Black Friday Shopping (UPDATED)

I hate to shop.

I know I’m not the only one. I hear women all the time, say that they hate to shop….but I really, really hate it. I feel uneasy spending money on stuff we don’t *have* to have. I don’t enjoy the pressure of making the decisions on big ticket items. I tend to buy groceries and sundries, when I have to be out, anyway….picking my son up from pre-school, or the girls from dance class, and then I do it as quickly and efficiently as I can. I never go shopping just for “the fun of it”.

To me, shopping just isn’t fun.

So why would someone like me, be actually contemplating hitting some of the big sales on the busiest shopping day of the year? The one where, everyone knows, the “early bird gets the worm”, and I ain’t no early bird?

Which means that by the time I get my sorry ass out there to hit the earlybird sales (with one or two kids in tow, who begged to come), the sales are going to be about a half an hour away from expiring, and I’ll have about 5 stores to hit, and dammit, most the hottest items are going to be already gone.

Can someone tell me why I do this every year?

This year’s going to be different. I plan to get up earlier, and if no-one else is ready, that’s tough toenails. And I’m gonna keep the number of targeted stores to a realistic minimum…maybe 3…or 4. I’m not gonna buy crap for the kids just because it’s on sale, if they don’t really need, or want it. 

And I’m gonna keep a positive attitude…cup half full…cup half full…this is going to be fun.

*sigh*

UPDATE: (Friday evening).

Okay, here’s how it went down:

I was ready to get out there at 9:30, but my husband had to make an emergency trip to Lowe’s for some more tile, (we’re tiling the whole upstairs, as well as the kitchen —but not the bedrooms). So it was more like 10:30 when I got out there.

First stop – Kohl’s

I scoped the ads, yesterday at my sister’s house. Kohl’s had some killer sales; that one was at the top of my list. My twelve year old and I were heading for the shoe department when we discovered to our horror — a line — a line so long, you couldn’t see where it ended. It just kept winding, and winding around the store — even if I wanted at some point to get in this line, I wouldn’t be able to find the end, because, I swear to God…it went on forever.

Nice Deb doesn’t like lines.

We continued to look at boots, but at this point, I knew we were only going through the motions. No way was I going to wait in a line that long, I don’t care how good the sale is.

They had area rugs on sale, too, and I scoped them out, because they were going to be on sale all weekend, *I think* and I needed a nice area rug for my newly tiled living room.

Then I had to make an emergency trip to the bathroom. That was the only action taken at Kohls, this morning, because we had to skedaddle and get to Jo Ann’s for their earlybird sale that ended at noon. They had a pre-lit 7 1/2 ft. tree for only $29.98. Can you believe that? OMG, I can buy a new tree every year, at that price! I kinda do that, anyway, but that’s another story.

So we’re heading out there, and my cell phone rings — it’s my husband —we need to come back to the house because “the boys” need the boxes of tile still in the back of my van. So I have to run back home, and drop those off, and then head for Jo Ann’s. (Have you figured out how this one ends, yet)?

So I get to the shopping center where Jo Ann’s is supposed to be, and it’s not there…where the hell did Jo Ann’s go? Did it move? And here, I start to doubt myself…maybe this isn’t where Jo Ann’s is…I only come here once in a blue moon…What the hell?!

So I turn the car around and head in the opposite direction toward Old Time Pottery, and Toys R Us, two more on my list. I try to find Jo Ann’s using my GPS — I still have a few minutes left, dammit. Barbara (my GPS) says I’m going in the right direction, which baffles me, but I can make it if the traffic lights go my way, but no, suddenly we run into road construction issues, and the four way has to merge to a two way, slowing us down….tick tick tick….12:00 comes and goes. I have to give up on Jo Ann’s. It must have moved, by the way…no way was it there the last time I went!

Okay, the kiddo and I are hungry, so we stop at Steak and shake for some eats. It’s close to one in the afternoon, and so far, my Black Friday shopping has only produced two pit stops.

Old Time pottery was next. I didn’t even have to look too closely at their ad, because there’s always tons of good stuff, there.  Oh, by the way….Are we supposed to be boycotting China? Because if we are, I’m in big trouble. Pretty much everything there is made in China.

I find a 5’x8′  area rug that I think will go well in the living room, on sale for $28.00. You heard me, 28 bucks! Not bad. I also got a 7 1/2′ tree for $39.00, ten dollars more and not pre-lit, but oh well. I needed a fatter tree for the living room. The kids all thought the last one was too skinny. I bought a bunch of other Xmas related stuff, too, and a 15 piece knife set in a wood block, for $5.00. I didn’t even need it, but wow, five bucks!

My 12 year old wanted to go to the mall because the jacket she’s had her eyes on at Delia’s was on sale. We gave her money last week, to buy some items that she needed at the mall, and she came home without the jacket because she couldn’t afford the jacket and the shoes she picked out with the money we gave her. Now, she could afford the jacket.

We hit a few stores… I bought a couple of blouses for myself at Sears. My husband kept calling because he wanted to check in at the motel we’re staying at tonight, because our whole upstairs is freshly tiled, and can’t be walked on. So, we called it a day, and headed for home.

I didn’t buy any toys.