holiday shopping deals & black friday preview

This may come as a surprise (or maybe a disappointment) to some of you, but I'm not a huge fan of Black Friday.  I absolutely loathe large crowds of people, and eight years of working in retail was enough to make me avoid the mall at all costs at any time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The one year I did decide to fight the crowds and score a great deal on a new digital camera, the camera ended up being a complete piece of garbage and I returned it a month later and vowed to never put myself through that ordeal again.  If you are one of those crazy enthusiastic people who want to get up at 2am or, worse better yet, camp overnight in the Best Buy parking lot, more power to you.  Just don't look for me.  On Black Friday morning I will be home, in bed, cuddled with my girls (and dear sweet husband who does not like to be left out!) underneath our 800 thread count sheets.

That said, there are some really great Black Friday deals out there.  So although I have no interest in hitting the stores myself this Friday, I decided to put together a list of my top Black Friday deals for those of you who are insane do enjoy the mad rush of the busiest shopping day of the year.




Electronics:

• 40" LCD HDTV by Westinghouse at Target for $298 (regularly $549.99)
• 32" LCD TV by Emerson at Walmart for $198 (regularly $328)
• Canon PowerShot SX12 IS 10MP Camera for $129 (regularly $220)
• Phillips Portable DVD player at Walmart for $49 (regularly $69.99)
• iPad at TJ Max for $399 (regularly $499)
• Sony BlueRay Player at Target and Best Buy for $99 (regularly $179.99)
• Sony Vaio 15.5" Laptop at Best Buy for $399 (regularly $599)

Toys:

• Wii Bundle at Sam's Club for $299 (regularly $400)
• FurReal Friends LuLu's Walking Kitty at Walmart for $10 (regularly $30+)
• ZhuZhu Pets at Walmart for $4 (regularly $9)
• Leapster 2 at Walmart for $25 (regularly $40+)

Household:

• Dyson DC14 Vacuum at Sears for $219 (regularly $439)
• KitchenAid Mixer at Kohls for $129.99 (after 10% off, $20 rebate, $30 Kohl's Cash, regularly $250)
• Chefmate Appliances at Target for $3 (regularly $20)

Clothing & Jewelry:

• 2 carat Diamond Bracelet at Kohl's for $99
• Apt. 9 Cashmere Sweaters at Kohls for $34.99 (regularly $100)
• 1 carat tw. White Gold Diamond Earrings at Sam's Club for $499
• 1/2 carat tw. Diamond Earrings at JCPenney for $79.99

My own personal sanity-saving holiday bargain shopping strategy is to take advantage of Amazon Black Friday Deals.  You may have noticed the new little Amazon deals widget I posted on the left-hand column last week so that you can have access to all the current lightning deals every time you check out my site.  I am a HUGE fan of Amazon lightning deals--I have the same widget on my phone--and I order them all the time.  (In fact, between Amazon.com, Groupon, and coupon shopping, I almost never pay full price for anything.)  Amazon has great Gold Box & lightning deals year round, but from now until Christmas their deals are absolutely spectacular.  Click here to visit their Holiday Deals page.  The best part about Amazon.com (besides being able to avoid the holiday crowds) is that when you sign up for Amazon Mom, 2 day shipping is free.

And while I will be avoiding the mall and big box stores at all costs, I just don't think I will be able to resist all the freebies at Walgreens and CVS.  If you haven't had a chance to check out the upcoming deals, go to SouthernSavers.com or SimplyCVSShopping.com (CVS only) to preview the ads.

And just a little FYI:  I always try to post on Twitter & Facebook any super hot deals I come across.  If you aren't already, be sure to "like" Living Well, Spending Less on Facebook or follow me on Twitter to make sure you don't miss a beat.

Happy Shopping!