Five expert hacks for bagging a Black Friday bargain

Five expert hacks for bagging a Black Friday bargain

Black Friday 2022 is in exactly four weeks’ time, but in recent years the mass shopping event has grown to become a month-long extravaganza – which is why shoppers on the hunt for a bargain should start planning now.

This year is especially unique with the country in the midst of a cost of living crisis, sending prices across the board spiraling, meaning shoppers will look to be extra savvy when it comes to parting with their hard-earned cash.

The good news for you is that the retail experts at online marketplace OnBuy.com are here to help and ensure you’re able cut through the noise and get ahead this busy shopping season.

From avoiding the common Black Friday pitfalls to planning ahead, with a host of industry expert hacks in between, OnBuy has you covered. For their experts’ top five tips and tricks for Black Friday 2022 on a budget, see below.

CREATE A SHOPPING LIST

In the weeks and days leading up to Black Friday, it’s important to know what products you’re in the market for, so you should create a list of all the items you want to buy.

A list of must-have items will help you focus your spending and prevent you from getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of deals available, which is easy to do when confronted by offer after offer from hundreds of different retailers.

If you’re disciplined and stick to the list, not only will you walk away with everything you want – you’ll also avoid making unnecessary purchases that you end up regretting.

Sticking to must-have purchases will help ensure that your budget works for you, which is especially important with finances stretched for millions amid the cost of living crisis.

BAG A BARGAIN, NOT JUST A HYPED UP PRICE CUT

One of the main challenges amid the Black Friday sale extravaganza is figuring out which discounts are actually worth it and which ones are just a hyped up price cut.

Some retailers will display items with a ‘significant reduction’, when really all they’ve done is bring in a misleading price cut in order to draw unwitting customers in.

Once you know what products you want, it’s a good idea to do some research. Find out how much your desired products usually retails for on different websites and in different shops.

If you find out how much you can expect to spend on a product, then come Black Friday you will be able to evaluate if the discount is actually worth it (a lot of the time it’s not!).

As well as that, there are several handy price tracking sites out there like camelcamelcamel that monitor the cost of products over time, allowing you to see when exactly is the best time to buy.

A little bit of research goes a long way and can help you make some big savings. And remember – don’t always get sucked in by the bright lights and big deals!

SET A BUDGET

With so many exciting items just a click or swipe away, it can be all too easy to overspend on Black Friday. So, before you spend a single penny, set yourself a budget.

Delve into your accounts to establish exactly how much you can afford to spend over the course of the sale and ensure that you don’t surpass it.

Once you have your figure, you can go through your wishlist and prioritise the items you want from top to bottom – ensuring that you’re able to purchase all your top-tier items without overspending.

USE A CREDIT CARD

When it comes to paying for your big ticket Black Friday purchases, try and provide yourself with extra protection by purchasing with a credit card.

Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, using a credit card means that if there’s a breakdown in the supply chain and you’re unable to receive a refund, you can claim the full cost back from your credit card provider.

Remember that this only applies to items costing between £100 and £30,000, so credit cards are best used for the more expensive Black Friday buys like televisions and mobile phones.

DON’T HESITATE, SIGN UP NOW

Black Friday has grown exponentially to become a wide-ranging event that can go on for longer than a month, so savvy shoppers should sign up to their favourite sites now and start scouring for offers.

You could get the brilliant deal you’re after as early as the end of October (yes, really!), with many retailers launching daily deals, secret sales and flash sales in the weeks leading up to Black Friday.

On the big day itself, which falls on November 25th, the biggest and most popular online retailers experience some of the busiest traffic of the year, which means things can move slowly.

The knock-on effect of this is that the best deals can sometimes sell out in a matter of minutes, so you need to be nimble in order to bag the bargain of your choice.

That’s why you should set up your online account well in advance of Black Friday, setting your payment and shipping details so that you make your purchases quickly – and get that deal.

