You might have noticed in the last week that a small handful of forward-thinking stores and websites have offered discounts on products to kick off what some would call the “holiday shopping season.”
As mentioned earlier, I’ve already gotten almost all my shopping done by going online. And while I can’t say exactly what I purchased (for some reason my family actually reads this site — and still hasn’t disowned me) without spoiling the holidays.
But there must be at least a few of you who can openly brag about the best deal you’ve gotten in the last few days, whether it’s because none of the gift recipients will recognize your commenter name or because you shopped for yourself, holidays be damned.
So please, people of Consumerist, boast away in the comments!
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$298 winter coat on for $99
Ridgid 16 Gallon Shop Vacuum at Home Depot at 5AM for 29.95 – regularly $99.95. Also got Duracell AA batteries there – 30 for $5.00 (people were buying whole boxes of them).
Ok, I live in London so this doesn’t really count (but Apple did have a Black Friday here too, and they gave me the student discount on top of it!)
15″ MBP 2.66 i7
Hi-res anti glare screen
500GB 7200rpm HDD
LoJack for Laptops (3yr subscription)
Mobile Me (1yr subscription)
3yrs of AppleCare
HP Photosmart Plus all in one
Grand total: £1940.68 (£18.32 less than what the laptop alone would have cost!)
Total Savings: £328.32 ($510.85)
Logitech Harmony universal remote for $29.99 at target. It’s not the fancy one, but thank the heavens some brilliant person decided to make these programmable by USB. Typed in my model numbers, popped in the batteries, 2 minutes later, had a remote for my whole setup.
Was totally worth the $30.
Otherwise, I stayed the heck away from all mall and other stores all weekend.
If you wait til Dec 26 & January alot of stores have clearance sales that beat the BF or Cyber Monday deals. Or just look for a decent sale that you have an actual chance of getting the item.
Waited in line for 9 hours in the rain at Target to get a 40inch LCD 1080p Westinghouse HDTV for $298 plus and $10 gift card. Now I just hope it doesn’t break anytime soon. It was actually a fun 9 hours!
I didn’t go big.
2 Shobha eyebrow pencils, BOGO w/ Free Shipping. Total expenditure, $16
$24 for a box set of Harry Potter films 1-6, from Amazon on their early Black Friday deals. I was going to hold out for the 1-7(ii) box set, but I’ll just buy the last two separately, because the kid was whining.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-ray it was supposed to be 76 dollars but Target honored their misprint. Got it with tax and shipping for $11.00. Down side is with the flood of orders they received I won’t get it till after Christmas but that’s okay I got it for me anyway.
Amazon’s Playstation 3 bundle deal with Uncharted 2, the Karate Kid blu-ray, and $25 video game credit. It’s the same deal as the Sears and a helluva lot better than the Best Buy and Target deal.
Bonus Consumerist points for not going to Best Buy and that whole receipt nonsense.
I scored: 9 pairs of jeans, 12 long sleeved T’s, 5 fleece vests, 2 pairs of gloves and hats, and I know I’m missing something, but long and short of it, I outfitted 5 people for $270 at Old Navy in clothes that are good and will last all winter. YAY me
Got a Project Runway sewing machine at Walmart for $50 bucks. My mom has a terrible track record with sewing machines, but this one is doing fantastically.
I also got some of the $2 movies. Picked up Under the Red Hood.
A few years back I was able to snag Geist and Battalion Wars for the Gamecube dirt cheap from GameStop.
That was the only year I ever went out for Black Friday as well.
Amazon had some incredible deals on video games, you could have probably even made money flipping some of them for what its worth. They had high profile titles like Dragon Quest IX and Professor Layton which rarely, if ever go below their MSRP’s at retail plus many other high profile titles.
I did not purchase anything b/c I did not find a good enough deal
Some sites had good deals but not on things that I wanted
A $70 Logitech HD Webcam for $0.00 due to a programmign error on BestBuys website. It was supposed to be buy one get one free.. but If you put one in the cart it came up as $0.00
Chose in-store pickup and and hour later got a free Webcam. Kind of wish I got more though.
For my husband I got a Tom Tom GPS for $79, for my daughter I got a $7.50 “puffy” vest at Target and for myself I got a HP laptop at Best Buy for $399. However, unlike you, I still have shopping to go. But if the sales keep up, I expect to be done with my Christmas shopping in the next couple of days. I love online shopping!
6′ stepladder from Lowe’s for about $20
$13 King Size Flannel Sheets from Target
the outside lights are already hung up and the bed is extra cozy now.
$150 Queen sheets – $49 (Kohls)
$60 Tonka toys 2pk – $29 (Kohls)
$170 Sonicare Electric Toothrbush 2 pk $60 (Kohls) + $80 Kohls Cash with all the other stuff we purchased
$500 Brother Sewing Machine – $169 (Amazon)
bunch of other great stuff, but these were by far the best deals we found
37″ Vizio LED TV for $399. Was a misprint in an ad for Target (supposed to be $399 Vizio LCD TV) but they honored it for the TVs in stock. I bought two.
