tn20

I vow to stick to my budget! I always end up spending more than I intend to and on stuff that isn't necessary, just because its cheap. I have about 15 DVDs that I bought last year because they were cheap and have never even opened.

I see both sides of the argument. I do NOT like stores going out of their way to avoid using Christmas in their advertisement. There is no such thing as a "Holiday tree," Holidays refers to all the Holidays that people celebrate this time of year, but there aren't Hannukah trees or Kwanzaa trees, there are Christmas trees. Call them that. My issue is when Christmas trees are turned into Holiday trees, but Menorahs are still Menorahs. There are some stores who go out of their way to keep from "insulting" (or leaving out) other holidays, but are okay "insulting" (or leaving out) Christmas. A TON of money enters the economy this time of year and the majority of it is Christmas related. Does that mean that Jewish people should be discluded from the decorations and well-wishes? No! Would I have a problem going into a store and finding it decorated for Hannukah? Only if Christmas had been removed from the store. (BTW- I am a Christian and have many "Hannukah colors" decorating my tree and house... I find the colors to be beautiful!) Actually, every year I consider doing some kind of a Hannukah celebration- trying some of the traditional foods, playing games (dreidel anyone?), and learning and teaching my kids about the Jewish culture (which happens to be the culture of my Savior). Hmm... maybe this year will be the year! *Off to find out when Hannukah falls this year*

I have 2 stories, one for myself and one for my husband. I cannot remember if these were the same year or not. DHs was BF 2007 (pretty sure- WM had the Nintendo DS Zelda & Nintendog bundles) and mine was either 2007 or 2008 (TRU had the Leader Class Optimus Primes for $20). Anyway... Mine: DH had dropped me off at TRU and went to WM. After the doors opened, everything was CRAZY and I had a hard time breaking away from the crowd to get to the Transformers aisle. I had very stupidly gotten a cart. I finally got away and was several feet away from the LAST Optimus Prime when out of nowhere, this woman rams my cart so hard that I fell into the shelves. A man standing next to the Prime saw what had happened and as the woman reached for the Transformer, he grabbed it up and asked me if I was after it. I said yes and he reached right over her shoulder and handed it to me. She was SO mad! I wanted to laugh and hug the guy. He seemed pretty satisfied with himself. :) DH's: Possibly at the same time as my TRU mishap, DH was in line at WM to get 1 of the NDS Zelda bundles. While waiting, this elderly lady starts telling him about how she really needs to get one of them because its all her chronically ill grandson really wants for Christmas. DH gets one, the lady did not, so he gave his to her. He's feeling pretty good about himself.... until he sees the lady walk over to another lady with 3 ZELDA DSs in the cart already and say, "I got another one!"

*Waves* Another Oregonian! Where abouts do you live? I'm just south of Roseburg (if you even know where that is!), so I have to drive about 75 minutes to get to Eugene, but Roseburg has next to nothing, so its worth it!

Ooh, I would so be there! My biggest complaint against TRU is that it takes SO long and I have other places that I want to be... if I had 5 hours to get into TRU, outta TRU, and to another store, that would be great!

Yea, the first ad! I've never even heard of HPB before, but I'm going to check and see if there are any in the area I'll be in. If so, I'll stop by and give them some business on BF!

Eugene, OR- Big enough to have a good selection of stores, small enough that BF isn't too crazy (usually)!

1. Digital camera (mine died ) 2. DS Games for DS7 3. Cheap DVDs (movies and TV seasons) 4. Ammunition reloading kit (Not likely to be a BF item, though, LOL. That's just asking for trouble!) 5. Transformers 2 Bumblebee Helmets and Plasma Blasters (these were $27/ea when the movie was released, now I can only find them for $40/ish a piece and I need 2 helmets and 2 blasters- I'm SO not spending $160 on those things!)

First, DH and I will leave our house at 2am and drive over an hour away to be in a city that has decent stores for BF. Then we will go to... Walmart Target (right across the street from WM) TRU Gymboree (time to buy matching Christmas jammies for the kids!) Best Buy (looking for dvds, cds, and video games only) Harbor Freight Will possibly go to... Gamecrazy, Sears, Kohl's, Shopko, Old Navy, JC Penny's - Depending on the ads Then we'll drive home, DH will get the kids from MIL while I go into a little town 15 minutes from home and go to... Kmart (will also go here Thanksgiving Day before I start cooking dinner) Walmart (if there was something I didn't get at the previous WM) Fred Meyer Walgreens will be my last stop where I'll buy anything I need for gift wrapping. Then on to home where after putting my kids to bed, I'll turn on Christmas Vacation and wrap presents until well past midnight. The next day we'll make cocoa, load up on the 4-wheelers, go into the woods, cut down our Christmas tree, bring it home, decorate while The Santa Claus plays (either that or Winnie the Pooh and Friends sing the Holiday classics-LOL). Then all the presents will be ready to go under the tree when we're done! *Sigh* I just love the long Thanksgiving weekend!

