bugglebum

Right now if you purchase a $50 Petsmart gc (online or in store) you get a $10 bonus. I received both within minutes of purchasing. The $10 bonus is good starting January but since I will be spending the money anyway on BF and will need something else by January it's worth it.

Traditional CVS run first thing this morning. 3 people in store. Got all the ECB deals. Went to Belk around 3:30 for the 4pm store opening, giftcard for the 1st 250 (I got $5). Not many people in line, it was raining pretty hard. Belk manager opened the store early because of the rain and people at back of line getting stuck in it. I grabbed the boots I wanted for 19.99 and checked out, only $16 with the GC. Out the door before the store was supposed to open. Kohls next, not many people in line, still pouring down rain. I only went to use the $10 off they sent. Grabbed a Tek Gear hoodie and a Sonoma Tee, $3.62 total with discounts and out the door within minutes. Store was packed when I left. Everything else was online, Kohls nailed it this year. Target and Amazon (Kindle HD 10 for $99!!) runners up. Gave up on Walmart. Ulta was a pain but I managed everything but 3 gift sets. Tomorrow will be back to Belk for the scratch off then next door to Petsmart for several of their doorbusters.

It crashed as I was checking out. Once it was up 3 things I had in cart were out of stock. Finally got the rest and was able to check out.

Do they usually leak early?

We were 2nd, 3rd and 4th in line at Bealls. Of all the places, I expected this to be a pleasant experience. It was chaotic. There were even line jumpers, either for the scratch ticket or the free flamingo ornament. Got what I wanted and checkout was wrapped around store. Hid my stuff and went back 2 hrs later to checkout. Rec'd $5 from scratch ticket plus $10/25 so not bad for the gator stuff DD HAD to have. Went to Target at 1:30 and got all the movies and games I wanted. Nobody there. Went to Walmart, very quiet as opposed to when we drove by at 9:30. They were restocking movies and games so got all I wanted there. Penneys at 4:10 and they were already packed, which has never happened before, they were out of globes by 4:30. Last year I went in at 6 and got the globe. Most pleasant experience was Petsmart at 7. I dislike the midnight openings, people are WAY to cranky and ugly. Even the employees at Bealls were less than pleasant. Edited to add, that thanx to Gottadeal, I got everything I really needed online. We go out because we always have fun, but not this year.

I ordered the $99 Nikon on Target and hope it doesn't get cancelled. My oldest DD really wanted it but none of us want to stand in line at Target. Plus our Target is lacking in how to run the electronics deals on BF. I've been ordering various Blu-rays and DVD's on Amazon all week. Last night BigLots had a sale for BuzzClub members and I got The Game of Life for 4.88 and DJ Hero II bundle for 13.88. So at midnight I'll be at Beall's for clothes and I'm done. Bonus, there was a 10/25 coupon for BF at Bealls on the Orlando Sentinel this AM.

Thanx for the heads-up, got it!

Travel coffee mugs.

I've always enjoyed hanging out line with family and meeting new people.

Thanx! DH had already purchased this at Walmart for my gift and paid $40. Needlees to say he is taking it back today and getting me something else now since I ordered it for 14.99!

Code just worked for me. I purchased 10 of the $1 lotions for co-workers. Thanx!!

Since I didn't get the PSP at Target, my purchase was going to be just at a $100, so I gave another customer a coupon I rec'd in the mail for a $15 giftcard with a $150 purchase. I could have shopped some more and found another $50 worth of stuff, but I was over Target and it wasn't in my plan.

I just returned from Walmart and was still able to get some $2 & $5 DVD's, Twilight New Moon for $9, some of the $4 fleece pants and the rubbermaid containers. They had tons of jeans, hoodies, pajamas and bikes left.

Horrible experience at Target. Which surprised me because I've always had a wonderful time there. Daughters and I haven't slept all night so we got in line around 1:30 (we live 5 minutes away). We were about 40 people back. The ONLY thing I really wanted was the PSP so I ran back to electronics. They had 3 people behind the counter and "runners" grabbing games, iPods, PSP's etc from the locked displays. I told them I wanted the PSP bundle and pointed at it. The associate told me he would get it to the register at electronics and I could wait in line to pay. So I stood in this horrible line where 3 people were fighting over who was there first. There was another line on the other side you couldn't get to. It's finally my turn at the register and I tell her there is a PSP bundle there for me (they had stacks of iPods, Wii's etc that the associates were grabbing and setting back there for customers). She grabs the PSP only to find out he had the wrong one. Well, in the time he grabbed the wrong one, and I waited in line, they sold out of the bundles. She was really upset for me, calls the manager and the best he would do is 15% off the bundle they put up for me by mistake. This wasn't a bundle, there was no game or movie or anything, yet it was $169. I said no so to compensate I was given 4-$3 off coupons on anything in the store. SO I waited outside for 3.5 hrs and in line at electronics for another 35 minutes for a measely $12.

