounds so obviously easy but is something we’re terrible at,” Karmarkar said. The free website Camelcamelcamel will show you the price history of any item on Amazon, so you can spot misleading price hikes.
Make a list
Approaching Black Friday sales with a plan of action in place is a surefire way to avoid regret. For Karmarkar, this involves making lists. That way, you can easily keep an eye out for a deal on an item you already had in your cart, rather than mindlessly browsing sites for products that weren’t on your radar beforehand.
“I am a university professor. I sort of have a loose list of the kinds of things that I’ve been thinking about buying. And then it’s a question of matching that list to the opportunity,” Karmakar said.
Avoid ambition purchases
Karmakar, like the rest of us, has experienced buyer’s remorse. Many times, this can happen after what she calls an “ambition purchase”.
These purchases are the perfect items – for a life you’re not living. Think trousers that are one inch too short or a pair of running shoes for that race you swear you’ll run one day. To avoid regret, she recommends trusting your instincts.
“If there’s that tiny nagging bit of doubt, it tends to mean it’s going to sit in my closet, and then I just feel guilt every time I see it,” she said.
Best of: early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are already popping up. With the seemingly endless options, it can be hard to decipher the ones to skip from the ones that might actually save you money.
To help cut through the noise, we phoned (several) friends, asking shopping experts to share the best early steals on products they’d recommend purchasing, even without the bonus of a discount.
Read the roundup here: The 43 very best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, curated and vetted
In the kitchen: best Black Friday and Cyber Monday kitchen deals
Kitchenware is expensive. Whether you’re in the market for a simple non-stick pan or looking to upgrade your blender, these items can add up quickly.
So veteran commerce writer Megan Wahn helped us find the best early Black Friday kitchen deals to cut down costs, selecting steals on everything from sheet pans to colorful cookware.
Read our guide here: The 20+ best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday kitchen deals you can snag early
Gifting help: tweens
If you find yourself perplexed by the almost-teenagers in your life, you might also be struggling to come up with a gift idea they’ll actually want.
To remove some of the guesswork, we asked 20 kids between the ages of nine and 12 what they’re putting on their holiday wishlists this year. From the sporty to the stylish, our list of 47 items will spark some inspiration as you try to prove your youth cred.
Read their picks here: The 47 best gift ideas for US tweens in 2025 – picked by actual tweens
Put to the test: jigsaw puzzles
Need a post-Thanksgiving dinner activity that’s less likely to descend into yelling than Monopoly? Want to reduce your screen time? Puzzling is a peaceful pastime worth trying out.
To find the best jigsaw puzzles on the market, consumer journalist Tim Stevens enlisted the help of a puzzling genius: his wife. They put more than 80 puzzles to the test, piecing together ambitious 5,000-piece options and kid-friendly varieties to narrow it down to six that are worth adding to your cart.
Read the full story here: The six best US jigsaw puzzles for adults and kids to soothe your screen-addled brain
At home: early Black Friday deals on home items
While it’s not exactly sexy, acquiring a vacuum cleaner or selecting a high-quality washer and dryer unit are often the necessary evils of adulthood.
To make these purchases less painful, longtime product reviewer Jon Chan scoured the internet for early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on home products that you can get a jump on now.
And while I’d rather spend money on a fancy espresso machine than a new refrigerator, these early Black Friday steals are hard to pass up.
Read our roundup here: The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday home deals in the US – so far
