While I normally don’t like to get caught up in the Black Friday shopping frenzy, I did take 
We started plumbing and wiring a spot in our lake house for a washer and dryer many months ago. The spot has been ready and waiting for the laundry machines for months but I didn’t want to just go out and pay full price. I’ve been slowly accumulating gift cards at Lowes through a bonus program at work all year. We have a system at work that lets you either shop for various products on a website, or accrue points to get gift cards. We get these points by being recognized for going above and beyond our normal responsibilities. Over the year, I was able to cash these points in for $500 in Lowes gift cards. I did this because I knew we’d be needing the appliances and I also knew that Black Friday was traditionally the best day to get them at the cheapest price.
My strategy paid off. We were able to get a set of machines at a near 50% discount, (front loaders that will stack perfectly in the spot we built). By using the gift cards, we only spent about $400 out of our pocket and we’ll also get a $75 rebate from our local electricity company. I love it when a plan comes together.