As a tech journalist who works in ecommerce, my job is to spend a considerable amount of time searching for the best deals and prices on popular products. Sometimes, it can be really tempting to purchase a deal, but for the most part, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good tolerance against impulse purchases, and I’ve built up a wall of steel against tempting offers…until we get to Black Friday, that is.
Last year I was sucked in by an amazing deal on a 3D printer (bear in mind that I had never owned or used a 3D printer before) and now I’ve become something of a beginner expert on 3D printing, writing tutorials for Creative Bloq on how to create a Hueforge and teaching myself to 3D model.
Fast forward to Black Friday 2024 and it’s happened again. I’ve somehow winded up purchasing a Cricut machine (let me be clear, I have zero experience with one) and had to stop myself from buying a Smart Ring plus multiple pairs of AR smart glasses for gaming too (with up to $120 off).
If it wasn’t for the fact that I have a mortgage to pay and am currently saving for my wedding, I may have taken it too far this year. Instead, I’ve tried to take a sensible approach with my other purchases, and opted for the Honor MagicPad 2 (with £100 off) for photo editing, plus a pair of Loop earplugs, and some Pokémon Lego sets to enjoy building with my fiancé. That was a close one!
The deals I bought over Cyber Monday
Just in case you didn’t believe me: The Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals I actually bought this year (Image credit: Future)
Save £100: I’m getting married in 2026, and after watching several tutorials I managed to convince myself that a Cricut machine is a necessary wedding expense for creating my own decals, stickers, and other DIY bits. I was torn between the Explore Air 2, Explore 3, or Maker 3 machines (all of which have Cyber Monday deals) but I chose the Explore Air 2 as the more budget-friendly option.
Saved £100: I was given the chance to review this tablet last month, and I loved my experience with it so much that I actually bought one (I had to give the review sample back). This tablet has a gorgeous IMAX-enhanced OLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, making it perfect for photo editing.
Save 20%: These silicone earplugs are perfect for blocking out noisy surround sound at times when you need to focus or simply prefer to listen to nothing. I’ve used these earplugs a handful of times now and I love the white noise around me goes from 100 to 0 in a matter of seconds. It’s tranquil, comforting, and really does help me focus better on creative tasks.
SAVE £8.50: My fiance kindly bought this for me as an early xmas gift over Black Friday, and I love it so much! You can pose it in several different ways, and it looks epic on my gaming shelf. Snorlax is my fave Pokemon, so he really outdid himself with this gift.
SAVE £5: There’s not much of a discount on this Pikachu Mega Bloks set anymore (at least in the UK) but I managed to save £10 on it during Black Friday.
I’ve been using my evenings to slowly build this Pikachu while my fiance works on his Harry Potter Lego set, and we have a very peaceful candle-lit date night building Lego together at home.
