lucyismycat

Okay, we want to get a tv for my in-laws this year for Christmas. I was hoping to avoid buying one on BF, as I refuse to go to BB or CC that day. Sam's Club would be alright, and Meijers would be ok. I think we want to get them a 42" plasma, as their "tv room" is pretty dark, and not that big, but my MIL has bad eyesight and FIL would just like to have a big tv. Their last one in this room was a 36". My question is, is one brand better than another at this size? I think it was last year that everyone was raving over the Samsungs and saying that they were the best. Is that still true? I don't really care what we spend (WITHIN REASON), so if it's a matter of a crummy brand costing 500 or a good one being 1000, we'd go with the 1000.

We were at Menards last night and they had a ton of mens sweatshirts. DH wouldn't let me walk down the aisle where they usually stockpile their stuff (they were getting ready to close and he still had to work on something when we got home) but I could definitely see shirts!

I wish that stores would limit the tickets to one per person, period; so if you want a laptop and a tv, you'd better bring a friend along and hope they don't want anything. I might be more inclined to shop at a store that did things that way.

I've always driven either my Honda Accord or our Grand Cherokee, but this year DH bought a new F250 4x4 with the crew cab and extended bed w/topper, so we'll be taking that (him driving...I still haven't driven it!). I anticipate that he'll let me off at the door and go park far, far away until I call him. Hopefully there are some ads that make it worthwhile to go out early!

http://www.myspace.com/danceswiththreads Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Please? :)

My DH is an office supply junkie, so during the state fair I go around and collect all of the free pencils, post-its, magnets, sharpies, etc and load his stocking up with those. I also send away for free samples all throughout the year and tuck those in. He prides himself on being "frugal" (cheap) so he loves this! I'm liable to get anything from windshield wipers to a book of coupons for assorted romantic stuff in mine. You never know with him.

We do an Angel Tree thing through our church. It goes specifically to children of prisoners, and the prisoners put on the form what gift they want their child to receive. So last year we picked out four kids and they all had asked for reasonable items (basketball, dolls, spiderman stuff, etc). I didn't see any requests on the tree for anything outrageous, I think the most expensive item would have been an mp3 player and I *almost* picked that girl, but DH wanted another boy. I guess my opinion is that they can ask for whatever they want, but they run the risk of not getting their choice, or not getting chosen at all. This year we're only doing one Angel Tree kid because we're doing some giving in other areas. I say that now like it will really happen that way. LOL I know that once that tree comes out I'll be itching to buy more stuff! These kids are usually one of the major reasons I'm out shopping on BF at all! I wish our church had a tree for the elderly in nursing homes, too. Maybe I'll call up one of the local ones here in a bit and see what they might need.

Ooh! They're building a new GM on my way to work but it's not going to be opened in time. Bummer, I really like those smartwool socks!

I use my pda for all Black Friday info. I have a spreadsheet of gift lists, from that I'll peruse the ads until I figure out where I'm getting what. From that I'll create a new Handyshopper list that's organized by store, in the order of their opening time, and if I happen to have the information, I'll put the aisle number that the item is in (This works GREAT at Meijers!). I also enter the page number of the ad for each item and the cost. I keep paper copies of each ad in the car, stapled together in the order of stores I'll be visiting. I just rip each one off as I get ready to go into that store in case there's a question about how much something is. This works ok, but I don't pricematch. If I did, I could see where I'd have to have some kind of binder...maybe with those clear plastic sheet holder things so I could pull the ad out.

Our dollar amount is set by how much stuff we sell on eBay throughout the year. So this year I've been selling off some extra clothes and other stuff, and I'll have around $450 to spend on him, I'm planning on getting him a new stereo for his truck. I have no idea what all he's sold this year, but I know that around this time of year he starts making trips to the post office a LOT! :) This keeps things interesting in a couple of ways: we don't have to "budget" for Christmas, and it helps us clear the house of extra junk that we just don't need.

the cellphone with all Christmas ringtones set and ready to go the pda with lists of things to buy and where (password protected!) the ds to keep me entertained if I have to wait in line somewhere, although I could leave this at home and just play games on the pda. the debit card and some cash for breakfast/lunch. That's about it, I don't like carrying a lot of crap around with me and I'm always nervous about losing stuff in big crowds. If it's really cold and I wind up waiting outside somewhere I'll pack some hand warmers and wear my parka!

The one in Springfield, IL is staying open. Went there yesterday with a coworker and it seemed like they didn't have much stock. Kind of sad actually. I don't shop there on BF, but unless they really get some major inventory in, I probably won't shop there at all for Christmas.

So who's with me at being first in line here?? Every year I show up at my local Joanns and wait outside for 10 minutes by myself. This store is next door to an Office Depot and those poor people have been in line for who knows how long. I'm sure they don't understand how somebody could pass up laptops and digital cameras for some fabric! (What they don't know is that I've already been to Meijers and gotten the rest of the stuff on my list.) Let's hear it for $1/yard flannel!

