Posts tagged: Black Friday

It is really possible to do your shopping without ever setting foot inside a store

By Jenni | December 14, 2009

I am a list-maker. Compulsive to the point of overdoing it. I have a spreadsheet I use to keep track of our Christmas budget. I put in the dollar amount for each child, and as I enter in the gifts and prices, I see the balance at the bottom getting smaller, showing me what I have left to spend. It’s also a good way to keep track of HOW MANY gifts each kid is getting. That’s not such a big deal now, but back when they were younger, it was A CHORE to try and make sure they all got the same number of gifts, and that our spending was even as well.

Did I mention I use a spreadsheet? To some of you that know me, that will come as no surprise.

A couple years ago, it was with great GLEE that I discovered the world of online shopping.

Specifically, online CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

Even more specifically, BLACK FRIDAY shopping. While there are a handful of stores that will NOT make their “DoorBusters” available online (scrooges!), most do. So why in the world would we stand in line and fight the crowds for something we can get with the click of a mouse, while wearing our pajamas and sipping hot chocolate?

Now that my Christmas shopping is done, and the gifts are all wrapped (go me! Jealous much?) I present to you a rundown of the stores I purchased things from online, problems I had, as well as jump-for-joy moments I had…

Sincerely, Jenni’s
Online Christmas Shopping Extravaganza

Abercrombie & Hollister - Essentially, these stores are one and the same, with just a different logo. My kids like their hoodies and their shirts. Mommy doesn’t like the pricetags. So Mommy does the smart thing, and goes to their website and visits the clearance section. The clearance varies so much from store to store, and its hard to pick out different sizes and colors for 4 kids. THANK YOU ONLINE SHOPPING, because I can sift through the different colors with the click of a mouse, find the size I need and pay my bill. I do, however, have 2 gripes with these companies. Abercrombie has their juniors/adults sizes separate from their kids section, so TWO separate orders for me, and TWO separate shipping charges. My other gripe is that they never offer free shipping. EVER. But, when I can get hoodies and sweaters for less than half the ticket price in stores, I am willing to overlook the downside. Shipping was very fast though, so I have to give them credit for that.

Aeropostale – Of all the stores my kids like to shop at, this one has the best prices and the best sales. They always have free shipping (with a minumum order amount that varies) and the day I shopped there, nearly everything on their website was half-price. Adding in my 20% coupon I found online, this mommy was one happy shopper. Plus, Aeropostale has also added a kids line to their website, called P.S. (P.S. stores will be coming soon, only in a few select areas right now). Shipping was fast, and I was very pleased with what I got for the money.

American Eagle – I had two separate purchases from this store. One before Thanksgiving, and one after. I had free shipping on both orders, and a 20% off coupon both times. The first order I placed before Turkey Day came very quickly, within 2 days, even though I only paid for regular shipping. The second order, placed on November 30th, had a bit of a glitch. They charged my debit card, but when I went to check the status of the order, it kept telling me to “Wait 24 hours for tracking information.” Finally, on December 7th, I called their Customer Service # and they immediately corrected the problem. They upgraded me to 2-Day shipping, AND told me some of the items I had purchased were cheaper now. My order ended up being $25 cheaper than the first time. Now THAT’S good customer service! My only gripe with them was it took them a long time to remove the first charge from my debit card, so I had two charges pending at the same time.

Cabelas – Another store with GREAT customer service, from start to finish. I saw their Black Friday ad several days in advance and knew there were a couple things in there that I wanted to get. I also knew there was no way we’d have time to get to Cabela’s on Black Friday for their specials. I called their Customer Service # the day before Thanksgiving, and asked if I bought that items that day, if they would refund the different when they went on sale on Black Friday. The rep said they would, and sure enough I called their 800# on Black Friday with my order # in hand, they refunded the money straight back to my debit card. Cabelas also offered free shipping. We have never been disappointed with any purchase made at their stores or their website. Excellent products, excellent customer service.

Wal-Mart – I would rather be strung up by my pubic hairs than shop in a Wal-Mart store anytime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s just not worth it. So when they had a digital camera I needed to buy for someone, I decided to check out their website. Of the many things I do not like about Wal-Mart, there are two that stand out specifically. One, they are stingy with their shipping. They never offer free shipping, and with the huge conglomerate that Wal-Mart is, they should pony up the perks and offer free shipping more than once a decade. My other complaint is that the products Wal-mart offers on their website, And the PRICES of those items, many times will vary greatly from what they have in their store. THAT BOTHERS ME. Sometimes the website is cheaper, and sometimes the store is cheaper. I am always very careful shopping from Wal-Mart’s website, but if the price difference is small enough, it keeps me from shopping there on a weekend in December, and thats mostly worth it. Sidenote: Don’t be fooled by Wal-Mart’s free “Ship To Store” option. I have tried that twice– you order online, and they ship it to the store for free. All you have to do (supposedly) is go to their Customer Service Desk and pick it up. WRONG. Two different Wal-Mart stores, two different ship-to-store experiences from hell. Just say no.

