3 days until Black Friday month… how do we plan for it?

📰 MoneyLoop Weekly | Every week we take one topic on Egyptian households’ minds and tell you what it means for your pocket, and what to do with your money. No jargon, no recommendations.

Hi there 👋🏼,

Black Friday used to be one day. Now it’s a whole month: the offers start on 1 November, and the notifications, emails and “limited time only” won’t leave you alone until it ends. That’s exactly what makes it more dangerous.

We plan for a single day… but a month gets spent a little at a time.

200 pounds here, 450 there, and “this deal won’t come back”… then at the end of the month you find you spent more than in any Black Friday before, on things you can’t remember why you bought.

The plan is made before the month, not during it

Once the offers start, the decision isn’t really in your hands anymore: the crossed-out price, the countdown timer, “only 2 left”… they’re all built to make you decide fast. That’s why the 3 days before November are the most important days of the whole month. Here are 5 things to do in them:

1. Write your list today 📝

Split it into 3 columns:

• Need it: something you’re genuinely missing and would buy even without a sale.
• Want it: something you’d enjoy but can live without.
• Only at a set price: you’ll buy it if it drops to a number you decide now.

Anything that isn’t on the list waits 24 hours before you buy it.

2. Set one budget for the whole month 💰

Not a budget per offer — one number for the whole month, ideally from money you’ve saved, not from your food and bills money.

For example: if your salary is 15,000 pounds and you decide sale shopping won’t go over 2,000 pounds, every offer comes out of that 2,000. Once it’s gone… the month is over for you, even if the offers are still running.

3. Screenshot the prices now 📸

This is the most important step, and its timing is what gives it value. Take a screenshot of the price of everything on your list today, before 1 November, and when the discount arrives, compare it with your screenshot, not with the crossed-out price.

Because sometimes a price goes up before the sale, then drops with a “40% off”… to almost the same old number.

4. Decide how you’ll pay 💳

Before you open any app, ask yourself: will I pay cash, by card, or in installments?

• Installments aren’t off limits, but a new installment is only for something in the “Need it” column.
• A credit card is fine, if you’ll pay the full amount on time.
• 15% off something bought in installments with fees may end up being no discount at all, so do the math before you tap.

5. Clear your phone of temptation 📲

• Turn off shopping app notifications: or limit them to once a day.
• Remove saved card details: every extra step gives you a second to think.
• Unsubscribe from deal emails: especially from stores you don’t buy from anyway.

What if the offer ends while I’m still thinking? 🤔

The offers run all month, and the same item will most likely drop again, in the same store or another one. What runs out fast isn’t the offers… it’s the budget. And if you miss something that was on your list, that’s fine. More offers are coming, at New Year and in Ramadan.

How to start today

1. Write the 3-column list: in your phone’s notes, in 10 minutes.
2. Set the month’s number: and move it somewhere separate now if you can.
3. Screenshot your list’s prices: before 1 November.

In MoneyLoop you can add a “November shopping” line to your budget, and every card purchase is recorded automatically from your bank’s SMS, so you always know how much of the month’s budget is left, before you tap “Buy now”.

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In the end,

Black Friday month isn’t won by whoever buys the most… it’s won by whoever buys what they planned to.

This content is general financial education, not personal advice for your situation.