bluebear

Yes, they do crack easily, my "careful" kid even cracked his. But, I was able to get one on eBay and replace it myself. Just make sure you get the screen and the digitizer.

Blankets. I fall for them every year at Kohl's. Even when my blanket chest is overflowing, I still have to get one, "in case"...

Best Buy still does. Website says in-store only though.

Ace Hardware, 10/4

I have done well ordering things from Best Buy and Staples on Thanksgiving or early BF and getting them real quick. But, the 2 laptops I've gotten for Christmas gifts, I haven't got on Black Friday at all. One of them I got on a normal sale in November, it was a lower-mid-range. The other one I got in early November when best Buy was clearing out their back-to-school stuff to get ready for Christmas stuff. It was on clearance, had been a display so was open-box, and the had coupons out that week for open-box items. Ended up getting it for half price. This was a fairly high-end laptop (reg $1100) If he wants Alienware, is he going to be using it for gaming? You will need to take that into consideration. Typically you will want to make sure there is a video card in the computer, and decent amount of memory. For desktops, both can be added later. For laptops, you will need to make sure it has the video card already (will say ATI Radeon or NVidia Graphics), but memory can be added later. That is going to bring up your cost. And will be harder to find on BF (that's why I got mine beforehand last year). I am also going to in the market for a laptop this year, thankfully not a gaming one again.

Yay! Found my jam maker today, 70% off! And if you buy any Sodastream mixes, check the dates. I checked a couple last week and they were fine. Bought one tonight at a different store, and it expired July 2012. So back it will go tomorrow.

That is wonderful, sweet girl!

Seems like TRU usually has one in their pre-Thanksgiving sale for about that price, in the Big Toy book or whatever they call their toy catalog.

Some of the sales go live on Thanksgiving day, so you may still be able to do it from your computer and not worry with a smartphone. Last year I stayed up to 2am Wednesday night waiting for Best Buy to go live, then slept with my laptop on my night table and woke up every hour to refresh. I think it finally went live between 5-6am. Seems like TRU also went live early Thanksgiving too, but I might be mis-remembering.

I'm going to need to buy laptop, a mid-range one, so not a crazy doorbuster. i7 preferred, doesn't have to have a video card like the one I needed last year did, so that should help. The other major thing will be a windows 8 tablet, probably a Surface, and probably 2 maybe 3 of those. I don't expect there will be any deals on those. Then I will be pretty much out of money! So everything else will need to be really good deals.

Probably less, out of neccessity since my husband changed jobs. But that's probably good, since I usually spent waaaay too much anyway ($1000 each x3 kids). The kids aren't asking for much, really just a couple things each, and my mom will get one of those. Assuming I can pull of those big gifts, then just a couple more little things. Which I hate because I like giving them stuff. Oh well, I keep telling myself will be less clutter.

Okay, got through today with no problem! Thanks again!

Thanks, I'll keep trying, maybe on a weekday it won't be too bad. It will turn out okay. I'll be persistent for a deal!

Well, I expected for them to try and sell me something, that's fine, but they can't do it if they never answer the phone. Just sayin'. I didn't get another chance today, but I'll try more tomorrow. I just feel bad because I told other people too, I hope they don't have as much trouble...

I have been semi-stalking a jam/jelly canner, and it was gone today. Accessories were 70% though. Checked another store, and they had one canner left at 50%, and their' "stuff" was still at 30%. Guess I need to go stalk that store. Found Sodastream mix, one store was 30%, one was 50%. Will definitely stock up on that. Didn't find any safes. Saw several different electrical cords and things, different %. Saw an HP wireless printer that tablets can print to for 15%. I have this printer and like it, would love to get one for mama for Christmas. Something else to stalk. Of course all these are at the further store. Did the first walk-around of Halloween stuff, scoping out what I want to grab on clearance.

Yikes, after being on hold for 45 minutes to redeem my voucher, I gave up! I'll try again later and hopefully it be faster.

Thank you !!

Before you change from an iPod to a Fire, you may want to check with him. And see what he wants it for. My son who has had Zunes and Windows phones, and loved them, suddenly started asking for an iPod. The reason was he had some friends at school with iPods, and they hung out in the morning before school and played a certain game. It was something only available for iOS. When asked if he wanted an iPad, he said no, he'd rather have an iPod because it was small enough for his pocket. (Of course this same kid is now asking for a Windows 8 Surface tablet for Christmas.)

I can so relate. People are always asking if I have small children, or having another. They freak when I say the baby is 13, and oldest is about to turn 21. I hate when they say "you look barely out of college yourself". Puh-lease, I'm old! People ask me and my daughter a lot if we are sisters (she hates that), but the worse was last year on her 20th birthday when we took her out (she was already lamenting that she was the oldest woman on earth, depressed about turning 20), and the waitress said she looked older than me.

I got my teen the Toshiba Thrive last year. That was the best option for him. We looked at the Fires but that wouldn't work for a few reasons. First, it is very small, and we thought the bigger size would be better. He doesn't have very good eyesight. Also, the reason for the purchase was to take notes in class. So it needed to be big enough to use for that. Also, the cases with the keyboards was a plus, so he could type easier in class. Also, for the reasons listed above, cameras, SD slot, and Google Play store. We have a Netflix account, so he can watch TV shows and movies.

That's an interesting thought, but i'm not sure I could quite do it. I like buying things for people. I do agree with having a guide of some sort though. I have always gone overboard, but usually with sale items, so really haven't spent too much money. But as the kids get older, that gets harder as I can't just buy random stuff. I did do much better scaling down gifts last year, although still spent too much money. And it made me sad not seeing so many gifts for them. Especially from Santa, they had their one big thing, and an accessory for it, and that was all. But I guess it will be the same this year, hoping we can pull that much off. Kids were okay last year, they got what they wanted, they don't ask for/need a lot. The boys each want a surface and a new Windows 8 phone, and daughter wants a laptop and phone this year, and they will all be happy. Good luck OP, and anyone else hoping to scale back! Let us know how it goes.

I either get them at Kohls when I have a good coupon, or Famous Footwear when they have the B1G1 1/2 sale, coupled with a coupon. I did find a few pair on clearance at Target this summer, some with strings, and some without.

We will be purchasing 2 copies, probably one standard and one limited edition. I'm not sure about any of the other stuff. We will buy it on release day though, and it won't make it until Christmas...

Used to I would shop clearance all year, and would already have a nice stash by now. Now that the kids are older, that's hard to do. Now they usually just get a big something then little stuffs and clothes. Looks like 2 of them want Surfaces (Microsoft tablet) and the other wants a laptop. So that kinda cuts down on my early shopping! I would like to start on the little things and other family soon though, it's going to all come too fast! Guess I need to start thinking and making lists...

Like others have been reported, only BTS that was clearance was backpacks and lunch boxes. I got a lunchbox to add to my stash (thanks lovetoshopCA!). Everything else was all still in their spots, they hadn't started consolidating yet. They also had a few men's polos 50% off, which was nice since my husband starts a new job tomorrow, and he needed work clothes.