USA Today has this story today – Consumers can find good deals beyond Black Friday.

A snippet:

The recession has made bargain hunters out of almost every consumer, and discounters of most every retailer. That’s combined to make this year’s Black Friday more feverish than ever, especially given the fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Retail announcements about Black Friday prices are even more widespread, and started long before anyone was talking turkey. And deep discounting is likely to increase as the close of the holiday season grows closer, retail experts say.

I have to get way more resourceful than waiting in line for Black Friday deals. I usually have to work on Friday after Thanksgiving. By the time I can go shopping during my lunch break or in the afternoon, those doorbuster deals are done.

So how do I find my shopping bargains?

I’ve been posting my favorite tips over and over this holiday season:

• Look at the sales fliers every day that arrive in your newspaper and mailbox. There are a lot of deep discounts that do not happen on Black Friday, but they also will be announced on very short notice.
• Save all the drugstore and grocery sales fliers for stores you might shop at during the week. I keep my weekly sales fliers in a binder that also holds my grocery shopping list.
• Save all the department store and specialty store coupons or discount codes that arrive via e-mail or mail in a manila envelope, binder, office drawer or box. When you are ready to go shopping for gifts, go through that stack and see what deals you can match up to your shopping list. (I often wonder what JCPenney’s postage bill is like.)
• Keep a shopping list of who you are buying for, the price range and what you have already found for that person.