OnBuy will be joining the party and launching a host of enticing deals between now and the big day, sign up for an account here: https://www.onbuy.com/gb/account/register/

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Education Technology Day must be extended to prisons

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Typically thought of as being an easy to clean area of the home, hard floors have risen in popularity in recent decades. Globally, hard floors are the most common floor type,2 and research released today by Dyson has uncovered poor cleaning habits that mean hard floors are likely to be harbouring an array of hidden nasties. This comes as 32% of Brits – equating to 21.6 million people in the UK – will use the same dirty mop head for six months or more before replacing it. What’s more, one in 20 also admit to keeping the same mop for a year or longer, and one in 10 think it is acceptable to use the same mop 100 times, spreading dirt around their floors every time they use it. Cross contamination is a primary issue for most common and traditional mopping methods with germs and bacteria further being unknowingly spread around homes as Brits use dirty water to clean floors.3 45% only change the water to new water between rooms, whereas 41% wait even longer until it looks dirty. This could mean that floors are being washed with dirty water, adding more dirt rather than taking it away. Surprisingly, almost one in 10 (9%) even admit to not changing the dirty water at all when mopping. Over a quarter (28%) admit to mopping their floors once a fortnight or less while over half (53%) admit they don’t regularly clean behind appliances and leave dirt to build up for as long as six months at a time. image002.jpg On how to achieve a perfect barefoot clean feel after mopping, Geli Lee, Dyson Engineer and Home Cleaning Expert offers their top tips for eliminating dirt around the home: 1. Create a cleaning schedule to stay on top of dirt build-up. In the last year, there has been a 15% global reduction in the number of people who maintain regular cleaning schedules. 47% of the British public admitted to only being motivated to clean when they spot visible dirt or dust.4 Regular floor cleaning with a wet hard floor cleaner like the Dyson WashG1™ removes more stubborn dirt than vacuuming alone. It is important to have a debris free surface, clear any clutter from the floor or other surfaces. Choose the right machine: Different vacuums are designed for different floor types and home sizes. Some machines will be engineered with hard floors in mind and will struggle on thick pile carpets, for example. Choosing the right machine for your home will make a big difference to the ease and speed with which you’re able to clean your home. Clean your floors ‘little and often’. Washing your floors frequently in areas that receive more foot fall will help to stop dirt building up and getting trodden into your floor. Using a dedicated wet floor cleaner on hard flooring such as the Dyson WashG1 is helpful for this, as the versatile format means it vacuums and washes the floor simultaneously. Cleaning schedules have also become less regimented. In recent years only 41% of people claim to have a regular cleaning schedule, and 60% admit to cleaning reactively; being motivated to clean only when there is visible dirt or dust5. It’s perhaps not surprising, that a fifth of people are still concerned their floors are dirty after they’ve mopped them (22%) and one in four6 feel extremely worried about indoor dust at home. Geli Lee, Dyson Engineer and Home Cleaning Expert reveals why it is important to change the way we mop: “Cleaning your hard floors properly and regularly is important for maintaining a healthy environment around your home. Without a proper cleaning routine, dirt may unknowingly build up and spread around your home. It is evident from our research that current mopping habits mean British households aren’t cleaning their floors as effectively as they should. “From ignoring problem areas where dust and debris build up, cross contamination with dirty water to not replacing mop heads or inconsistent cleaning, current mopping behaviours may be making floors dirtier as opposed to cleaner. Moving away from traditional methods, wet floor cleaners like the Dyson WashG1 simplify the floor cleaning experience and provide a modern efficient and hygienic solution” To help take the guesswork out of mopping, the brand new WashG1 is Dyson’s first dedicated wet floor cleaner that tackles wet and dry debris in one go. Engineered for hygienic cleaning and maintenance, the WashG1 is revolutionising wet floor cleaning, removing the need for multi-products and multi-steps to achieve a barefoot clean feel around the home. To put the product to the test, Dyson have cleaned one of London’s most iconic landmarks The Victoria and Albert Museum. From cleaning the grand marble floors housing the most prestigious exhibits, to cleaning up leftover food in the Gamble Room Cafe, the WashG1 had a dirt busting tour of the museum leaving it spotless. Images can be found here. The WashG1 introduces Dyson’s engineering expertise to cleaning hard floors. With a 1 litre clean-water tank to cover flooring up to 290m2, the Dyson WashG1 uses a combination of hydration, absorption, and extraction technologies to remove wet and dry spills and stains simultaneously. The Dyson WashG1 is available to purchase now from Dyson.co.uk, retailing at £599.99.

