Do you shop on Black Friday? (+ some misc. stuff!)
1. Last year, I explained why I am not a Black Friday shopper (the only shopping I'm doing will be at the grocery store, which is lovely and un-crowded the day after Thanksgiving!).
Even though I'm not camping out at the mall this morning, I thought it would be fun to see how many of my readers are into the whole Black Friday thing, so I'm putting little poll out there.
(edit: I thought this poll would display the results so that you all could see them, but apparently it doesn't. Boo. I'll let you know tomorrow how the poll turned out, though.)
(edit #2: I don't really think Black Friday is evil. I was just in a silly mood when I was making the poll).
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2. I know I said I don't do Black Friday, but I do want to let you know about ING Direct's Black Friday weekend deals (they're not really consumer-y kind of deals!). There are two that especially piqued my interest.
- $25 bonus for opening a kid's savings account. This is perfect for my kids' long-term savings accounts, so I signed up.
- $30 bonus for referring a new member. Normally ING pays $10 per new referral, so this is a nice $20 boost. You referral gets a $25 bonus too, so both of you win.
I think you have to go to ING's Black Friday page to get these deals...just to be on the safe side, go there first and click on the links they provide instead of just heading to their home page.
Today's 365 post: She can't be mad for long
My mom and I used to go just to giggle at the madness. We never even bought anything, and then we would go for 7am pancakes at Perkins. I loved spending the time with her and I'm glad she taught me that there is NOTHING that I need that can be bought on super sale the day after Thanksgiving. We just spent and entire day counting our blessings...I don't need to go rake in material possessions the next day! Love you, mom!
We don't have Black Friday in the UK but I will be spending some cash today as it is the local school Christmas Fayre. There'll be activity and cake stalls etc... and that's the kind of money I don't mind parting with. What I will be doing is honouring Buy Nothing Day tomorrow which we do have in the UK - a lot of days are Buy Nothing Day for me - but it's a nice to be taking part in a nationwide initiative. We are going out for dinner to celebrate a friends birthday but the Hubby can pay 🙂 (is that cheating? maybe?). I've just done my Food Waste Friday post over on my blog but had a thought that it may be fortnightly now you have changed your shopping routine - not sure? I'll continue doing it weekly regardless as it is a great way to keep the waste down! This morning I put together an experimental lasagne in Big Ben my Slow Cooker from all my potentially wasteful veggies so I've had a fun, productive and non-wasteful morning...
I don't think Black Friday is 'evil', but with the exception of a few items which always seem to be in EXTREMELY limited in availability, most of the prices will probably be about the same for the next month. Just not worth fighting the crowd to me, though my sister and one of her friends get up and go out shopping every year and seem to enjoy themselves. Guess it depends on how much huge mobs of people make your skin crawl.
Hee. I meant the "evil" thing to be tongue in cheek, but I guess that doesn't come across too well in a poll. 😉
Totally agree about the limited availability...I HATE that.
They might actually get me into the stores some years if I thought I had any chance of getting my hands on one of the exceptionally low prices, but I'm not the kind of guy who's going to push and shove to get one of 6 low priced TV sets available at that store. Though I had thought about driving to our local WM and taking photos of the crowd at the door, except I didn't want to get out of bed early and ruin one of my few mornings of sleeping late.
WalMart and Best Buy are widely held to be worst stores for Black Friday - bad crowds (a worker was killed in a crush in 2008 at WalMart), highly limited availability, poor store layout increasing the crowd problems, poor deals.
This year I'm buying my related little ones a book and making each a personalized bookmark. No gifts for grownups.
Your right! A couple of years ago, after my good friend ended up in the ER with 21 stitches in her calf, because another shopper accosted her over a pair of socks (True story! She pushed her into a display rack to get her out of the way of the sock display!). I decided that it wasn't worth losing your integrity over uber cheap merchandise. I saved the Black Friday ads and compared them to that Sunday's sales circulars. Except, for the limited supply "crowd catchers" 90% of the merchandise was on sale for the same price. Even the "crowd catchers" went on sale again (not a super cheap price, but a substantial discount). I do have to confess I do watch the Internet deals and take advantage of the free shipping offers. I just love shopping in my jammies!
WOW! This story is why I choose not to participate. I am cruising ebay looking for a Wii. We don't own one. GASP! and my kids are both school age. I really want one though, although don't have to have and can save hundreds buying used. Never mind all the environmental savings. I will avoid the stores until after the New Year. I remember last year winding up in Target sometime during December and saying I wouldn't do that again.
My answer is kind of complicated! I don't go to retail stores on Black Friday (we usually try to finish our Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving to AVOID the crowds), but we always go pick out our Christmas tree. It costs money, but I don't really consider it "shopping" in the same way as I consider going to Target shopping.
I will, however, be going to Kroger in a few minutes, and hoping it will be wonderfully empty.
I saved $285.00 so far by mainly shopping on line for deals. I get free shipping and did not have to stand out in the cold plus get sick or beat up.
I'm Canadian, and we don't have Black Friday here (although it does impact credit/debit card processing, as once the interac network shut down while I was grocery shopping). If we did though, I wouldn't go, as I can't stand crowds when shopping. Our sales are all after Christmas, on Boxing Day.
No Black Friday for us... like another poster wrote, there is nothing I *need* so badly that I'm willing to deal with the mayhem of consumers gone wild. We also don't shower our children with expensive gifts - we're celebrating HIS birthday, not ours - so electronics and other goodies don't call out to us.
I marvel at the many articles on beating holiday stress... if the holidays are stressing you out, they're no longer holy!
