My First Black Friday

My first Black Friday shopping experience was overall very positive. It was actually a pretty relaxing moment for me. That's a surprise, huh? ;)

I didn't have much of a shopping list. I knew what we wanted to get our boys and I had some stocking stuffers to purchase, so nothing big like a 32" LCD tv that were in limited stock. No fist fights for me. ;) And there was an ad for the dishes that I've been eyeing so I went to bed at 12:30am and was up at 5:05am to get ready to shop (which consisted of dressing, brushing my teeth, putting my hair up and putting on my eyebrows). ;)

5:27am - Wal-Mart
That's where the sale for my dishes was. I parked way in the "back 40" (that's farmer speak) and grabbed a cart from the parking lot on my way in. The Wal-Mart greeter was not very friendly, but it was 5:30am and she had just experienced 30 minutes of madness. I had mentally prepared myself for the number of people shopping (so I wasn't overwhelmed) and headed straight to housewares. And there were my boxes of dishes. I needed three and there were three boxes left!! Yay!! But I noticed that there wasn't a discounted price listed. So I asked the staff down the aisle. They said they didn't know about the discount and I would have to go to customer service if I wanted to know "for sure." So I went to the auto-ring-up-thingy in the aisle and checked...no discount. THIS is what I got up at 5am for!?! Oh, well, I returned my boxes of dishes and started to browse. I didn't really find any deals to die for so I picked up a few items that were on my weekly shopping list at home and to walked to the checkout area. To my surprise there were no real lines!! I think I was had to wait for 2 minutes max. It was superfast and not what I had expected at all.

6:21am - Target
I parked in another "back 40" parking space and picked up a cart on the way in - and was so glad I did since there were no carts available when I entered the store. Oh, to think ahead. ;) Again, I had no agenda so I was pretty relaxed. I hit the $1 area and picked up a few books and things and then walked past the women's clothing where all the DVD's were. There was a great selection and they ranged from $3.99-12.99 and included seasons of "House", "Friends", and "Psych". Fun, but not really on my list. I did pick up a movie for myself, "The Holiday" and continued to peruse the store. The toy section was horribly picked over. I didn't really need anything but noted how some people were upset about the lack of restocking that was (or should I say wasn't) going on. There was some confusion in the electronics department because all of the discounted movies were "sold out" and there wasn't anyone relaying the message to the customers that there was a HUGE supply in the women's clothing section. I mentioned it to a few people but alas, I kept moving and headed to the checkouts to purchase my DVD and my dollar items. The line was horrible. And that's all it was - ONE line. It went down one entire main aisle and around the corner. I didn't have anything to lose by wandering so I made my way down another aisle closer to the checkouts. And there weren't really any lines. I don't know how those people decided to get into that line for one checkout counter. I made it into a fairly short line and waited about 6 minutes to purchase my items. Yay again for me and for my curiosity! ;)

6:44am - Starbucks
A few months ago I received a gift card from Denise for winning her giveaway. And I thought that this morning after 4 hours of sleep I deserved a Grande Pumpkin Spice Latte. And it was delicious and free! ;)

6:58am - Hy-Vee
I needed to pick up some bacon for later in the week and since I was out and about I decided to stop at the grocery store before heading home. And I'm glad I did. They had a huge bin of books that were originally $7.99-23.99 discounted to $1.99-8.99!! Books are my weakness and these were awesome prices so I started to dig through the piles and ended up with quite a few books. And they had previously viewed DVD's 3 for $10. So I picked up 2 movies for my boys and a movie for my husband. Fun stuff!! Oh, and I got my bacon. ;)

7:32am - JoAnn Fabric
JoAnn Fabric is right next to the grocery store so I decided to peek in and see what they had. They had some great deals, but nothing that I needed so I just browsed through the store sipping on my latte. It was great.

Then I drove home. I had about 3 hours of quietness all to myself. I didn't shop with anyone else and ventured out on my own. I was a little nervous about this because I thought I might get bored and tired and just want to go home. But I really enjoyed this time alone and it was quite refreshing. That's probably the statement of the year - Black Friday was an enjoyable time of peace and quiet and I felt quite refreshed by the time I arrived home. Oh, and I only used cash so it was even more peaceful!!

Hope you had a great Black Friday, not to mention a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Only 26 days until Christmas. ;)


**Update: My husband and I took the kids out on in the afternoon to Target, Wal-Mart and a local game store after we discussed (always a good idea) some deals that I saw when I was out. I think we have 85% of our Christmas shopping completed. ;)

**Update: My husband went to Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon to pick up a few storage tubs for stuff we're moving to our shed and he saw and end-cap with my dishes for $18!! He called me right up and asked if I still wanted 3 boxes and I said, "YES!!" He went to the checkout and they rang up as the original price. He told them about the end-cap and the sign and after she had it checked he purchased my dishes at a discount!! She told him that they had trouble with them all day on Friday because they kept ringing up at the original price. So, I guess they were on sale when I was there, I just missed the end-cap. A BIG thanks to my husband for finding my dishes!!!!