Typically thought of as being an easy to clean area of the home, hard floors have risen in popularity in recent decades. Globally, hard floors are the most common floor type,2 and research released today by Dyson has uncovered poor cleaning habits that mean hard floors are likely to be harbouring an array of hidden nasties. This comes as 32% of Brits – equating to 21.6 million people in the UK – will use the same dirty mop head for six months or more before replacing it. What’s more, one in 20 also admit to keeping the same mop for a year or longer, and one in 10 think it is acceptable to use the same mop 100 times, spreading dirt around their floors every time they use it. Cross contamination is a primary issue for most common and traditional mopping methods with germs and bacteria further being unknowingly spread around homes as Brits use dirty water to clean floors.3 45% only change the water to new water between rooms, whereas 41% wait even longer until it looks dirty. This could mean that floors are being washed with dirty water, adding more dirt rather than taking it away. Surprisingly, almost one in 10 (9%) even admit to not changing the dirty water at all when mopping. Over a quarter (28%) admit to mopping their floors once a fortnight or less while over half (53%) admit they don’t regularly clean behind appliances and leave dirt to build up for as long as six months at a time. image002.jpg On how to achieve a perfect barefoot clean feel after mopping, Geli Lee, Dyson Engineer and Home Cleaning Expert offers their top tips for eliminating dirt around the home: 1. Create a cleaning schedule to stay on top of dirt build-up. In the last year, there has been a 15% global reduction in the number of people who maintain regular cleaning schedules. 47% of the British public admitted to only being motivated to clean when they spot visible dirt or dust.4 Regular floor cleaning with a wet hard floor cleaner like the Dyson WashG1™ removes more stubborn dirt than vacuuming alone. It is important to have a debris free surface, clear any clutter from the floor or other surfaces. Choose the right machine: Different vacuums are designed for different floor types and home sizes. Some machines will be engineered with hard floors in mind and will struggle on thick pile carpets, for example. Choosing the right machine for your home will make a big difference to the ease and speed with which you’re able to clean your home. Clean your floors ‘little and often’. Washing your floors frequently in areas that receive more foot fall will help to stop dirt building up and getting trodden into your floor. Using a dedicated wet floor cleaner on hard flooring such as the Dyson WashG1 is helpful for this, as the versatile format means it vacuums and washes the floor simultaneously. Cleaning schedules have also become less regimented. In recent years only 41% of people claim to have a regular cleaning schedule, and 60% admit to cleaning reactively; being motivated to clean only when there is visible dirt or dust5. It’s perhaps not surprising, that a fifth of people are still concerned their floors are dirty after they’ve mopped them (22%) and one in four6 feel extremely worried about indoor dust at home. Geli Lee, Dyson Engineer and Home Cleaning Expert reveals why it is important to change the way we mop: “Cleaning your hard floors properly and regularly is important for maintaining a healthy environment around your home. Without a proper cleaning routine, dirt may unknowingly build up and spread around your home. It is evident from our research that current mopping habits mean British households aren’t cleaning their floors as effectively as they should. “From ignoring problem areas where dust and debris build up, cross contamination with dirty water to not replacing mop heads or inconsistent cleaning, current mopping behaviours may be making floors dirtier as opposed to cleaner. Moving away from traditional methods, wet floor cleaners like the Dyson WashG1 simplify the floor cleaning experience and provide a modern efficient and hygienic solution” To help take the guesswork out of mopping, the brand new WashG1 is Dyson’s first dedicated wet floor cleaner that tackles wet and dry debris in one go. Engineered for hygienic cleaning and maintenance, the WashG1 is revolutionising wet floor cleaning, removing the need for multi-products and multi-steps to achieve a barefoot clean feel around the home. To put the product to the test, Dyson have cleaned one of London’s most iconic landmarks The Victoria and Albert Museum. From cleaning the grand marble floors housing the most prestigious exhibits, to cleaning up leftover food in the Gamble Room Cafe, the WashG1 had a dirt busting tour of the museum leaving it spotless. Images can be found here. The WashG1 introduces Dyson’s engineering expertise to cleaning hard floors. With a 1 litre clean-water tank to cover flooring up to 290m2, the Dyson WashG1 uses a combination of hydration, absorption, and extraction technologies to remove wet and dry spills and stains simultaneously. The Dyson WashG1 is available to purchase now from Dyson.co.uk, retailing at £599.99.

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