outnumbered

I tend to only buy one of whatever I get. I only buy gifts I am going to give my kids or my nephews...I can't afford to buy extras.

I won't wreck it by doing that LOL? As long as there's no chance of me making it worse, I'll try it.

I'm not sure. I think it's a 7.5 food prelit tree...before that we had a Walmart clearance special $15 tree that was 6' and the most pathetic excuse for a tree ever. If you so much as sneezed near it, it'd topple. We did a real tree one year but I was still finding pine needles on the floor in May, and with a baby crawling around on the floor, that wasn't so good. So last year I shelled out a whopping $50 and got a decent tree on sale. I look forward to being able to sneeze this year. LOL.

I was very disappointed with last year's toy sales. I didn't buy anything at Toys R Us for the first time in years! I have a feeling this year will be quite different. :)

LOL, any day BUT Wed or Thurs for me. TV shows on both of those nights, plus I already have a weekly chat on Thurs nights.

I won't be this year. Last year I got my son a Leapster off ebay to save money, new in the box and everything...well it is a little messed up and there was nothing I could do about it since I had no store receipt. It works, but it seems to think you're putting the pen about 1/8 to 1/4 inch away from where you are really touching the screen with the pen. Which is incredibly frustrating for him when he's trying to put in his name and it's not recognizing the right letters, etc. I would have loved to take it back--I figure I got one that was defective, not necessarily the seller's fault--but I couldn't. So I'm buying everything in stores now, where I can get receipts and have a place to exchange it if anything turns out defective.

I usually try to get Christmas decorations for the next year during the week after Christmas. I don't have much to decorate the house with--pretty much just the tree and ornaments for it--so I am trying to slowly add things as I can't afford to buy any decorations for the house before Christmas...LOL I can barely afford to buy presents.

I'll say excuse me once or twice...after that I get mad and find an alternate way around. I try to refrain from the comments I might like to make because I don't want my kids hearing me say things that aren't nice. As for the shopping carts in parking lots--I try to park right next to the cart return places. I am not going to leave my 3 kids alone in the van while I walk partway across a parking lot (not even 5 spaces over...3 spaces is about my max) to return a cart. If I am nowhere near a "return carts here" place and I have the kids, I leave the cart at the front of the parking space. I do make sure it isn't rolling before I leave it there LOL. But for the most part, I park next to those cart returns. Makes it easier to get the kids into the store that way too.

I am too busy cooking on Thanksgiving to get to any stores. If there is a good deal out on Saturday I wouldn't be opposed to heading out again, but typically everything I want is available on Friday, and possibly at a better price, so I do BF and tend to not do the next day.

www.mypoints.com gives you points for clicking through their links to shop, reading their emails and clicking on links, and taking advantage of special offers. Once you get about 800 points you can start redeeming them for gift cards. The military appreciation day is something that local stores around here do because they are close to a large military base and nearly all the soldiers at it are deploying again. It's their way of supporting the families still here. A few stores have a military discount year-round; others will have a special one-day event with a discount for military.

You have to have a valid military ID for the military appreciation deal here. Don't know if it has to be active duty or not (so, say your dh has a retiree card--if he served that long--don't know if that would work). Definitely check though, it can't hurt!

A big thanks to Mara for giving me the heads-up on the military appreciation day our local TRU had on Sunday. I went to the customer service desk and told them I bought things on Saturday that I wouldn't have gotten then had I known about the event on Sunday. The girl talked to her manager and was told she could not give me the discount on what I'd already purchased, but if I spent $75 today, they'd let me have 20% off of that purchase using a special "friends and family" coupon. She also said I could not return and rebuy what I just bought on Saturday...but said they are going to be doing another military appreciation event in early December (heads up, Mara!) and, in a low voice, she told me to keep the Pixter I got because they might go out of stock, but if they are in stock, return it closer to the next military appreciation event, and then re-buy it then. So what I plan to do about that is keep an eye on the BF ads and if what I bought goes on sale, I'll get a price adjustment on BF, and if it's not in the ads, I'll do the return/rebuy at the next military appreciation day. So...on to today! I did the Little Tikes deal. Bought one LT toy for my nephew, got a free BC Builders toy for my 4-year-old. I also picked up the Imaginext T-Rex Mountain for my kindergartener and the new Learn Through Music Plus for my dd's 2nd birthday next month. Original prices: $19.99 Little Tikes toy $19.99 BC Builders (Little Tikes) toy $34.99 Learn Through Music Plus $34.99 T-Rex Mountain w/bonus dinos = $109.96 total before tax - 20% friends and family/military appreciation discount - $5 printable coupon = $ 67.98 subtotal + 6.46 tax - $10 gift card (thanks to mypoints.com) = $64.44 total paid Woohoo!

WTF??? This pisses me off...my FRG sent out an email about TRU events and it didn't mention the military appreciation. I was there buying things on Saturday; I'm going to go raise a stink this morning and get my 20% off. I bought the freaking Pixter Multimedia...I want that 20% back, that thing was expensive! Mara--THANK YOU for posting this and letting me know. I really appreciate it. These things need to be better publicized and I don't know whether it's TRU or the FRGs dropping the ball at getting the info out, but wow--I wish someone had done a better job of informing people!

I do! They had all their stuff in display cases! And you had to tell the people which thing you wanted, and then it came on this little conveyor belt! Man, I was young when that store was around.

Welcome! :)

Toys R Us. I have coupons, mypoints rewards...and hopefully a gift card from here too. It's the main place that gets my end-of-year shopping business, what with 3 kids that have birthdays this time of year, and then Christmas too.

LOL...I can relate. The in-laws send my kids clothes that are several sizes too big or too small, even though I email the correct sizes out. MIL sent a "happy 3rd birthday" card to DS for his 4th birthday this month too.

Welcome! :) It sure is fun, isn't it?!

Nope, never. I establish my spot in line (last year I was first in line at Sears!) and people line up behind me. Never had anyone try to get in front of me, by bribing, sneaking, pushing...nothing.

Stores like Best Buy do...that has never happened to me at stores like K-Mart, Toys R Us and Sears. But I wholeheartedly agree that if there is something you must have, be one of the first in line and know where in the store your item is. If you are 50 to 100 people back, the store could be out of stock by the time you get inside.

LOL I don't. Less competition for me.

Most stores simply open their doors and the long line of people waiting turns into a whole lotta people in the store very quickly. A few stores, most notably KB Toys (because it's so small), will only allow a small number into the store at once. Some people have a plan and are in and out; some browse. It's awfully crowded to browse though.

Wow, those sure have come down in price. I remember when they first came out...weren't they like $300 then? Hmm, just a couple more years and I ought to be able to afford a DVR or new (digital) video camera... LOL.

Exactly! I need to plan out my shopping and decide which things to buy ahead of time, and which things to get on BF.

I would much, MUCH rather get the discount at the time of purchase...but I'll take a rebate if it's that or pay full price with no rebate.