Black Friday

I am on my way to Walmart to buy a few items in the Black Friday sale.  I plan to get a couple of Christmas gifts, a few movies and maybe a few articles of clothing.  I decided to not buy any high end items this year.  Partially because I don't really need to spend the money on items I already have and partially because I don't want to get up at 4:00 a.m. to go stand in line for anything.

I may have previously stated that my girlfriend might have said something to me about spending money at Black Friday but let me clear that up.  She did not have any say in my decision.  She may have helped me to see the error of my ways but she did not tell me how to spend my money.  She is a wonderful woman and I want the world to know that I was just kidding in my disclaimer from earlier this week.



Anyhow, for those who are about to brave the lines for 10 more inches of flatscreen TV, maybe you should just rearrange the furniture and move the Lazyboy 10 inches closer to your existing Flatscreen.  You know, just sayin'.

Black Friday - The Death of a Paycheck

Ahh, Black Friday, the shopping event of the year, the best deals of the year, the death of a paycheck. Each year and every retailers try their best to get your hard earned dollars on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This event has become almost as big as Christmas itself.

Starting at 5 a.m. deals on just about everything you can think of cause millions of people to behave as little children in a candyshop giving away free candy. The only difference is there isn't free anything and the deals are usually a precursor to what the retailers think the average price will be for their products in the months to come.

So, if that 50 inch TV says it is only $499 from 5 a.n. until 11 a.m. chances are that it will be $499 regular price in the months to come. I am not saying don't buy it now, I am saying you don't have to buy it now. There are some good deals on non electronic stuff out there and those deals are rarely repeated throughout the year. Deals on bathroom, kitchen items and apparel are out there for the taking.

Walmart has some of the best deals around, and this year they got smart. They are just doing electronics from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and starting most of their deals at 12:01 a.m. on Thusday night / Friday morning. I have a feeling this is a trend that a lot of retailers will be doing in the next few years. So what if you can't get your new Playstation or your X-Box 360 or your Guitar Hero, chances are you won't get tackled by anyone either!

I will be attending the Black Friday event at 12:01 a.m. this year, going back home and doing what everyone else should be doing Friday morning - sleeping in. You should try it, it might just be what the doctor ordered, literally. I am going to be happy with my less than industry standard TV size, my non-blu-ray DVD player, my less than 1000 watt surround sound player this year and settle for keeping my money in the bank. There will be no complete death to my paycheck this year, no sir.

*I in no way endorse any of the retailers for Black Friday and my girlfriend did not say I could not buy any electronics this year. This was completely my choice. My girlfriend also did not require me to make any disclaimers stating that she was not the driving factor in my choice to not go crazy and spend every cent of my paycheck on something that I don't need even though my best friend just bought the biggest TV known to man.