After participating in this, my 3rd season of Black Friday sales, I've learned a few things.

You do realize that each year, the stores change their strategies a bit, right? As do the shoppers!

Check out this summary of approaches you can take to Black Friday shopping. Most notable is the unique opportunity to take part in a Black Friday day of protest against consumerism where everyone is encouraged to "get out there and buy nothing!" Originally known as "No Shop Day"... this effort has officially been organized into International Buy Nothing Day.

Based on the stores' unique strategies -- and the shoppers' -- here are my best tips for Black Friday shopping...

Did you know that the Monday after Thanksgiving (November 26th) is called "Cyber Monday"?

Yep. Cyber Monday is the day that online traffic and online sales significantly increase for the year, and they don't really let up until after Christmas Day.

That means... all is not lost if you were unable to make it to the post-Thanksgiving Day sales to take advantage of Black Friday specials.

This will be the third year now that I've had my eye on Black Friday sales. Last year, we snatched a few good deals... but nothing big.

While Black Friday events in general guarantee that you'll hear things like "Prices slashed!"... "Rock-bottom prices!"... "Lowest prices of the season!"... and "Best sale ever!"

Each year, a handful of really "hot" items seem to make their way to the top and attract all of the media's attention... and the consumers'.

For example, last year it was the 42" Plasma HD TV. And the year before that it was the laptop for under $400! (We have friends that tried for both, and failed.)

Wondering what the hottest items are this year???

A fun site that's loaded with helpful tips & tricks from "people in the know" is called Tricks of the Trade.

The site has been on hiatus for over 6 months now, but there's still a lot of valuable data in the archives!

Here are some of my favorites...

What is Cyber Monday?

The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving and the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season. Similar to Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year when retail stores often offer significant discounts, Cyber Monday has in recent years become a busy day for online retailers, and one in which online stores offer similarly low prices and promotions. Source

According to MasterCard, three out of four shoppers plan to shop online. And, people are expected to spend $300 online out of a total holiday spend of $700 each this year.

Even if you don't plan to participate in online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving, you may want to be prepared for the fact that Internet speed may be significantly lagging on computers all across America, as a result of Cyber Monday.

Here are the biggest discounts, the best prices, and the most slashed prices that will be honored at this year's Black Friday sales events (the day after Thanksgiving).

This is based on what I'm hearing in the news, as well as our own personal experiences and knowledge about electronics & gadgets.

The prices have been SLASHED on these items!...

For 2007 Black Friday sales, go here.

Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving when retailers often have their biggest sales of the year) is right around the corner.

After the huge success of 2005 Black Friday sales events, it's looking like this year will be no different.

And, the best part? You can find out ahead of time exactly what's going to be on sale at your favorite stores!

Here's how...

Bear with me here... but I have a novel idea. (IF I do say so myself!)

With all the hub-bub about Christmas Trees vs Sunday services on Christmas day, and all the other "politically correct" ways that people have tried to un-Christmas the holiday this year... I've got an idea!

What's say we keep Christmas for the Christians... bring the focus back to Christ and the REAL meaning of Christmas... and continue to celebrate Christmas Day on December 25th each year -- with this one catch: NO PRESENTS!

That way, Christmas will be what it was always intended to be: a celebration of Christ's birth in its purest form (...for those who believe it, that is).

THEN..... (hold, on... it gets better!)

This rowdy dude posts his personal reviews of practically every product, service, or television show he comes across.

I like first-hand accounts of others' experiences, so I can appreciate some of his reviews and insights.