My Black Friday Exploits!

Well, like so many other bargain hunters I headed out before the crack of dawn to take advantage of all the Black Friday deals. At least to me the deals don’t seem up to par with last year, but I found a few things I thought were good deals. Here’s my itinerary from this morning:

PepBoys – To show how few great deals there were out there, I chose PepBoys to start my BF experience this year. The prize was a Mio Digiwalker C220 GPS system. The system was advertised for $79.99 after $40 mail-in rebate. I also had a $10 off $50 printable in-store coupon and received a $10 gift card for being one of the first 50 people there this morning, bringing my cost down to $59.99 after rebate.

I showed up there at about 4:35am for their opening at 5am. There were five people in the line at that point, and only about 20 by the time they opened. The folks there aren’t the most savvy deal seekers. The first two guys in the checkout line couldn’t understand that the advertised price on the GPS was after a mail-in rebate and that the price they would pay today was not the advertised $79.99. Oh well. Even with the retards in front of me I was in and out in 10 minutes, and on to…

Babies R Us – I went there thinking they opened for 5am as noted in the SD thread, but when I got there at 5:20 the sign in the door said they opened at 7am. OK, change of plans. Let’s head to…

Linens N Things – Nothing terribly exciting there, but I had one thing I wanted there and I had time to kill until the next batch of stores opened at 6am. I got a Norelco electric razor that was advertised for $29.99, and I used a 20% off coupon from the BF ad to bring it down to $24.00. I had two $10 gift cards that I got from one of the Trilegiant trial offers I had never been able to find a use for, so I finally got those used. After tax, I paid about $6 out of pocket. And thankfully time to head to…

Home Depot – I wanted the Husky 2 gallon mini-air compressor kit that was advertised for $59. I had a $10 off $25 printable Lowe’s coupon, and since Home Depot honors competitor coupons I made a copy for this transaction. This brought it down to $49 plus tax, which I paid for using gift cards I got from Citi Thank You and AMEX Membership Rewards. And now on to…

Exxon – For a 64oz. fountain Diet Coke for 99 cents.  Deal hunting makes a man thirsty. And on to…

Lowe’s – I had to wait a few minutes for their opening at 7am. Thankfully they opened about 10 minutes early, and the ShopVac wet/dry vacuum with detachable blower was within 10 feet of the door. It was $39.99, and I used the $10 off $25 Lowe’s coupon previously mentioned to bring it down to $29.99. Used a $10 gift card from another Trilegiant trial and paid the balance with my AMEX. And on to…

Babies R Us – Now that they were open, time for some cheap diapers. The ad circulating online showed the store brand value boxes of diapers on sale for $10 (normally $22.99). I got 4 of size 1 and 4 of size 2. None of the sale prices were in the computer, so everything had to be overridden.  According to the manager supposedly the BF ad was supposed to be regional to the NE only, but since the ad was circulated so widely online corporate had directed the stores to honor the prices. So with diapers in the truck, it’s across the parking lot to…

Best Buy – I wanted the 32″ Philips in the ad. I already have the TV, but they were advertising it for $150 cheaper. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more in stock, so on to…

Office Depot – Nothing spectacular here, but I did want the shredder they had in the circular for $29.99 after $40 rebate. I had a $20 off $75 coupon, so I added a ream of copy paper for filler. I ended up with my shredder and a reap of paper for $20 after the rebate, tax included. Not bad. So on to…

Home Depot (again) – I had two other items I was considering: an electric pressure washer and a Ryobi gift pack that included a cordless drill and a circular saw. Both were $59. I decided against the Ryobi set, just because I already had a drill and couldn’t come up with a real use for the circular saw (other than the coolness factor). I decided to go ahead and get the pressure washer, and I used that trusty Lowe’s $10 off $25 coupon again to bring the price down to $49, paid for using gift cards. And on to…

Walgreens – The last stop of the day. I got the free after rebate Venus razor for the wife, as well as three $25 AMEX gift cards. There was a rebate for $20 off the purchase of three cards, and after the activation fee of $3.95 per card and the 10% rebate bonus for requesting a gift card you make about $10 on the deal. I also got some paper towels and king size Hershey’s bars. Paid about half with the gift card from last month’s rebates and the rest using my AMEX.

Overall not a bad Black Friday, although not nearly as good as past years. And today’s deals aren’t nearly as good as yesterday’s CVS adventures.