Shop til you drop

Thanksgiving is now a fond memory. Oh what a fun day. The total number of people was just over 100 and there were very few leftovers. I was actually planning on posting photos both on this post and my Facebook page but my main computer has been acting up lately and frankly, I didn't trust it to actually download the photos without locking up so sorry to say to those who participated in the crazy Schwarz family photofest...maybe at a later date. By crazy I mean my niece and nephew were striking all sorts of unique poses and when it came time to take actual pictures of my mother in law with her children and grandchildren well let's just say we got a few strange looks from others as we tried (I mean we really tried) to assemble a sensible and typical pose. I have a great shot of two of my nephews with their elbows resting on top of my head, a couple of "holding a big fish" poses with the same enterprising individuals and there now exists a great cleavage shot of me thanks to someones offhand comment about where my wonderful 16 year old nephew was actually aiming when he was taking pictures of the grown-ups ( it is amazing how fast a camera can snap a picture when the subject is joking around). Not to be outdone I have a great photo of the loving husband and myself. If you look real closely you can see we each posses a pair of rabbit ears courtesy of my sister in law who miraculously did not appear in said photo. We did get a few keepers but oddly enough I never managed to get one of our family, just one of me and the loving husband.

In addition to eating and playing photographer I did manage to get gift ideas from those on my Christmas list. The Sioux Falls paper is full of Black Friday ads and all it takes is for people to page though and make comments. A few carefully placed sheets of paper later and those who needed the lists went home happy. The ads were carefully packed up and transported back home with us so I could come up with my shopping strategy.

At the gathering, I am one of a very few who actually participate in the Black Friday shopping madness. I get the looks and comments from those who wonder why on earth I get up so doggone early and go forth into the shopping madness. Years ago, both before kids and before moving to an area close to major shopping, I too was one of those who questioned the sanity of anyone wanting to do Black Friday. Not anymore.

When we lived in Michigan we were about 2 hours (including traffic) from the mall so I was forced to do any Christmas shopping on weekends which I HATED so I was always trying to buy gifts in October or November but no one had any idea what they wanted for Christmas so I was always guessing or trying to find it locally. A real pain in the butt if you ask me. When we first moved back to South Dakota we were about 3 hours north and west of Sioux Falls but we did have a small mall in Aberdeen along with a few big box stores so I could at least shop during the off-peak hours or in the evenings when it wasn't so busy. Yankton is about an hour and a half south and west of Sioux Falls so it wasn't practical to do early shopping when we were down visiting for Thanksgiving.

All that changed when we moved to Brandon 5 years ago. Brandon is about 20-30 minutes drive from the mall depending on traffic. Sioux Falls also has a lot more shopping choices than just about any other town in a 200 mile radius ( 350 if you go west) so I can actually look at the Black Friday ads and realistically visit those stores unlike years past when I could look but only shop at about 5 stores max. The first year was more of a curiosity thing than anything else. The loving husband had taken the day off as vacation so I decided that what the heck I could get my fat butt out of bed and take care of a few gifts while the kids slept. I decided that hitting JC Penny by 5 was doable so I set the alarm and off I went.

The store was not as busy as I had imagined and the racks were still full of items. I have since found out that the kids clothing gets picked over quite quickly so the earlier the better but on that first shopping trip I still managed to get clothes for the kids that fit. I also found gifts for others on my list too. I kept finding things that were on doorbuster sales so they were 50-70% off . Items that I would never even consider because of cost suddenly became affordable. This was fun. I approached check out and although I still had to wait in line, it was not nearly as long as it would have been several hours later. I got my purchases rang up and then looked at my receipt...and the thrill hit. I had saved over $200. Not only did I save a big chunk of change but I had wiped out over half of my list in less than an hour and didn't have to chase after two small children. This was better than fun....THIS WAS AWESOME!!!! I collected my free snow globe and free donut hole and off I went to do more shopping. By the time I got home, Jim and the kids were finishing breakfast and it was just after 9 and I was done. Thus began the love of Black Friday.

I'm not sure if it is the fact I like to shop or the high I get when I find that great deal but Black Friday is more fun than hassle. Now to be fair I do have to put in some work beforehand but that is totally worth it. To do Black Friday right requires planning and strategy. First is to know when the stores open so you can pick a start point. Second is to decide what it is that you really really want. Third is to find out where else they sell it in case your first choice is out. Fourth is to map out a general time frame of where it is you plan on going and what it is you are going to buy. There are things that are out of your control like traffic, parking, and line waiting but if you know what it is you want when you enter the store then you spend a whole lot less time in there which give you more time to get to the next destination. I confess that I'm not a total die hard stand in line for hours freezing my butt off kind of person. I did do Toys R Us once and decided never again. It just wasn't worth the wait for the items I did buy. One year the loving husband got up at 3 and stood in line to get a great deal on our flat screen TV. He first started at Best Buy but quickly realized that he was not going to get one of the magic coupons so (because he did his homework) he jumped in the car and headed over to Lowes where he was one of the lucky 8. I willingly stayed home and ventured out late (6am) so he could get it. I will laugh because after he got the TV he was asking if I needed him to go anywhere else for gifts. He got the shopper's high.

This year my sister in law Julie decided to try the shopping. We got to JC Penny's at 4:15 and people were already walking out with bags. We spent about an hour or so shopping and I have to laugh because when she saw how much she saved she got the shopper's high. Our longest stop was Old Navy which in years past has been one of my shorter stops. We (I) made a shopping mistake by standing in line together for close to an hour. What we should have done was split up and one of us gone out to another store while the other stood in line. Yes, that's what people do on Black Friday. We could have been done shopping a hour earlier if we had done that...oh well.

All told we spent about 7 hours shopping and went to 9 different stores. Julie finished all her shopping and I got about 95% done. Some of the items on my gift list either needed to be purchased from certain web sites or did not need to be bought right away (gift cards). Next year I'll be on my own again since my wonderful sister in law only gets that day off every other year but she has told me that she'll be back again. As for me...I can't wait until next year.