Black Friday Survival

Black Friday… more like sore feet Friday. Yes, I braved the crowds and went shopping yesterday and it really wasn’t all that bad. Well it wasn’t all that bad when we are talking crowds, it wasn’t the best on my wallet, but that was expected! Now, I didn’t do the midnight or 3am thing, but I was walking into the mall at 8:45am. My theory is that if I am going shopping at about the same time I would be getting to my office, it isn’t that crazy!

It wasn’t until I was trying clothes on at Loft that I realized how much I had actually planned out the details of the day, which I guess isn’t that much of a surprise… I had multiple plans in place to make the day go smoothly:

• Driving Plan: I intentionally mapped out my day by starting at the mall. Why the mall? Well one, the conglomeration of stores all in one place and two it is easy to get to from the freeway. You get off the exit and are dumped into the lane to make a right hand turn into the mall. Easy. It was even not difficult to find a parking spot… first row I went down! After the mall I drove to the other end of the main drag with all of the stores and made my one and only left hand turn of the day across the busy road (really lots of stores on one road, it is a giant pain to deal with). I then started at Kohls and made my way back up the road, but all the stores were on the same side, so only easy and quick righthand turns from there. From the last store it was a quick and easy right turn onto the interstate and headed back to my side of town.
• Clothing: So, I knew I would be trying on lots of clothes. I was shopping for some Christmas gifts, but I was also shopping for myself. Look, I’m thirty and single… I don’t have kids that I HAVE to buy things for, so I don’t really feel bad spending most of the day shopping for me. Anyway, I knew I would be in and out of fitting rooms, so I was sure to wear clothes that were easy to get I and out of… comfy ballet flats that were easy to slip on and off, not shoes with laces. Jeans and an easy pull over the head top, no button downs. Also, no jacket… that would have been one layer to many… besides it was about 70 degrees out by the late afternoon!
• Prep work the night before: I had all my coupons clipped and I had gone through all the ads from the paper that day. I had also checked my e-mail because I am on eight million mailing lists it seems like, so I knew where all the deals were! Finally, I cleaned out my pursue so I only had my wallet and some tissues… not the camera, I-pod and various mail I carry around on a normal basis. Add in a bottle of water in case I get thirsty, and I was ready to go!

There were some good deals to be had… 50% off your total purchase at Loft and The Limited, 40% off at Banana Republic, 50% plus an additional 10% at New York and Co, a lot of stuff at Belk was 40-55% off and then 15% on top of that. I got some very cute clothes for work (very excited about my $80 pants from The Limited that I got for $30). I also bought new dishes at Bed, Bath and Beyond that I really love and was very happy to use the 20% off your total purchase deal and the $30 gift card I had! But none of my deals were quite as big as the deals the soon-to-be-step-mom got. She went out at midnight and got two fabulous deals at HH Greg. She got an forty-something inch LG, 3D TV and Blueray player for $800 and a beautiful Maytag stainless steel refrigerator. It is the cool kind with the freezer on the bottom and double doors on top… originally about $2,100 and she got it for about a $1,000.  PLUS, they delivered and installed the damn thing today!

Black Friday Deal at Dad's!

For all the good deals, I was a little surprised it wasn’t crazier out. I mean, it is not like there was a crowd every place I went. I found a parking spot in the first row I went down at when I got to the mall. There was a line to try on and pay at Loft and JC Pennys, but there was no line at all at New York and Company, The Limited, Dillards (granted they had no good sales) or at some of the other places I went. The crowds were just hit and miss. Probably not a bad thing for my patience, don’t know if that is good for the economy!

I had fun shopping!

So, I survived Black Friday and will be continuing the rest of my Christmas shopping at Holiday Fair next weekend!