Younkers – For those of you not in the midwest, Younkers is a store in the chain of Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (Bergner’s, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger’s). When you buy something from any of their store websites, you never know which store will actually send you the items. I ordered a set of Fiesta Ware dishes from Younkers.com 2 years ago, and got the dishes from Bergner’s, Carson Pirie Scott, and one from Younkers. So it just busts my chops when I get online on Black Friday to score their door buster deals, only to find they were completely wiped out of every single one of the 8 items I wanted to purchase. This year I wanted to get my mom a set of dishes. She was dying to have a set of Fiesta Ware dishes just like mine, so at $48 a place setting, I had to find a good deal. Younkers offered them at $19.97 each, over 1/2 price, but of course they were out of stock. (Wonder if they were ever actually IN STOCK to begin with??) So they got none of my money this year. Sorry Younkers!

Macy’s & Kohls – I put these two together because I ordered the same items from both places. See the above Younkers story?
I found the same Fiesta Ware 5-piece place settings at Kohls’ on sale for $26.99 each. Add in the coupon I had brought them down to $21.95 each. Problem is, I needed 8 different colors, and they only had 5. So I ordered 5 from Kohls, with FREE SHIPPING. Macy’s matched Kohl’s price, and I got two more sets from them for $26.99 with FREE SHIPPING. The 8th and final set I ordered from the company below.

Now, the best for last…

Amazon.com – I pink puffy heart Amazon. I wanna hump Amazon’s leg with glee, because they offer FREE SHIPPING all year round with only a $25 minimum purchase. I have bought so many things from them, from books to clothes, to Harley Davidson t-shirts for my dog. They have everything, and they offer great deals on Cyber Monday, baby. My youngest has been wanting a Wii game called “My Sims: Agents” with an average price tag of about $47. I had looked everywhere– WalMart, Target, Toys R Us, the price was pretty much the same at every store. BUT, I checked Amazon.com the other day, and discovered it was one of there Daily Deals… for $19.99!!! (and FREE SHIPPING, dude!) Go Amazon!

Many people are wary of online shopping, but it has been a great experience for me. I can get a lot of shopping done in a very short amount of time, and I don’t have to spend all day shopping at 10 different places. I don’t have to worry about shopping with my kids in tow, or finding time in between basketball practice and gymnastics. I just buy it, and its delivered to my door. Plus, it insures I won’t be on the 10:00 news as the woman that got trampled in the Wal-Mart store fighting over a video game. Because, me staying away from that store is really more for YOUR protection than mine. I’m just sayin’…

Disclosure: I got nothing from any of these businesses for pimpin’ out their websites. Period.

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Paper or Plastic? Pets, Career & Retirement… oh, and Black Friday

By Jenni | December 4, 2009

Today’s interview questions come from Noelle of Elastic Waistbands and Comfortable Shoes and Mae Rae of In & Out of the Bubble.

Noelle wants to know:

1. Paper or plastic? Or are you green?
I am a bad person. I do not use reusable grocery bags. I always opt for plastic, and I almost always try to reuse them. They are great for using as garbage bags in my bathroom wastebaskets. They are great for doubling up to use for scooping out the cat litter box. They are wonderful for transporting wet swimsuits, too! We currently have three bags FULL of plastic grocery bags in our kitchen closet, and they only get thrown away if they are ripped or have a hole in them. I have made it a goal of mine, though, to switch to reusable bags for grocery shopping. Eventually. I swear.

2. If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would it be and why?
I’m going to be lame and just say a dog. There is no animal I would rather have for companionship than my two dogs. They are lovable, loyal and they get excited when I come home everyday. They follow me everywhere in the house, which may or may not be because i am the keeper of the treats. But I really do love the little stinkers.

3. What would be your dream career?
If you read me “About Me” page, you will see that as a child, there were things I wanted to be when I grew up.

A teacher. And a trapeze girl.

I think the trapeze girl idea came from some show that used to be on. Some Circus of the Stars thing? Does anyone remember something like that coming in the late 70s/early 80s?

Seriously, though– I have always wanted to be a teacher, and it has nothing to do with the summers off thing. Although, that would be great, right? I was always very specific with what type of teacher I wanted to be. I wanted to teach first grade, and I wanted to be a math teacher. I have no idea why, other than my favorite teacher in elementary school was my 1st grade teacher, and I can still to this day remember her teaching me math. I am a math nerd now, so she must have done something right!

4. What would you like to do when you retire?
I hope to be able to travel with my husband, shop with my daughters, and spoil my grandchildren rotten!

And Mae Rae’s questions:

What makes you get up at the crack of dawn to go shopping?
Now that almost all of my kids are teenagers, I don’t have to buy any more toys. There are no Barbies, Bratz dolls, or Elmo toys to fight the crowds for on Black Friday. Funny thing is, for the last several years, there has not been one single thing that we HAD to go out and look for on Black Friday. My mom, sister and I and spend Thanksgiving night poring over the ads (while eating pie!), deciding where we want to go first, and what we want to look at in each store. To us, its more the fact that we are doing something together than the actual shopping. We enjoy the occasional good deal, we relish the people-watching, and we laugh about the crazies that come out of the woodwork for this one day of the year. It’s a bonding thing we have as a family. It’s just fun for us.

