The term Black Friday was coined by the Philadelphia Police Department in the year 1966. It was a day when the downtown roads in the city were jammed with traffic and people who were looking to get cheap bargains and discounts for Christmas. However, the term did not get recognition until the year 1975 when 2 newspapers from Philadelphia highlighted it. The day is also called Buy Nothing Day as many people avoid going to shops because of the rush and chaos. There are also some people who prefer to window shop rather than buy anything on this particular day.Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when retail shops offer heavy discounts and fantastic deals on items and goods. It is often the busiest shopping day in the year and retailers overcome their losses of the previous months in this single day. Today, in the US, retailers have realized the importance of Black Friday and offer heavy discounts to attract maximum number of customers. There is a lot of competition among retailers to get customers. People use this day to finish their Christmas shopping, but they also end up buying a lot of things that are not discounted. Hence, if you do not want to go overboard with your shopping budget, you should know how to shop on Black Friday.Before going shopping, it is important to make a shopping list. This will ensure that you spend money just on items that you have on your list. Also, you need to get a little aggressive to make your way through the throngs of people who are also there to get the best deals and discounts.Browse through all the sale papers that you can lay your hands on, so that you know where to find the items on your list. If you are shopping in a single store, it may help to make a rough map to facilitate your movement around the store. This will give you an edge over other shoppers.Generally, people arrive to the shopping venue hours before the sale begins. Hence, if you want to avoid long queues and prevent the items from getting sold out, it is imperative that you arrive early to the venue. While there may still be a queue outside the shop, it will not be that long.While you are in a store, keep checking your list. If one store appears to be too crowded, then go to another store that is less crowded and purchase something else on your list. This way you will save time and energy. You can always return to the first store later on.If you do not like crowds and hate pushing and shoving, then do your shopping on Cyber Monday, which is an extension of Black Friday for online shoppers.