My daughters are 5 years apart and I had a similar issue a few years ago. I opted to get the ipod nano the oldest wanted so desperately. She did have less gifts to open but none of that mattered when she opened the iPod. All else was forgotten. I have also found that when my kids are given money to spend with the intent of buying a specific thing, they never do. Too much catches their eye. I like surprising my kids every year with the ONE thing they never expected me to get or afford. Like someone else posted, Dollar Tree and the drug stores are great places to find cheap filler gifts.

Anxiously awaiting Gamestop to finalize plans. Don't care about Walmart. Last few times we've gone to our local WM the crowds have been downright nasty. No reason to ruin tradition and family fun by watching women fighting over jammies and track suits.

Leesburg, Fl

Thank you! With the $10 off coupon and ship to store I got it for $10.15!

I ran into the same experience as another poster at Walmart. My oldest DD wanted the $49 bike for her sister. Only reason why we went because she really wanted to get this. She was given a ticket and told to check out in the garden center and they would tell her where to pick up her bike. Well with 2 registers in the garden center and the line about a 100 people long (apparently they told ticket holders of other items to check out there also) it was going to be a good 2 hr wait. We stood for about 15 minutes in line and heard an employee tell another employee over the walkie talkie that they only had mens bikes left. Glad we found out before we waited in line and paid for it. Grrrrr. The store was a mess and disorganized. We left. Drove across the street to Kmart which wasn't open yet but the there were a good 200 people in line. Nothing important there. Went over to Big Lots. DD wanted to get some of the $3 DVD's for gifts. Had everything she wanted plus the Dance Dance Revolution for PS2 and $30 Cricut cartridges! Walmart manager said they didn't get any of those in stock. Went to Target and it was beautiful. Got everything we wanted, no lines, clean and organized. Same with JCP, Belk and Books a Million. B&BW was packed so we skipped. Bonus were the homemade chocolate chip cookies that were being made and given out by Nestle. DH and I went to another Walmart around 1pm and they had the bikes plus several other items so we picked them up. Overall a good day but Walmart still needs to work on their system.

I was at Big Lots this AM to get the Cricut Create for $99. Luckily I got the first one of the 5 they had. Pretty good crowd. Most people were trying to get the $189 LazyBoy.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

Leesburg, Fl

My worst experience used to be from a few years ago when a young girl threw up all over me while waiting in line to get a $10 Sears GC. However, last year was my most memorable. I took my DH and DD's to Walmart. Dh had a list of toys to get with the oldest DD while youngest DD and I shopped for some clothes. About 10 minutes after walking into the store, DH calls, he sounds very very upset, I think he was crying but he denies that. He was stuck apparently, in front of a display of the fleece pants that were on sale for $4. He said he was yelled at, pushed, called some pretty graphic names and he admitted he was scared. He said he inched away from it right as it was knocked over. He then proceded to park his cart in a corner somewhere and send oldest DD off to fetch the toys. To this day he swears he will never go to Walmart again on BF. I was lucky enough to snag some of the offending fleece pants and whenever he sees them I think he has flashbacks.

