Black Friday Madness

I hate to admit it, but I am one of the crazies who venture out around Thanksgiving trying to not only snag a few deals, but get as much of my gift list checked off in a day or so as possible.

Is it worth it?

That is a tough question. I am a morning person so getting up at 3:00 or whatever is no big deal. Standing in line with 100's of other crazies like me, now that is the hard part – along with the traffic and parking.

This year Alex started asking for an X-Box back in July/August. We had been extremely fortunate in years past to get hand-me-down game consoles so Santa splurged Christmas of 09 on a Wii for the family. I can't believe I am even considering an X-Box so soon after.

But the Black Friday / Thanksgiving Day ads are trickling out and I paged through a few. Meijer has one for $199 which is $100 off, but I am sure they only have a handful and I would have to be there God only knows when to have a shot at getting it. Walmart has them too $199 and I think you get a $50 on-line gift card, but it was hard to make out the small print in the on-line ad.

What really sucks is if I did go there for the XBox, I would either have to bring a buddy to do the rest of my shopping or that is the only deal I would take advantage of.

I may have to be there as early as 6-10 hours prior to the sale. If I was going to save $100 that would be similar to me making $10 an hour. I am sort of thinking my time is more valuable than that.

Pete has to work this year on Friday so that just might keep me indoors anyway. I do plan to scope out the on-line deals and see if I can work any virtual Christmas magic instead. Maybe I won't save quite as much, but I won't:

• Stand in long lines for hours
• Second guess who had what cheaper and dig through the ads while in line
• Fight for a parking space or cart
• Accidentally leave my coupons in the car
• Brave the weather
• Haul around my stash
• Keep asking myself if it was worth it

I still hope to get the majority of my shopping accomplished this weekend. For those of you heading out with the masses, I wish you the best of luck. May you find exactly what you seek and spend less than you plan. If you find any steals, please share the good news here.