We are all being inundated by Black Friday specials. My inbox is full of both press releases and offers from retailers. But how many people know about Buy Nothing Day?

Buy Nothing Day was set up as a protest against consumerism. It is held on the last Friday in November – on the same day as Black Friday – but Buy Nothing Day encourages people not to shop for a day. In some cases, it has extended to the entire of December just as the entire of November is now part of Black Friday.

It is certainly a great antidote to the avalanche of Black Friday advertising, and one could adopt it as a strategy to not get caught up in the Black Friday frenzy.

Rather than spending the day shopping, why not clean out your closets and donate unwanted items to charity? Clearing out is always a great way to remind yourself that you already have too much stuff.

But if you have been waiting for Black Friday specials to buy something you really need, a great website I use is Serval Tracker. We often find with Black Friday “specials” that the retailer has increased the price of the item the month before so that when November comes, they can “drop” the price back down to normal and make it look like you’re getting a discount.

Serval Tracker works on Takealot offers and tracks the price of the item over the last year. You just insert the URL of the item you want to purchase and its price history pops up.

I used it this week to confirm that the 40% discount I was offered on a mattress really was a discount. The price history showed me that indeed the price had been 40% higher during the rest of the year, and it showed that it went on sale last November as well.

Listen: Smart tricks for Black Friday

Another thing to be very careful about is fake websites. I have written before about being a victim of a fake website, and these become more prolific during November.  In my article I show how to identify these sites.

Also be hypervigilant about digital scams and attempts to obtain your banking information. This week I had to cancel my credit card because an unauthorised transaction had gone through from Playstation. This happened even though I never use the card for online transactions – I only use my virtual card. It’s a mystery how scammers obtained my card details.

The best advice against this fraud is to make sure you get immediate notifications from your bank when any transaction goes through your card. To be extra vigilant, check your bank account each week for unknown transactions. This can also be a great exercise in tracking your spending.

As always, the best way to tackle Black Friday is to have a plan and be the one in control.