I wish I could see what all 100 items are, too! I do see several things that I'm interested in... My 2 boys will definately want Transformers and my foster son will love the tonka vehicles and helicopter... Hopefully they'll have some baby toys for my foster daughter and neice (though my neice might be old enough for the MLP Newborn). I'll wait until after BF, though, and hope that I find some even better deals!

I've only gone to Kohl's on BF once... the year before last. The line was TERRIBLE! I waited for an hour and a half to get these Fisher Price snap on doll clothes... I couldn't find them anywhere else, but I don't think it was worth the time! I don't care for the Kohl's pricing system either (having HIGH retail, then constantly offering "great" sales)! Their retail prices are SO stinkin high that a 50% discount is more like a 15% discount at WM (thinking of toys here).

Last year (or maybe it was the year before...) I made the HUGE mistake of separating from DH. He dropped me off at 4am at TRU and went to WM. There were tons of people ahead of me (plus about 50 people jumped out of their cars and ran inside as soon as they opened- GRR!). I couldn't find anything and could barely move there were so many people. Finally I broke away from the crowd and headed for the Transformers... there was one Optimus Prime left and as I headed for it, some crazy lady rammed my cart so hard that I pretty much fell onto one of the shelves! She started reaching for the Prime, but some guy who had seen what had happened grabbed it and handed it over her shoulder to me. Take that, biotch! So then I go to get into line... I decided I'm not looking for anything else... I just want out! I get into line... probably 100 people are ahead of me. Then an employee comes over, says they are breaking the lines up and starting at the lady in front of me, to follow him. He leads us to a barrier, then says he'll be right back... 30 minutes later (the people that were BEHIND me in the original line had already checked out!) he comes back, tells us, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to do that... I need to put you back in the original line." DH calls.... he's already in the parking lot, back from the WM clear across town! 30 minutes later, I'm finally back in the car with nothing to show for my troubles but a $40 Optimus Prime that I paid $20 for. I would have paid $20 more just to avoid TRU! GRR! And to top it off, 2 days after Christmas, Prime was already broken! All that said, depending on the ad, I may go back this year, just with a different plan... DH comes with me, I head straight for the line while he runs around and grabs anything we need (he is more assertive... although he is a sucker for old ladies... he had an old lady tell him a sob story a couple years ago about her chronically ill grandson really wanting the Zelda Nintendo DS... then when he gave it to her, he saw he hand it to another lady who already had 3 of them and say, "I got another one!" People are sick...)

My first BF was with my mom and she was SOOO slow! The next year, I thought about taking my sister, but she always insists on wearing heels, then an hour or two into shopping, she's complaining about her feet hurting. So I decided to drag DH along. Now its our tradition to go together. He goes after anything that there will be a rush for and I run around and collect anything smaller that is less dangerous to grab, then we meet at checkout. Last year we decided to go to separate stores (or maybe it was the year before...). He went to WM and I thought I was safe at TRU. Yeah right! I was after a Transformer and some lady rams my cart so hard I practically fell into a shelf, just so she could get there first. There was only 1 left and a guy saw what had happened and snagged it off the shelf just before she grabbed it and handed it to me. I wanted to hug him. She wanted to slap him. The first thing I told DH was, "NEVER AGAIN am I going anywhere without you!"

I haven't been to KM on BF in several years... this year will be 7, I think. It was a complete MADHOUSE! I live in a tiny little town and our "big city," which is about 15 minutes away, has a population of 21,000 and very few stores. (WM, KM, a new Walgreens, Fred Meyer, & Big Lots) I think that's why it is SO busy- not enough stores to spread people out. I've been driving an extra hour to go to a real city for the past several years, but they don't have any KMs there. However, like several others, I love to go to Kmart on Thanksgiving. I get up before everyone else and go stand in line (last year I got there 45 mins before opening and had about 25 people ahead of me). I don't go there for anything big... I usually buy Christmas socks, maybe a couple DVDs, a couple of little stocking stuffers, a few Christmas decorations... but mostly I go because its like stretching before the marathon the next day... it really gets me pumped about BF! Plus, its one of the only times I get to go shopping my myself. Dh stays home with the 4 kiddos and I get to wander around for as long as I'd like. MIL watches the kids on BF so DH and I can go together, but there is no wandering on BF! Then I come home in a good mood and start cooking Thanksgiving dinner! I LOVE it!

