Community Voices for Health

By: Jessica DiRamio

What a whirlwind!  I think I slept less than eight hours in three days total.  Oh baby, it was worth it though!

For me, Black Friday started early with a special sale one of my favorite clothing stores at midnight on Wednesday.  Knowing the cute stuff would be sold out within minutes thanks to those on the West Coast at 9pm their time, I did some advance preparation by adding the clothes to my shopping cart and entering in my credit card.  I woke at 12:05, hit refresh to ensure my items picked up the most current price and checked out.  Voila – sale prices, with an extra 30% off and an extra 20% off of that.  Now that’s a deal!  I got a whopping six complete outfits and two pairs of pajamas for $80.  Can you say “deal seeker?”

Thursday was a day for family, but after my kids were tucked in their beds at Nina and Papa’s house that night, my husband and I went to work.   This would be the first year my hubby joined me on the Black Friday adventure and I must say, I am glad he did.  We were a great team!  The night started at 11:30 pm with a trip to a big name retailer with a rumor of opening at 1am.  We waited in line for about 30 minutes only to discover the opening wasn’t until 4am.  Off to the store that we knew was opening at 1, we dreaded the line of people that were awaiting us.  What a line it was:  stretching the length of the building and then up the entire parking lot!  I was amazed at the order in which people were let into the store as we got in within 15 minutes of the opening.  This store was a complete zoo, but being the professional shopper that I profess to be, I knew exactly where my items were and sent the hubs off to grab a few, too.  Complete success at this store for a total savings of $150 for items that we had on our list!

We quickly headed back to the first store and waited about an hour until that opening. Once again, complete mayhem, but we got THE item we wanted with barely a minute to spare.  You see, I put my hand on this item, just as another person put her hand on the very last one on the shelf.  Two more minutes and we may have missed THE present of the year.  (My apologies for being so vague, but as I’ve said before, my oldest daughter occasionally reads Signature Moms and I can’t risk letting the cat out of the bag on this one).  This present was so hot that I was even offered a laptop in exchange for it by another customer.  No thank you!

After a quick stop for refreshment – thank you to the local coffee shop that had the foresight to open at 4am- we headed to our final destination and once again, snagged everything we needed.

In total, we were out of the house from 11:30pm to 6:30am, saved almost $500 on items that we already on our list and had a great time doing it!  Who needs sleep when you can shop and save?  Black Friday 2011 was a complete SUCCESS!  Bring on 2012!