Every year I hear myself saying "I'm not going to do the whole Black Friday thing this year," but I still end up doing it.
This year, it started not only in the wee hours of Friday, but many weeks before - browsing the ads that had been uploaded to the bfads.net site. I had my list created even before the ads came out in Thursday's paper!
A few years ago, I vowed to never again go to Menard's on Black Friday because of the madness that happens in that store. As soon as I looked at their ad on bfads.net this year, right there on the front page was a Cricut cutting machine - at $100 off! I've been wanting one for a while (actually ever since I seen it on QVC), but couldn't justify spending that much money on something like that. So, here I was breaking my vow and putting Menard's on my list. I did find several other things in the ad from there that I added to my list.
I was really impressed with the way Shopko handles the checkout line. They have ONE line for the checkouts and block off all other ways to get to the checkout area. Then as a checkout is about to open, they send the next person in line to that register. That was by far the shortest time I waited in line all day!
So, my Black Friday experience this year consisted of getting up at 3:00am and going to Herberger's, Sears, Target, Menard's, Shopko, KMart and Wal-Mart. By the end of the day I had a car-load and needed a nap!
My tips for Black Friday shopping:
**Be organized! Make a list for each store and plan out your route based on opening times of each store.
**Take the ads with you into the store - they will come in handy if you need to ask an employee where something is.
**Shop with a partner or a group - this way if you're standing in line and have to grab something at last minute, they can hold your spot while you go grab it - or while you run to the restroom! Also, shopping with a partner or a group can be helpful if you are all after the same items - you can have each person focus on a different item.
**Waiting outside in the freezing cold is not necessarily the best way to get the best deals. Most of the time I've gone after the crowd has already left the store and I've still gotten everything I've wanted. This year, I didn't spend any time waiting outside for the store to open - I made it to the stores just after they opened.