My local Kmart just put their Halloween stuff out a couple of weeks ago... 3 aisles. Now, the next 3 aisles are all Christmas! Decorated trees, stockings, ornaments, lights, everything except the goodies and gift sets (and the cutest stinkin' strung mittens that will be going on my Christmas tree this year!). My DS3 has made me go into Kmart 3 times this week just to look at the decorations... smart move on Kmart's part, as we normally only go there about once a month. Walgreens has some Christmas items up above a couple of the aisles... mainly candy canes. I love candy canes. But they make me really anxious for Christmas-time. They had giant ones and I had to talk myself out of buying them... I have a no candy canes before Nov 1st policy, as it starts the Christmas countdown and I can't do that until Halloween is over. Nov 1st, I will be at Walgreens at opening... ETA: I forgot the most important thing from Kmart... a giant, stuffed Bumble (from Rudolph, of course) that stands about 3 1/2 feet high... I think Kmart calls them "greeters" or something like that. I was going to grab him, but I figured there is no way I could sneak him into the house without DH noticing. Once I start decorating Nov 1st, then there is a chance that I can claim that I've had him for years and its not my fault that DH doesn't notice these things! A far stetch, as even my DH, who never notices anything, would notice a 3 1/2 foot tall snow beast standing by our front door...

Hits: Nintendo DS (Prince Caspian is the #1 game w/DS6 right now), Kota the Triceratops, Spike the Ultra Dinosaur (my boys pooled their Christmas money and bought him yesterday- they said Kota needed a little brother), Little Einsteins Transform and Go Rocket, Helmet Heroes Police set... Misses: DS3 bought DS6 a Nerf Vulcan... we went to 6 stores in 3 towns to find one. The darn thing fired one shot and then never worked again. Both of the boys were really disapointed. It looks like on Amazon reviews over the past few days, this happened to a LOT of people. Needless to say, we returned it. Oh, and DS6 really wanted Lego Star Wars for DS, but I think its a little too hard for him... he played it once for a little bit, got frustrated, and went back to Prince Caspian. I think he'll enjoy it a little further down the road, though.

Thank you SO much! I got Cherry Blossom Market, Fruit set, and ice cream set- shipped to my house for $27.91! My foster daughter is going to be so excited!!!

It would have cost my DH about $15-$20 in gas to drive up there, so even though $80 would have been awesome, paying $99 on Amazon worked out about even for me. :) I'm glad you got one on Amazon for your lil guy, though!!! The deal seemed to have gone FAST!

I got one for $99, too! I had just sent my DH on a 2 hour (round trip) drive to try and grab the last one at TRU for $99, but I wasn't hopeful. I checked Amazon, saw the $99, ordered it and even managed to catch my DH before he left town. My DS3 is going to be SO happy Christmas morning!!! I cannot wait until Christmas- DS6 is getting his Nintendo DS, DS3 is getting Kota, DFD3 (foster daughter) is getting Rose Petal Cottage stuff, and DFS1 is too young to care, but he's getting a bunch of great things, too! I LOVE Amazon; I couldn't have afforded half of what I got them elsewhere!!!

I got 2- 20% off 1 item coupons with the Toys R Us Big Toy Book mailed to me in October. I don't think the in store books had them, just the ones that were mailed to people. I ended up seeing the one on Amazon before DH made it out of town, so I ordered it, called him, and saved him driving 2 hours to try and get the last one at TRU. I'm SO excited for my son to see him on Christmas!!! :)

Thank you SO much for posting this! MY DS3 is completely obsessed with Kota. I called TRU and they have 1 left at $99.99, plus I have a 20% off coupon. My DH just left to drive the hour to TRU in hopes that they still have it. If not, I'm hoping and praying that one of the WalMarts or Targets will have one for $100. It was the top thing on DS3's list, but with 4 kids we couldn't afford $300! :)

Congrats on your new tv! I have a 42" Panasonic Plasma and its a GREAT tv! It was bought a couple of years ago and, wow, the price sure has come down! I'm going to pretend that there is a "1" in front of that $699 and make myself feel a little better. :) Enjoy!

Me, too! For the longest time I completely overlooked Freddie's because their regular prices tend to be high, but last year, they had GREAT deals on toys and had those % off coupons- I bought tons of Christmas presents there for much cheaper than WalMart/TRU/Amazon. Plus, they rarely sell out of items because most people assume that the other stores will be cheaper and never check out Freddie's. :)

Thanks again for posting this! I went in and got the DS, a game, and a case- rang up $159.97, so after the $30 discount, I basically paid retail for the DS, then got a game, case, and $10 gift card for free. (Just an FYI, in case anyone else is interested in this deal- the case shouldn't have counted towards the $150 electronics purchase, but the guy did an over-ride and let me get it anyway.) My son is going to be SO excited Christmas morning; and I will be too, because he'll stop stealing my DS! :)

Thank you SO much! DH and I just decided to get DS6 a DS for Christmas and this is a great deal. I'll be at Freddie's tomorrow!!! :) Question: Is the $30 off coupon in the ad or ??? TY!