Sunday, November 25, 2012

Black Friday (Thursday)


I was super grouchy starting out this year.  I hate the early deals and I was super tired by the end of the day. I left for the 8 pm Wal Mart deals about 7:30pm.  The lady had previously told me that nothing would be available for grabbing until 8.  Not.  I walked into the store to find oodles of people standing around with carts stacked full of stuff.  That did not help my mood any.  Stephen and Nick both came with me this year so we went to work trying to find the things on my list.  To my surprise, we were able to find everything.  I had put them at the end of the line (in the back of the store) to wait while I gathered the final things.  The clock finally struck 8 and 10 min later we hadn't moved an inch.  I decided to go see what it was like at the front of the line.  When I worked my way to the front I found that this line only fed into one register!!  Are you kidding me??  There were several other lines that only had like 6 people in it.  I got into one and called Nick to tell him to bring our stuff up front.  Now, we weren't there early enough to get a cart and we had some big stuff so we were all just carrying everything.  After about 5 minute of waiting, I notice the guy in front of me was missing.  I sent Nick to go see where he went.   A little bit over, we find him in even a shorter line. So we followed.  We were out of there less than 10 min later.  Sweet!

On to Target.  Chelsey had gone to KMart for me and there was one item she wasn't able to get that was also at Target so we thought we would try.  The line was literally around the store to the back.  I was pretty hopeless at this point and was trying to see if I could buy it online.  No luck. I did try at home get stuff online, but nothing was showing up so I didn't want to take any chances.  Now they were all sold out.  We waited anyway since we had till midnight till our next stop and it was only 9.  

Once in, I didn't see any purpose for a cart so I used my sweet football moves to maneuver around those people jammed up with carts until  I finally reached the toy department.  Score!!  They still had them.  In the meantime, Stephen was over digging $5 jammies out of the bin for the little ones.  We were checked out and done less than 10 min after we got in.  

Over to Kohl's.  I had dropped Nick off in line there before we went to Target.  He was about 15th in line.  I got a pad and pillow that was left in the van and laid myself down for a little snooze since we still had over 2 hours till opening.  That didn't really work since people like to talk while waiting, lol.  My friends Jenny and Melanie showed up not much later so we went over the ads and tried to do all the math of what we needed and how much Kohl's cash we could earn.  The time passed quickly and it wasn't even very cold.  A few people got nasty as the time got close and new people tried to edge there way to the front of the line.  We all  went our assigned ways to get the goods while Nick got a place in line right by the registers.  Again, we did the grab and go method not taking time for any extra shopping.  Jenny couldn't find what she was looking for and almost got stuck waiting in the back of the line.  We got her out just in time and all was well.  I was home in bed by 1 am.  



Mom texted me just before 7 to see what the plan was.  I called Jenny and we were back out the door by 7:30.  We went to Kohl's to do some actual shopping and use our coupons.  I had 3 $10 off coupons to use.  I had used one the night before and was going to use my other two this morning.  When I was checking out, I realized they were missing.  I searched my entire person, even went back out to the car.. nothing.  I reconciled myself by the fact that I had earned $30 Koh's cash that I wouldn't have had I had the coupons.  When I pulled out my card to pay, there were my coupons.  I decided I would use them later in the day, there was still something I wanted, but needed to check with Mom.  

We headed for Ihop to meet Mom and Tracie for our annual Black Friday breakfast.  From there we all jumped in the same car and headed out for a day of shopping.  Turns out we had to take Stephen with us because Glade didn't have a key to let him into Mom's house.  He's great though so it was OK.  We hit another Kohl's to use my last coupon that expired at 1 pm.  The lines there were around to the back of the store.  No way was I waiting in that line.  Our Kohl's was like a normal shopping day!  But my coupon would expire before I could get to another one.  Grrrr.  We hit Sally's, Old Navy, Deseret Book, Kirklands, and Harkins.  By now we were all hitting the wall and wanting a nap.  Jenny took Stephen home and I stayed at Mom's because Tracie and I had made plans for a date in a couple of hours.  Mom and I both laid down for a short snooze. 

About an hour later, she and I headed to another Kohl's.  I still had one coupon to use.  I decided to just ask if they would let me use the expired one since I was at the store but the line was too long.  She said she didn't think it actually expired and said I would be fine.  I used it to buy pj pants for Stephen and ended up paying $1.86 for them.  I gave the other to Mom that she used for a couple of toys for the little ones.  After the lady scanned the coupon, she handed it back to us.  I told her I thought it was a one time use thing and she said she didn't know that, but just keep it anyway.  Then she said the total and I knew something wasn't right.  I looked at the screen and she had scanned the coupon twice.  There were 2 $10 discounts.  Being honest, I point it out and she hmmm's a little and then says there's no way to fix it so it was just our lucky day!  

Tracie had cancelled our date, but Jenny had confirmed they could come so we ended the night by going to a new little Mexican place close to home.  I was home and in bed by about 8 pm.  My house was trashed, Thanksgiving dinner was exactly where I left it 24 hours before only 2 more meal fixings were added to it.  I put whatever food was salvageable away and went to bed.  The price you pay.  The day was a success and most of my shopping is now finished.  I hope to stick to my plan and not do any impulse buying this year.  I'm excited to just do Christmas things the rest of the month and not worry about the spending part.  I love that I have friends and kids and a Mom that will go do all this craziness with me!!

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