MONEY-SAVING MOMENT: Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over and the deals have gone into hibernation temporarily. But don't despair if you missed out during the Thanksgiving break. Two websites can help you score a bargain even as we move toward Christmas.

As always happens, in the aftermath of Black Friday, the deals dry up for a while. Retailers know now is the time to make money on those who aren't as price sensitive as Black Friday shoppers.

Wait to go forward another week and the deals will start appearing again, depending largely on inventory levels. I've already noticed good deals on HDTVs showing up again because of big oversupply of flat-screens at retailers and manufacturers.

One website to use to monitor bargains as they appear is DealNews.com.  The site is constantly updated with deals on electronics, clothing, shoes and housewares.

Each deal is annotated with one to five "hotness" circles by the site's editors. You rarely see five circles, while only one or two circles indicate a tepid offer. When you see three or four circles, you know you've got a smart purchase.

A site like ShopoBot.com, meanwhile, offers predictive price analysis for those who don't buy electronics often and don't know what's truly a deal. Basically, ShopoBot allows you to see pricing trends so you know the optimal time to buy.

What I did on my Thanksgiving vacation
(aka Clark's Black Friday experience)

My middle child and I went to Wal-Mart at 11:30 on Black Friday morning. The big deals that people were pepper-spraying each other over had already happened at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. So by the time we got there, we parked three spaces from door, there were no crowds and we walked right up to the checkout line with our purchase.

We bought a basketball net with a nice fiberglass backboard for $69. Then when we got it home, we had to figure out how to build the thing! "Some assembly required" are the three words I fear the most in life. Somehow, the net is standing, but I don't know for how long.

My daughter and I love shooting hoops, but my young son only wanted to play with the ball! Maybe by osmosis and exposure he'll get into it too.

The only other shopping I did during Black Friday was online. I picked up a Mac Book Air (the newest generation) for $849 with free shipping and no sales tax from Amazon.com.