I guess my only real pet peeve is the person who brings 14 of her friends, but only 1 person is in line at a given time all night. Everyone else is asleep in their car, but right when the store opens, they all get out and get in the front of the line because "we were here all night". Circuit City lost a LOT of my business when they told the rest of us there was nothing they could do about it.

We usually have the gameplan figured out a couple of weeks before BF, but we still pretend to "finetune" it on T-day. I usually go to Meijers on Thursday morning to pick up some deals and a bag of candy. When I leave the house Friday morning, the outside Christmas lights go on for the first time. I take the bag of candy with me and pass it out to checkout clerks and store managers. This year we have a new little one in the house, but my plans probably won't change. DH isn't much of a BF shopper, although I have been known to call him in when the lines are way long and getting longer (usually at the cutting counter at Joann Fabrics). He'll come and stand in line for me while I keep shopping. I typically only hit 5 or 6 stores, then go home for a nap and then we head out for a late supper together.

Springfield, IL

2 years ago I got a 19" flat panel tv for my Mom from Meijers for $100. It's still going great! Hoping to see some more deals like that this year!

I don't hate it, necessarily, but there are other things I'd rather do. DH, on the other hand, loves to wrap gifts, and is a perfectionist about it. His patterns ALWAYS match, he's like a little seamstress in the dining room, measuring the box, measuring the paper, tape here, tape there, etc. If he doesn't have a box to fit something shaped irregularly, he makes one. He doesn't do bows, though, so I handle the embellishing. I have his gifts here at my office to wrap, and I know there will be a very visible difference between the gifts he wraps and mine. I'm just glad he likes to wrap, gives me more time to shop! :)

We started off on the right foot with our trash guys...we give them booze every year. Beer, hard liquor, whatever, they take it all and leave a little smiley face sticker on the bottom of our cans for it. DH is convinced they'd cart off a dead body for us at this point. We consistently have more cans than we're supposed to and they never hassle us about it, or the leaves that sometimes find their way in with our trash. We've put out a lot of heavy concrete siding this year so I'm thinking we'll have to up the ante for Christmas. :)

We've got 2 dogs and 2 kitties, and everyone gets presents. My Mom will bring her 2 dogs for Christmas, so they'll get treats and toys as well. So far our dogs are getting new beds, 2 giant rawhides, a big bag of pig ears each, 2 bags each of retriever rawhide rolls, one gets 2 bags of new toys, the other gets a cookie assortment from 3 Dog Bakery, one gets a couple of hoodie sweatshirts. The cats are getting a new condo that I picked up at Meijer on BF, some salmon treats from 3 Dog, and lots of wadded up wrapping paper to play with. I'll probably pick up some catnip for them, too. The visiting doglets will each get some pig ears and tennis balls. One will also get a sweater. No kids here, can you tell? LOL

I'm loving this! My quilting buddies and I make lap quilts and knit socks for one of our local nursing homes. We change homes every year or two so that as many people get something as possible. Usually around Christmastime my Mom and I (she's a hairdresser, so has access to the good stuff for cheap) will fill up baskets of shampoo, conditioner, lotions, soaps, etc and take them to her local NH. We figured that there were tons of organizations to cater to children this time of year, and everyone is always excited to buy stuff for little kids (me too!) but the older folks are kind of forgotten about. I know it's appreciated, we've had several family members touched this way and they are bewildered that someone that didn't know them would bring something. It really is a big deal to them.

They're back in stock at bestbuy.com, I just picked one up after our local store didn't have any in stock. Free shipping still applies.

I hope you're right. I wanted a tv for my kitchen this year, but the prices were higher than they were last year for the same thing. It's not something I absolutely have to have, but I'd like to see those prices come way down next year.

I could be wrong (and I know this is unpopular), but I think this is where BF is headed. Before long these stores are going to wise up and realize that if they can get at least one really wanted item into a lot of customers' hands, that's a lot more happy customers who will be more likely to buy other stuff. And I don't think they'll stop at computers...I think it will be one ticket, per person, period. So you'll either have to bring your entire family along, or start prioritizing. That would cut down on the ticket selling, and the eBay thing, and a lot more people would be happy because they were able to get at least one thing they wanted. If I stand in line all night and don't get a ticket for something, I go to the next store. I don't buy anything at that store during that holiday period, and in the case of CC it's been 2 years since I set foot in one of their stores due to a particularly horrible ticket experience. I would think that the store would realize we'd be a better asset to them if I'm able to get even one thing on my list.

I'd say it was worth it for me. I pay myself $25 an hour to shop, so if I can't save at least that much I don't bother on BF. I got a kitty condo for our kittens at Meijer for $40 (half off) and an entryway Christmas tree at Michaels for $50 (half off), and was done with those 2 stores in less than a half hour. I also went to Shopko and saved $20 on a doll, the line there was the longest one I stood in, and even that was <10 minutes. So in less than an hour I was done and had saved over $100, which makes it worth it to me. No electronics this year that I really was excited about or I would have saved more. Maybe there will be good after Christmas sales on small LCD tvs. I waited about 15 minutes before Meijer opened, so I guess you have to factor that in, timewise, but I still felt like I did pretty well.