2012 Black Friday

Sorry I can't show other photos of items purchased, but my kids stalk my blog.

Keith and I hosted Thanksgiving Day dinner at our house this year for the Leader side.  We served ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, oreo fluff salad, and snicker salad.  Grandma Merina brought dessert which included your choice of apple, pumpkin, cherry or coconut cream pie, Aunt Jodee brought the dinner rolls and Aunt Heather brought the finger jello.  We all ate until we were stuffed.

Uncle Cory, Aunt Jodee, Carson and Kamree showed up at our house the night before to chill out and help cook the next morning.  Jodee and I started looking through the ads to scope out the deals and what we needed and wanted.

Uncle David brought Jodee and me a Lincoln paper on Thanksgiving so that we would see in print all of the Black Friday ads.  We were so thankful for his help in our quest for the best deals.  After eating dinner, we continued to scope out the ads while the kids played and the men watched football.  Jodee and I left the party between 3 and 4 o'clock to head back to Lincoln since we needed to form a game plan and get to the first store before 8 o'clock.

First on our list of stores this year was Walmart.  We were in and out of the first store in 50 minutes, which I thought was totally amazing considering the number of shoppers in the store and the lines to check out. Then we continued on to Shopko, Target, Children's Place, Christopher & Banks, Bath & Body Works, Younkers, Aeropostle, and Old Navy.  We both hit the pillows at about 4:30 a.m.  Not a bad night's work and I think this may have been our shortest time to shop. Later we went out to Bed Bath Beyond, Gordmans and back to Walmart.

I must admit that our game plan gets better with practice each year.  Before we leave the house, we have made a master shopping list by store, what time each store opens, and what time the doorbuster sales end.  Then before entering the store, we decide who is getting what items on the list and where to meet after getting those items.  Next we head for the check outs where usually one person stands in line with the cart while the other person goes to find what items we forgot.  While in line, we double check what is in the cart compared to the master list and cross items off.  Last we search through our coupons and determine if we can use any coupons to further reduce our totals at the checkout.  

Take care,
Michelle