Black Friday
Today was the first day I've ever ventured out really early for Black Friday. Buddy and I tried it last year and didn't succeed (mainly cause we were shopping so late and had Amy).
This year went a lot better for me. I got a little nap before heading out to get to Kohl's by 4. I went alone (everyone else was in bed). Kohl's went wonderfully and I was in and out in under 10 minutes. Had to bounce around to a couple Meijers (due to a misleading label on one of the items I wanted), but I managed to get what I wanted from there, too. I was insane and tried to venture into the Greenwood Walmart (Co. Line and Emerson) but it was WAY too crowded and crazy, so I just left. There was one mother with a kid Amy's age and the girl was sitting in the cart having a crying meltdown. I felt sorry for the girl and I was glad I hadn't brought Amy. I headed to Office Depot to get a new desk chair and proceeded to spend close to an hour in the store, most of that time waiting in line. Ugh. But I got done there and decided to brave the Franklin Walmart. I guess Walmart was hiring cops for this year after last year's trampling in New York. The Franklin cops had nothing to do though, at least not by the time I got there. There were relatively few people there and I actually managed to find all my stuff, which was weird considering I was shopping relatively late (a couple hours after the sale started). So it's crazy that my first time out I got all the things I wanted. Granted I didn't get any toys or anything and I only got a few items at each store. I did succumb to an impulse buy at Office Depot, though. I bought two Tony Stewart pencils since I hadn't gotten anything since he changed teams/cars. Plus they were only 60 cents. I knew Buddy'd get a kick out of it. So I got home around 8:00 this morning. Not bad, really. We went back to bed after getting all the stuff inside and got up at noon. Fun times. I learned some lessons and I'll be able to use that knowledge next year.
Some of those lessons:
-do research both about what you're buying and where you'll finding it BEFORE you go on the day of the sale
-don't completely rely on the store staff to help you (Franklin Walmart people = helpful, Greenwood Meijer = not so much)
I had a Meijer employee respond to my question of "Is this the item that was advertised?" with "It looks like it." Not so helpful
Franklin Walmart staff helped me load my card table and chairs onto my cart. Helpful :-)
-no item is worth making a child unhappy
-be pleasant and friendly and courteous and kind and cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent....uh, maybe just the first few. ;-)
This year went a lot better for me. I got a little nap before heading out to get to Kohl's by 4. I went alone (everyone else was in bed). Kohl's went wonderfully and I was in and out in under 10 minutes. Had to bounce around to a couple Meijers (due to a misleading label on one of the items I wanted), but I managed to get what I wanted from there, too. I was insane and tried to venture into the Greenwood Walmart (Co. Line and Emerson) but it was WAY too crowded and crazy, so I just left. There was one mother with a kid Amy's age and the girl was sitting in the cart having a crying meltdown. I felt sorry for the girl and I was glad I hadn't brought Amy. I headed to Office Depot to get a new desk chair and proceeded to spend close to an hour in the store, most of that time waiting in line. Ugh. But I got done there and decided to brave the Franklin Walmart. I guess Walmart was hiring cops for this year after last year's trampling in New York. The Franklin cops had nothing to do though, at least not by the time I got there. There were relatively few people there and I actually managed to find all my stuff, which was weird considering I was shopping relatively late (a couple hours after the sale started). So it's crazy that my first time out I got all the things I wanted. Granted I didn't get any toys or anything and I only got a few items at each store. I did succumb to an impulse buy at Office Depot, though. I bought two Tony Stewart pencils since I hadn't gotten anything since he changed teams/cars. Plus they were only 60 cents. I knew Buddy'd get a kick out of it. So I got home around 8:00 this morning. Not bad, really. We went back to bed after getting all the stuff inside and got up at noon. Fun times. I learned some lessons and I'll be able to use that knowledge next year.
Some of those lessons:
-do research both about what you're buying and where you'll finding it BEFORE you go on the day of the sale
-don't completely rely on the store staff to help you (Franklin Walmart people = helpful, Greenwood Meijer = not so much)
I had a Meijer employee respond to my question of "Is this the item that was advertised?" with "It looks like it." Not so helpful
Franklin Walmart staff helped me load my card table and chairs onto my cart. Helpful :-)
-no item is worth making a child unhappy
-be pleasant and friendly and courteous and kind and cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent....uh, maybe just the first few. ;-)