MusicMama

Looking for some good travel deals. Otherwise, maybe maybe a Ninja Creami. Love my Samsung watch 5, and not a fan of the colors for the 6, but a really good deal might entice me.

Mine isn't on this list, but the billboards are all over touting its closing soon. I'm not completely sorry because the store has been a dump for years. But I am sorry that the local mall has lost its second of 3 anchor stores and is slowly becoming a mini-clinic instead of a shopping mall.

Start checking your Joann's now, they've had a number of sales. Get to know the salespeople and they can point you to the sales or to a good trade-in deal.

I WAS one of those moms with a baby along (she is now 20+) in her umbrella stroller with sunshade. At K-B Toys way early in the morning with the family, my older niece was pulling a sled with items (she was also the designated runner because the line was 90 minutes long) and other "special" things were on the sunshade of the stroller. Baby slept through the whole thing.

Preordered at GameStop. No lining up for me this time!! Waiting on the game list to see if I really pick it up. (Although I did get the SNES Classic at release at a 24-hour local Walmart by being in line for a whopping 2 hours.)

Given that their app can't even find items in stock when you're staring at them in the store, I can't see how this will change things. Have placed at least 5 in-store for pickup orders in the last few weeks that were cancelled as out of stock. Walked in the store anyway and was able to find 3 of the 5 items, even though the app said "not in stock". Ugh.

Expert advice please.....Need a 39/40 inch, can maybe go to 43 but no larger. Here's the thing, if I go with 4K, do I need to replace my roku 2 or will it be ok? What are my best choices? Thx.

Best - bought my first stereo there. My Christmas musical Mickey Mouse watch from there still runs. Circuit City - best place to find a good deal on a GOOD laptop ever outside of CompUSA. Best Buy just can't compete and clearly doesn't want to. CompUSA - I really miss that store. KBToys - home of the original Furby, cheap GameBoys (not color) and Barbies. And really really good toy deals. I miss those days. You could grab a sled and drag it through the store, because you were in line forever, and just hand it back to them at the register. Or you could just buy the sled knowing that you'd need it eventually. Radio Shack - where my dad would go on Black Friday for the fun toys like M&M radios and little radio-controlled cars. OK, now I'm just thinking that it stinks to get old.

My oldest nieces and nephews were always along with us (their mom/my sister, our mother, our younger sister) if they wanted to be, back in the days when sales were reasonable. We got in line at 4am, wound our way through KBToys, checked out, went to more stores in the mall and then went to breakfast. And then went to the next mall. Went to lunch. Kids knew that things might be for cousins, etc. and they kept secrets well and helped by getting items or standing in line. Usually got a small reward as well :-) Started taking my daughter along when she was 6 months old, in her stroller, sleeping peacefully. Got hateful looks. She protested one year at the age of 6 or 7 that she didn't want to get up early, so hubby took her to daycare on his way to work. I got a call about 2 hours later that she was heartbroken and sobbing uncontrollably that she had been 'deserted by mommy' (not daddy, just mommy). Luckily the staff knew me and hubby had told them why she was there. I picked her up in time for late breakfast and she never protested again. The year she turned 12, took her and a friend with me to Walmart because there were things they wanted, and they were the most civilized people there. She and I still go out. My younger sister never took her kids along and neither did my sister-in-law. That was OK because those kids were brats with a capital B. Finally started taking them out when they hit high school and it didn't matter if they had to hang out in the food court for awhile.

I ended up with a much better than BF laptop deal during the early November Best Buy sale last year. It was one of those in-store sales that even the employees didn't know anything about until I asked and then they had to go find the laptop bundle (which was actually in a bundle box). $299 for an HP 15.6" laptop with touchscreen and optical drive, good AMD processor, decent graphics and 8GB RAM. Accessories were way less important than the laptop itself. If you're looking for a laptop this year, I'd say fixate on your specs first, especially if you're not overly brand-loyal, and then just start looking at the weekly ads for price comparisons.

Wish FedEx had been that nice to me. Waited all day for a package that was on truck from 5:42 am. No knock, nothing, then suddenly at 9:00pm a "security exception" text message. Those are supposed to mean a gated community or construction or dog on the porch. I have none of those and FedEx has delivered to my home in my neighborhood since 1991. Called and complained. Was told that it would be delivered the next day. Never scanned out of the building on the next day, so at 8pm, on the way home from shopping, went to the FedEx office and asked where it was. Package was supposedly on a truck but had not been scanned, but after 30 minutes on the phone by the Customer Rep, I was sent to their depot in the same building complex (dark, poor signage, no guard in the guard shack) to "find" the package. 30 more minutes later, it mysteriously was located and I was able to sign for it. Ugh. I'd even take their crappy SmartPost over that.

Absolutely miss KBToys (can you say Furby and first-gen Nintendo Game Boy for cheap) and - wait for it - EJKorvettes. That was my last go-to when the Cabbage Patch Kids were first out. I remember sitting outside of the store on a very very cold and rainy night to wait for the truck to arrive and then they sold the dolls right out of the back of the truck. Really. The store manager was there (I knew him, so I knew when this was going to happen). I also miss when Target gave away cool things, getting an affordable DVD player at Circuit City and when Radio Shack had fun toys like the M&M radios. My dad always went there on his secret mission to get stocking stuffers for kids/grandkids.

Just purchased the mini 1.0 for our daughter as she's only drinking a single cup in the mornings and expressly asked for it vs her 10-cup regular pot. Got a good deal from the last Kohl's sale that brought it down to $55. with discount plus Bucks. We have a Platinum at home for hubby and me (less for me as I'm the occasional user) and it's just fine. We do descale and use bottled water because our own is so awful. I use the 20% coupons at BBBeyond or purchase from BJs or Amazon to get the best deal on k-cups.

If Staples managers are smart, as the one I encountered last year was, they will also have some alternative deals available. Went out later in the morning to vet the doorbuster laptop for a friend and got a much better laptop for just $20 more. Store had the doorbuster list and specs plus alternatives on a big display board at the door which made it easy to see what was a good deal.

The year our closest wmart opened was by far the best and most organized. You stood in line and a table of employees asked you which of the doorbusters you wanted and they checked off the item(s) on a shopping list. As the line progressed, they announced which doorbusters were no longer available. For soft goods, you took your marked list to specific areas and filled your cart. For electronics, you took your list and proceeded to the registers to pay. You then got a slip and drove to the oil change area to pick up your electronics. Orderly, peaceful and efficient. Unfortunately, they never did it that way again.