I did notice that the Bi-Marts here have a super-de-super cheap microwave, which I need. However, we seem to be surviving without one, so I'm holding off.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without"
I went shopping on Black Friday two times - with both of my married daughters each time. We had lots of fun; they took their lists and did quite well. I bought a few things for the Grandchildren for Christmas. But my one claim to fame on Black Friday was buying three sewing machines. One for myself (my old one was dying a slow death) and one for each of my daughters. Saved quite a bit of money, but the best part was the hilarity of the jokes about the machines. (We all use the machines regularly)
This Black Friday, my daughters are visiting relatives in PA; I'm home in North Carolina, enjoying the quiet. God is good!
I do like shopping on Black Friday, but I have worked retail a lot as an adult and have often been the person getting up at 2:30 so I can be to work by 3:30 am. I don't stand out in the cold, though. I got up at 6 today when my sons woke up, then was at WalMart by 7am. I got the items I wanted at a good price, I know this because I was planning on buying these items already, they just happened to be really on sale today. Although I was ok with the regular price point of said items, I got them today at 40 to 60% off. My autistic boys are esp hard to shop for and also have birthdays in Feb, so a few items will be in storage for a few months.
I'd rather stand barefoot (and drenched in honey) on a fire ant hill than do Black Friday! Evil doesn't even begin to cover it!
My mom took me Black Friday shopping when I was a teenager to show me why she avoided it. I found the empty Lego aisle after 15 minutes and stayed there until she found me.
I worked retail on Black Friday once but at a local boutique in a less popular mall. I did nothing but gift wrap at lightening speed for 8+ hours (there were two of us that could wrap neatly and quickly).
Since then if I go any where it's to the entertainment part of downtown (Bricktown to anyone from Oklahoma City) to see a movie or get ice cream. With the exception of the Bass Pro Shop at one end, the place is empty. It's a great time to see really popular movies in that theater.
Honestly, I usually plan on avoiding retail until after New Years.
I own a bookstore--Black Friday is a working day! But in our little town the obsessed-with-stuff shoppers have gone north to the big city to fight the crowds. The toy store and one other store here open early (8 a.m.) and the rest of us don't (although we are stying open late). We all have some sort of sale but it's not the same push/shove/grab mentality at all. If I lived in a big city--I would certainly be skipping the whole thing!
I have gone out (pre children), but haven't gone since my oldest was born. I tried to hit toys r us last night.. but ended up with a parking lot tour. OH MY GOODNESS>.. the line was wrapped around the building.. said heck with this and went home.
Hoped on the computer, and got the same deals online.. 🙂 so I had to pay a bit of shipping... it was well worth it to me!
It astounds me how much junk the stores try to get rid of this time of year. Sure there are deals to be had, but you save more money if you just buy a liitle at a time when your head is clear and you actually think about what you are buying.
My 16 year old had some money to spend and wanted to see what all the hype was about. She couldn't get anyone to take her in the wee hours of the morning so when we woke up this morning at 10 we headed out. She was disappointed to see everything picked over and crowds of people hovering over the racks. I think she is cured of thinking the deals in the papers and on TV are really such a great deal.
We did go to Michael's and she was happy to get scrapbooking stickers and supplies for 50% off and I used a 50% coupon to get a set of 3 Wilton cookie sheets for $5. I also had a house warming to go to so I used a 30% off coupon to get 5 items for $16.
I use ING for my savings plan and I've been getting emails about the Black Friday Sales so I'm going to check them out.
Now to finish the Thanksgiving dishes....
I do Black Friday only when I visit my in-laws. They live in rural Kentucky so the stores we hit are not that crowded. When I heard that here they have uniformed police officers standing on tables to oversee the crowds, that ended any thoughts I had about going here at home.
The deals can be really good which brings me to purchase stuff I don't really need or hadn't even planned on buying. So my relatively new frugalness (less than a year) won out yesterday. Yep, I stayed away from the stores.
I was, however, enticed by a grocery store deal and made it out for that. I purchased $200.00 worth of gift cards which satisfyies my relative gift giving obligations. In return, I got two $20.00 catalina coupons for groceries. $40.00 worth of free groceries and the thought of being done with my Christmas shopping has made me quite happy.
I have gone the last two years but I don't get up and go really early. I was out this morning by 7 am (I am awake at that time anyway) and by that time the crowds had left our WalMart (one of the few stores in our town) and moved on I guess to other stores or breakfast perhaps. The store was not at all crowded, I got the things I planned on buying and was out the door within 1/2 an hour! And that was taking my time and wandering around looking at things. There was no line at all. I figure if they have what I want at 7 am then it was meant to be, if it is all sold out then oh well, no big deal.
Of course I don't think I am buying what most people are buying anyway. I am not there for TVs etc. but instead was buying undershirts for my hubby and son (great prices on them and I never see them at thrift stores), 10 pack of black frames to help me fulfill my New Years Resolution of actually putting up some of the pics I keep taking, and one game for my sons DS and two for my daughters Leapster (yay for WalMarts price matching Target ads and the $10 Leapster coupon!). The only other thing I did was drop into JCPenney for the free small Mickey snowglobe they give out which will be a stocking stuffer for my daughter!
I did do a little online shopping at Kohls (my favorite way to shop!) and got DH two new pair of work shoes as he informed me the other day that his both had holes in the bottom and the shoe repair place in town has closed. I also got an electric griddle for $6 after sale and rebate. Now I can make more than two pancakes at a time!! LOL I did save some money and calories though as I tried to go through the McDonalds drivethru for a little breakfast but my car window was stuck shut and so I took it as a sign that it wasn't meant to be and went home to my whole wheat bagel! Thank you crappy-but-paid-for-car for saving both my wallet and my waistline!
I selected "other" because I've gone shopping on Black Friday a few times. But I don't like the crowds or the "experience" much. If there's something I've wanted for a long time, I may make the effort to get it at a great price. Otherwise, I'd rather stay home and watch football. 🙂