Australians are being urged to plan ahead and avoid overspending over the Black Friday weekend, with millions of bargain hunters slated to start their Christmas shopping early.

Retailers are hoping to draw a line under months of slow sales with the shopping holiday and are expected to do everything they can to entice shoppers to blow their budgets with impulse buys.

Financial adviser and On Your Own Two Feet founder Helen Baker said those tactics make it all too easy to overspend or end up in debt to credit card companies and buy now, pay later giants.

“They’re going to push you things that you’re going to like,” Baker said.

“You can end up spending more than you thought you were going to spend on a particular item.”

But for savvy shoppers the discounting holiday is rapidly becoming a tradition on Australia’s retail calendar, with families looking to get their Christmas shopping done early and save some cash.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) hopes Australians will spend a record $6.7 billion over the four-day shopping holiday from Friday, with those aged 35 to 49 tipped to buy the most.

Financial adviser and Sort My Money founder David Rankin said more and more Australians are making the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in recent years.

“These sales are now eclipsing those of Boxing Day,” he said.

But it’s also easy to get caught up in the hype and end up in a “spending trap”, Rankin warned.

Beware: Not all deals are equal

A key to shopping smart over Black Friday is recognising that not every deal is equal, Baker said.

Retailers have been known to try and pass off deals that aren’t actually very good, particularly on goods like electronics and clothing.

“Retailers can mark something up, then say, oh, it’s now 30 per cent off,” Baker explained.

“Or it could be a normal price on a product that’s normally reduced anyway.”

TWD senior financial adviser Dawn Thomas said researching prices early can help you tell whether something is a “genuine bargain or just clever marketing”.

“Compare online and in-store offers; sometimes the same item is cheaper in store or online with different perks like free shipping,” Thomas explained.

Golden rules: Avoiding overspend

Rankin explained that there are five golden rules to avoiding overspend on Black Friday.

That includes drawing up a “game plan”, comparing online offers with in-store ones and sticking to a budget.

“Once you have decided on your budget, either transfer this amount into a dedicated bank account with its own debit card,” Rankin said.

“Or – for high-street shopping – take this out in the form of cold hard cash so that you can’t go over.”

Baker suggested working out ahead of time what you want to spend on your Christmas shopping this year and then allocating spending limits to all the various people you intend to buy gifts for.

“List everybody that you need to buy for, then allocate an amount to that person, and total it up,” Baker suggested.

“If that number frightens you, then go back and dial them down before you start shopping.”

Thomas, Baker and Rankin all agreed that credit cards and buy now, pay later should be avoided where possible, particularly because it makes it all too easy to spend too much.

“Stick to cash or payments via your savings account,” Thomas said.

“If you do end up getting into credit [cards], come up with a payment plan for yourself of how long it will take you to pay it off.”