Black Friday in Review and Lessons Learned

[budgetsRsexy]

Its been 5 months since the big day and there’s less than 7 more until the next one. How are your experiences from this past year going to influence you this year? Were you happy with how everything went? Did anything go horribly or comically wrong that you want to avoid? What did you learn from this past BF and what are you going to do differently in 2018?

 

I ask because BF is an ever evolving event and I can alway stand to improve my game plan. I learned that if I want anything from PetSmart I need to be in line waiting for the store to open. The check out lines are very slow at mine so it’s not worth going unless you can get in and to the register ASAP (preferably using the buddy system). This past year I went in 3 times and it was so bad I never bothered to buy anything. Also, I need to rework my typical driving routes as the traffic patterns are being changed over this summer. I like doing mostly right hand turns into and out of my shopping destinations to avoid delays and back ups.

 

What about you?

[berry1014]

We always went out shopping around 8 PM but I think this year we need to move that time to up even earlier. Kids are getting older so DVDs, video games and head phones have moved up higher on the list. We do probably 50% of our BF at Walmart and rest at other stores like Target, Kohls, etc. What stores will be left and what they will have on sale BF will determine the changes we make to our shopping plans.

[tracy0504]

I took advantage of Kohl's early BF pricing online this past year, which I've never done before... there was no instant gratification, but I was able to get my items (luggage) without having to walk around, dragging them through a million people and stand in line for who knows how long...I actually shopped a lot more online this past BF...it was just more convenient to do it that way and still hit the stores that I still actually enjoy the rush I get from being in the crowds on BF like Walmart and JCP without feeling I had to rush to get to another store...The only upset I had was that Kmart did not have it's usual BF sale and we were confused by their lack of a BF ad so this year we will proceed with caution when it comes to placing them on our must go to list...mind you they open up on Thanksgiving at like 6 am so if I am going to get up that early to support you I expect there to be a good reason and sadly, I left with a few throws that the manager graciously gave us for the later sale of $1.99...my grandson will be one by then but with TRU closing I am looking now to see if I can snag any good deals before they close for good...Every year I tell my grown children that I will not be getting them as much because they are grown, yeah never works out that way because I love giving, but this year I am hoping to stick with that and do most of my shopping for my grand and godsons...

Edited April 30, 2018 by tracy0504

[Tara3117]

Looking at our finances this year, we're going to have to shrink the 2018 Christmas budget. I'm sad because Christmas presents ARE. MY. THING. I don't know if that means more BF shopping or less. We shop for a lot of kids (20ish counting our own) so I'm going to try to hit up some big toy sales prior to the holidays. The older girls are getting more into clothes than toys, so maybe some of those sales too.

[mommy2twingles]

We will be leaving on vacation this year so pretty much everything will be online.  If I were staying home I would pay more attention to the store hours.  There seemed to be a period that we weren't sure where to go as it was between the Thursday night hours and the Friday morning when everything was closed

[budgetsRsexy]

We will be leaving on vacation this year so pretty much everything will be online. If I were staying home I would pay more attention to the store hours. There seemed to be a period that we weren't sure where to go as it was between the Thursday night hours and the Friday morning when everything was closed

Good point on the times. I don’t usually go out shopping on Thursday, just super early on Friday and we had a hard time staying busy at one point. I don’t want to start leaving later in the morning cause the crowds pick up pretty quickly. It will be interesting to see if more stores will jump on the trend of shutting down for a period overnight. It’s definitely going to take so more planning!

[budgetsRsexy]

Looking at our finances this year, we're going to have to shrink the 2018 Christmas budget. I'm sad because Christmas presents ARE. MY. THING. I don't know if that means more BF shopping or less. We shop for a lot of kids (20ish counting our own) so I'm going to try to hit up some big toy sales prior to the holidays. The older girls are getting more into clothes than toys, so maybe some of those sales too.

Please try not to be sad. My family did a $5 limit this past year and ended up having an amazing time Christmas morning, so much so that we plan to do it again for our next Christmas together (2019). It goes to show that budget isn’t everything. I’m sure you’ll manage to pull it off on a smaller budget with the kids none the wiser. Get creative, be extra thoughtful and start early!

[abentley]

My philosophy might be very different than most, but while I shop on Black Friday, the things I purchase aren’t necessary gifts. That take a lot of pressure off of the event. I purchase things we might want or need, and might even use as gifts. My gift giving list isn’t based on the ads, therefor my shopping experience are really enjoyable. I shop a lot that weekend, but it is fun. I hope it is always fun!

[MariahA]

Last year I did most of my shopping on Wednesday, because most of the sales were already going. I only went to Wal-Mart TG night and I ran in TRU (which is almost gone now) and went to BBW on Black Friday. I honestly don't know if I'll need to go out at all aside from a Wal-Mart run for traditions sake. And Bass Pro because I like it and a lot of their stuff is in-store only. I'm almost done shopping for Christmas already. Unless there's something amazing in the ads or the other stores really step up their games on the amount of toys offered with TRU gone I'm not sure it's worth it to me. Which makes me sad.

 

Next year when we're done building our house and I'm ready to start decorating/switching furniture/new tv etc? That will be another story.

[Tara3117]

Please try not to be sad. My family did a $5 limit this past year and ended up having an amazing time Christmas morning, so much so that we plan to do it again for our next Christmas together (2019). It goes to show that budget isn’t everything. I’m sure you’ll manage to pull it off on a smaller budget with the kids none the wiser. Get creative, be extra thoughtful and start early!

 

I started making a list of cool toys and their current prices so I know when to jump on them if I see any good deals. I seem to remember that Target does a toy clearance in the late summer, so maybe some of those things will be a good deal. Even if I can save $5/kid, that adds up! I'm also finding it a little embarrassing to say, "Hey, we're scaling back our Christmas gifts this year." Trying to figure out if I can get some great deals so that they might not even notice...

[jewleyp]

As the DD gets older the list is ever changing and complicated by a girl who never really wants anything.... the Ulta online is always a beating; Kohl's early ordering was amazing and Wa-Mart has to be done online and like the other post said- in store also for nostalgic reasons. I feel old now telling my stories or BF past- the hunt for the paper on Thanksgiving (we stole ours from the yogurt store that was closed ); the extreme wake up; the collection of ads in the car and in my pockets; the FOMA of it all.... lol. I do love online though !!

 

 

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