This year, we started our shopping on Thanksgiving Day. We managed to shop at Bass Pro Shop, K-Mart, and Michaels on Thanksgiving night. We attemped to head over to Toys R Us for their midnight opening, but ended up leaving because the line to get in the door stretched at least 3 city blocks. Were we upset? NO! We got to go home and sleep for a couple hours, because there wasn’t anything we were dying to have. We just wanted to go to be able to say we did it!

I got back up at 3am Friday morning, and drug my 14-year old daughter with me. We were at Kohls by 4am when the doors opened, and we lasted about 10 minutes in the store before running away screaming deciding to try someplace else. We ended up heading to the mall, where we shopped at Younkers, JC Penney, Justice, American Eagle, and even TradeHome Shoes. We had pizza and garlic bread in the food court at 5am, and were back home for a nap by 8am.

And it was probably some of the best bonding time my daughter and I ever had. WE laughed over the people shopping in pajamas and slippers. We rolled our eyes at the crabby people fighting for bargains and DoorBuster deals. Bottom line, we had FUN.

After a fews hours of sleep, I was ready to head back out with my mom and sister. We hit Costco, Target, WalMart, and Cabelas. All in all, a successful Thanksgiving shopping weekend.

Was it worth it?
Considering I spent an incredible time with my mom, my sister, and my oldest daughter AND that I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done– it was SO WORTH IT.

Would you like to interview me? Just leave me your interview questions in the comments of this post!

Make sure you enter the Get Organized! Contest– ending soon.

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Now that Halloween is done, I feel it is time to skip turkey day and start stressing about Christmas…

By Jenni | November 8, 2009

My kids are getting older. I am down to one child that still believes in Santa.  Sort of.

Or do I need to remind you of the church people that made my daughter question Santa Claus?  

While it pains me to think that the childlike wonder of Christmas is almost gone from our home, part of me is ready.

Because, that whole job of coming up with new! fun! gift ideas for three teenagers and a nine-year old? 

You know, those darn kids that have everything?

It’s HARD, dude.

Up until last Christmas, ALL of the gifts under the tree for the kids were from Santa.  We didn’t have anything say it was from US.  Then my youngest got all smart and started wondering why Santa brought so much, yet Mom and Dad can’t pony up the dough and get anything for the kids for Christmas?

Good point, oh wise one.

Last Christmas, we took a different approach.  Three kids knowing the real deal about the fat guy in the red suit, and one still holding on to the hope that he is all sorts of REAL.  So we decided that from now on, Santa would bring the ‘fun’ gifts, and Mom and Dad could give the ’boring stuff’– you know, the clothes, shoes, pajamas.    All worked well, and the magic of Santa was safe for another year.

This year, I’m being forced to try another option.  

Obviously, the older the kids get, the more expensive the gifts become.  Dolls and Barbies are being replaced by laptop computers, iPod Touches and $100 hair straighteners from the metrosexual foreign-accent-speaking gentleman at the mall kiosk, because he is teh awesome at doing my kids’ hair and giving me a killer sales pitch. 

Higher priced items also make it harder and harder for me to spend the same amount on each kid.  Oh, how I miss those first few Christmases where I could buy a See n’ Say and some blocks, and they would be happy.  

Before you all lecture me on how I spend too much money on my kids for Christmas, I KNOW.  Trust me, I KNOW.   I will mention to you that while we do spend a lot of money on our kids, we also make sure we give back to those less fortunate.  We adopt a family every Christmas, and lavish them with presents– toys, clothes and grocery store gift cards.  We also donate toys to Toys for Tots and are fully willing to contribute our time and/or money to any cause necessary to make sure all kids have a good Christmas.

Another reason we spend so much money on our kids… well, its simply because we CAN.  We have no debt (thanks DAVE!), our house is paid for (again, thanks DAVE!).  So we have the money to buy our kids not only the things they need, but also the things they WANT. 

BUT, I also have learned my lesson.  Every Christmas morning, after the gifts are opened, I can point out a dozen things that weren’t ‘hits’ among my kids.   Things I bought just because it was on sale, or things I bought for all three girls, when only one really asked for it.  Things I thought they would love, when in fact it was just meh.

So here I sit on November 6th.   Forty-nine days until Christmas, and I have not bought one single gift.  Three of the four kids have given me an idea of what they want.  My oldest, the 14.5-year-old stepson that doesn’t tend to get too excited about anything can’t think of a single thing he wants. 

Not only do I shop for my kids, but there’s our parents, too.  Nieces and nephews.  Teachers’ gifts.  Our adopted family, the toys to donate.  There’s the wrapping, the tags, and making sure the gifts that need to be shipped get shipped.     Decorations to put up, baking and cooking to do. 

And then there’s remembering what Christmas is all about.

Because sometimes I let that get lost in the shuffle.

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