We started late this year, left around 4:30am to go to our 24hr Walmart. It was a huge mess. The parking overflowed to the grass and other parking lots in the area. Store was jammed. Sent DH and oldest DD to toys and youngest DD and I searched for the clothing items. Blah, I could hardly find anything. There were so many people packed around you couldn't get to any displays. DH called me 10 mins in, with a distinct whine in his voice, that he was stuck and couldn't move anywhere. He decided to give the list to DD and let her find everything and bring back to the cart. She ran herself ragged but managed to get all the toys on her list. I blame the Cowboys for DH's softness today, had they lost on Thanksgiving he would have been in a vile mood and just shoved his way through. I only found a few things I wanted and just said forget it, $4 sleep pants aren't worth that much of a headache. Checkout lines went to the back of the store and there was no organization. Finally managed to check out. Did a quick stop at Chickfila for biscuits. While the family ate in the car I ran into Target to grab all the DVD's I wanted. Very organized. Easiest run all day. Took the family home, unloaded, then headed to Penney's for some shoes for DH. HE wouldn't try them on so that garnered a trip back to Penney's later for the correct size. Got a shirt for oldest DD. Since we had to go back I did the survey on the back of my receipt for the 15% off coupon and purchased some clearance clothes on the 2nd trip. Walgreens had plenty of the B1G1 Little Webkinz so grabbed those and my wrapping supplies. Went to CVS to burn some ECB's from the prior days free for all on the FAECB items. Got some B1G1 toys and other things. Then later in the day youngest DD and I decided to hit another Walmart to see if there was anything left. It wasn't crowded at all and they had everything except the bike. We got the clothing items we didn't get the first time. Came home and ordered some stuff from Newegg, Amazon and Apple. I now remember why I hadn't done Walmart in several years. We only went because of the toys but I can get the toys somehwere else next time. I'll save Walmart for late in the day from now on. On a funny side note, while my DH was in the checkout line there was a couple behind him, 2 females, making out and pawing all over each other. He said it was making a lot of people uncomfortable, he could hear some grumbling and said he was glad there weren't any kids around. They kept bumping their cart into DH's legs and after about 5 times he turned and just said "excuse me" and one of them (maybe trying to impress her girlfriend) went off and started cussing him and then said "do you wanna take it outside?", DH just laughed, he's a pretty well built guy and said she was too. Instead of getting angry or cussing back for some reason he channeled Quagmire from Family Guy and said "Well with that attitude there goes the threesome I promised!". Apparently that just lightened them up everyone was laughing even the girls, when he got done checking out he had several new friends and walked out with the guy beisde him still laughing and patting him on the back.

Mine is a Sci-Fi thriller based sometime in the very near future. GottaDeal has become the biggest site on the internet. Secretly controlling the online world of shopping and deals. Members vie for the time on the forums, the NEED for their GottaDeal fix far outweighs the frustration of connection time outs and constantly refreshing the page. The controller, only known to the outside world as Chad, is secretive and mysterious. Nobody has ever seen him and his posts are few and far between. Some members, those who are still cynical and remember the old days of More.Com, $20off$20 Petco coupons and Flooz, wonder if Chad really exsists. The biggest draw to GottaDeal, and posting on the forums, are the collection of smilies. These smilies are created and protected by Chad’s 2nd in control, Harker. Posters are given smilies for rewards, posting a good deal, helping another member, etc. Some of the smilies are very unique and one of a kind. They are the most coveted. Deep into the Black Friday Holiday of 2037 (in 2020 President Jolie declared Black Friday a federal holiday), some of the more cynical posters question Chad’s affiliation with retail giant Target Mart. The preview ad seemed too good to be true. The prices would draw everyone to the retailer leaving the other stores empty and penniless at the end of the holiday season. Two active members of the community question him. Question his ethics, his background, his relation to the Sam Walton family. They decide to meet, they live close and could plan the meet up to hit the 22 CVS stores in the 15 miles between their homes. DeppGirl and Hoff were surprised to find the other wasn’t what they expected. DeppGirl was a 42 year old blonde with a tattoo of a skull and crossbones on her left cheek and Hoff was a 17 year old computer geek fresh out of High School. They connected easily and soon formulated a plan to show the world that Gottadeal was really run by Target Mart. They believed Chad was just a figurehead, that he was just as much make believe as Geoffrey the Giraffe. “Harker” was more than likely a conglomeration of people working in the basement of Target Mart. The season finale would have our 2 heroes causing a massive uproar in the Gottadeal community. Threads are locked left and right, members are banned for believing the 2 naysayers. Until finally the site goes down. After 2 weeks of being “Under Construction”, Hoff logs back in under a new username. He is sad to see that things haven’t changed. The TargetMart threads are still the longest and the other deals never seem as good. The only difference are the new Smilies. Posters are fighting over them like they are gold. He looks at them, doesn’t see anything special, just normal smilies, like people or animals. Then he sees one that sends a chill down his spine. A perky, blonde smiley with a skull and crossbones tattoo on the cheek. That’s when he realizes in horror that there never will be anyone to cross Target Mart. He frantically types one last post, prepared to send and run for his life. “Their PEOPLE, THE SMILIES ARE PEOPLE!” :eyepoppin:eyepoppin:eyepoppin:eyepoppin:eyepoppin