How to prepare for Black Friday with a free spreadsheet
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Every November, the same question pops up: Is this a real discount or just clever pricing? An avid shopper loves a good deal—and dislikes “raise the price, then slash it” tactics. This year we put together a simple Google Sheets planner that helps you lock in today’s prices, compare several shops per item, and buy only when the Black Friday price truly beats your baseline.
Make a copy:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12IEoTy-mm4ujJlNVIxSXuIayUFu2j91F9b-eHlzn9Ug/copy
The most powerful way to avoid impulse buys is to set your own reference point before the sales start.
- Capture a baseline: Add the items you’re eyeing and record the current (regular) prices from 3–5 shops. When Black Friday begins, you can instantly see whether a “deal” is lower than the baseline you saved.
- Compare calmly: With options side-by-side, you reduce emotional decisions driven by timers and “only 2 left” labels.
- Protect your budget: The sheet totals your Black Friday cart and shows what remains against your limit, so you can say yes to the right things—and no to the rest.
What shoppers are signaling this season
- Gen Z sees value but stays cautious. 84% of Gen Z consumers believe Black Friday sales offer good value, yet 60% say they regret past purchases. That tension—optimistic but burned before—is exactly why a price baseline helps.
- Gift lists tightened. Consumers budgeted for an average of eight gifts in 2024, down from nine in 2022. Planning matters when every slot counts.
- Self-gifting is tempting. 75% of shoppers say they want to treat themselves, but constrained budgets get in the way. A dedicated “treat yourself” line with a hard cap can keep the splurge fun and responsible.
- Device matters. On Black Friday, average items per order were 3.6 on desktop and 2.9 on smartphone or tablet. Translation: do your comparisons on a bigger screen if you can—mobile is fine for checkout once you already know the winner.
Source: Queue.it
How the spreadsheet works (two minutes to learn)
1) Build your wishlist with current prices.
Each row is one shop’s offer for the same item (for example, “AirPods” from Shop A, Shop B, Shop C). Enter the present-day price for each. The sheet automatically adds the lowest current price per item to your wishlist cart total.
2) Add Black Friday prices when sales start.
Drop in the sale prices from the same or other shops.
3) Mark intent with a simple toggle.
Use the “Going to buy?” column to focus totals on items you’re seriously considering. The sheet automatically adds the Black Friday price per item to your Black Friday cart total, so you can compare your current-price baseline against day-of prices. Your Black Friday cart total and remaining budget update automatically.
4) Track shipping the way you prefer.
If you add shipping for each offer, the template can count it once per shop. If you’d rather compare item-only prices, leave shipping out and keep decisions clean.
A quick method for choosing well
- Start from the baseline, not the banner. If the Black Friday price is not lower than your saved regular price, skip it.
- Tag items by intent. Use your built-in tags: must-have, nice-to-have, and splurge. Prioritize must-haves and upgrades with real value; splurges get a cooling-off period.
- Mind return policies. Many stores tighten holiday returns. Add a quick note if an item is final sale or has restocking fees.
- Respect your limit. The top row shows how much room you have left. If adding an item pushes you over, remove a lower-priority item—don’t raise the limit on the fly.
Why this approach helps curb regret
Those regret numbers for Gen Z are a real signal. It’s not that they don’t know how to shop — it’s that their financial cushion is thinner and their obligations are higher. A lot of them are still in school or just out of college, many are paying rent on their own for the first time, some are dealing with student loans, and basic living costs have gone up faster than their income. In that context, every impulse purchase hurts more. It’s not just “ugh, I didn’t need that,” it’s “I could’ve used that money for something essential.”
That’s why a saved price baseline helps Gen Z even more than other groups. When they record the price now and compare it on Black Friday, the decision becomes fact-based, not fear-of-missing-out–based. It turns into a simple rule: if the sale price isn’t lower than the price I saved, I don’t buy. That single rule removes the pressure of “everyone is buying” and cuts down on the exact kind of rushed spending that leads to regret a week later.