Alton Brown cookbook set (Vol. 1 and 2 box set): regular price $75, half off @ B&N. In store, used membership for another 10% off, then a coupon for another 30% off. Got set for $25.
Droid Incredible free with new activation (activation was also waived, and my monthly bill is now less since I switched providers)
or my $3 slow cooker. That thing is badass.
One I missed was Amazons Triplefi 10 sale. $400 IEMs for $99. The only morning when all this starts that I did not get online.
Best Buy: DJ Hero 1 for Xbox 360, game and turntable for $30.
Apple TV and HDMI cable for $107 with tax. Hell to the yes! Black Friday can suck it, Friends and Family got me the discount!
Target: For 10 bucks a pop I finally rounded out my collection of season 1-5 of The Simpsons on DVD. Kohls: a decent 5-piece set of luggage for about 28 bucks after additional discounts (I refuse to splurge on luggage since airport luggage handlers do not discriminate between cheap and expensive as they go about destroying baggage).
$500 Samsonite traveler for $130
Bought a washer and dryer from Home Depot online. They are originally priced at $900 and $800 respectively. Picked them up for $550 each.
Snickers: 2 for 99c.
I did snag a Nokia N8 for $389 from NewEgg’s Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday were both “Buy Nothing Days” for me.
That being said, I have picked up a few things before and after Black Friday. And they were still bargains: for example, two graphic Ts for $27 at Express last Wednesday after $10 off/shirt and a coupon. The price that Express normally charges is $29.90 for one tee, so I won out. I also finally picked up an Invisible Shield for my new iPhone on Saturday at Best Buy Mobile. Had I known that another store in the same mall installed Invisible Shields for free as opposed to the $7 that Best Buy charges, I would have gone there.
Oh, and I also grabbed a tank of Shell gas (with Platformate!) to fuel these jaunts.
A lofted twin bed, mattress and cover from Walmart (yes, I know) all with free shipping to my house. I don’t remember what they actually cost but still, FREE SHIPPING.
Jabra Cruiser bluetooth thingy for 50 bucks.
Zune HD 16gb for $150 at Amazon.
Cold Weather Flying for my mount and several stacks of FrostWeave someone put in the AH for 50silver. Oh you meant real items. Sorry.
I ended up getting a 32GB iPod Touch for $250 from Meijer after I sold the gift certificate to my Stepmom for $45 ($295 originally plus bonus $50 G.C.).
Samsung 40″ LED TV – $748 @Walmart
60in 1080p 120Hz, 3D ready Mitsubishi from Dell $600 for me. A Pink Walter P22(S&W), semi-automatic handgun (10round clip), Day Spa package, and 70th Anniversary Super Special Edition Wizard of Oz bluray for the wife($360, $200, and $29 respectively). And yes the handgun may seem out of place, but she just started a new side business of her own, in which she has to travel a lot without me.
27 pairs of earrings and a watch for $21-odd + tax.
Claire’s. Utilized a buy-two-get-one-free deal, multi-packaging, a 20% off coupon, and a free watch deal with minimum purchase.
They’re not super-fancy, but a friend and I got our ears pierced 6 weeks ago so we need some studs fast to replace our crusty piercing studs. With this deal, she got 14 pairs of earrings for $10, and I got 13 pairs of earrings and a watch for $13. Not bad
Season 1 of True Blood – $12.00
Season 3 of the Big Bang Theory – $12.99
Both from Amazon.com
A $50.00 set of ornaments from Waterford for $19.99 (that included shipping).
$15 coleman boots from kmart. 1.35 for shipping after coupon. LOVE
Not a Black Friday purchase yet, but can anyone help me pick between two TVs: the Samsung 6400 series (http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN46C6400RFXZA) and the Sony KDL-46NX800 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+46%22+Class+LED-LCD+HDTV+and+PlayStation+3+Package/9999143400050003.p?id=pcmprd143400050003&skuId=9999143400050003)?
I’ve been searching for awhile and can’t decide which I like better.
Free Waffle maker from walmart’s midnight sale and $105 dollars made from the masses
I missed the $69 Staples 2TB external drive (how early did those sell out, anyway?), but ended up getting the same one from Amazon for $89, free shipping. I also upgraded my laptop to *GB of RAM from NewEgg for $99, and picked up a couple of $9.99 8GB USB drives.
5 piece luggage set at Kohl’s, $38 down from $200!
irobot rooma 560 for 200 besides regular price of 350. saves 150/350 = to about 50% off!
$9 slow cooker at Target
$50 wool/cashmere coat, originally $200.