Black Friday Question

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    • #241985
      BiggerPiggyBank

      I grew up about 20 minutes north of the 2nd largest city in Michigan
      (actually, it’s closing in on becoming larger than Detroit), and
      tried Black Friday shopping down there once. It was horrible.

      The people were rude, shoving, pushing, etc. After that, I decided
      not to do it again.

      A few years ago, after I’d been living in a MUCH smaller town for
      several years, I decided to try it. My aunt came up Thanksgiving
      night, and we went out early the next morning. The stores were
      probably almost as crowded (not as many people in town, but in the
      big town, there’s 5 wal-marts, 5 targets, etc, so it spreads the
      people out), but the attitudes were 100% different. People were
      helpful, kind, there was no pushing, no shoving, etc. It was just
      amazing how much nicer it was. People waiting in line would talk
      stratagy, and if they’d already been elsewhere, then they’d tell you
      if something was already gone or not.

      I’ve done Black Friday for 3 years in a row now (these past two were
      alone), and fully intend to do it this year again. The prices just
      make it worth it for me, because I can afford to get a few more
      items for the kids. If I allot out a specific amount for toys from
      us, and toys from Santa, I try to break it into specific amounts of
      items as well as price. But if my $10 toy was purchased for $7.50 on
      sale, and my $15 toy was bought for $10.99, that gives me $6.50 I
      can spend on 1 extra thing, or put away and save.

      My kids don’t get a lot for Christmas, because I don’t believe in
      overloading them. My aunt used to buy for us as “santa” when we were
      dead broke. One year, she easily spent over $150 on each of the
      kids, and half the toys were never even used, or liked. I told her
      if she buys again, she has to limit her amount greatly, because it’s
      just not needed.

      I love seeing the kids opening presents, and watching how excited
      they get, but we also have Christmas with my mom & step dad, one
      with my dad & step-mom, one with my mother-in-law, one with my in-
      law’s whole family, plus my father-in-law sends us gift cards from
      NC to use to buy the kids gifts from him. They get more than enough
      toys over the course of several days.

      I guess the bottom line is, I’ve had more good experiances than bad,
      but it really depends on the area, the size of the town, the type of
      people who live there, etc.

      Check with the stores you want to shop at, like Target, Best Buy,
      Kohls, etc, and see how many of them offer the same prices during
      the time frame if you order online.

      Oh, also, as to stores running out of items, some do. They limit the
      quantity they have on hand for some items, and there are almost
      always a hand full of REALLY good deals (like Wal-mart having a $900
      tv on sale for $450 on BF this year) that will sell out quickly.

      One year, I didn’t get to Wal-Mart until after 8, because I over
      slept, but woke in time to get to Walgreens for opening, so I went
      there first. Anyway, I was able to get almost every item on the toy
      list still at 8am, except the care bears. But, someone else had one,
      and I realized they weren’t as nice as the regular ones, so I wasn’t
      too heartbroken. Plus, Walgreens had also had care bears for $5, and
      they came with a book. I got those ones instead.

      If an item is very specific in what it is in the ad, you can price
      match at other stores, which also heightens your chance of getting
      what you want at the price you want it.

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