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black friday

cvs black friday shopping

by Ruth on November 25, 2010

If you like free stuff, you will love the Black Friday deals happening at CVS!  The ad was active as of 9pm this evening, so I couldn’t resist my chance to hot deals ahead of the crowds.  I could’ve easily walked out of there spending less than $5 for over $100 worth of stuff, but there were a few extra things I added that bumped up my total.  I also found a few random items–fall decorations & socks–on 90% clearance.

Here is what I got:

All in all, I spent $16.96 for $140.31 worth of drugstore merchandise, a savings of 88%.  However without the popcorn maker (a gift) & toilet paper (badly needed), my total OOP would’ve only been about $2 for $110 worth of stuff.

The staff was great about letting me do the deals & super nice despite my 10 transactions.  All the items rang up at the sale prices, but the ECBs didn’t print and needed to be manually printed after each transaction, which took a lot longer.

I am not including my transaction info because a.) it is late and I’m tired, and b.) Until my last few transactions,when I added my “extra” items, I followed the exact scenarios outlined by Jenny at Southern Savers.  You can find that information by clicking here.

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Printing a coupon or ordering a product through this link may result in a commission, which helps pay for the cost of running this site and keeps the content free. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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holiday shopping deals & black friday preview

by Ruth on November 23, 2010

This may come as a surprise (or maybe a disappointment) to some of you, but I’m not a huge fan of Black Friday.  I absolutely loathe large crowds of people, and eight years of working in retail was enough to make me avoid the mall at all costs at any time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The one year I did decide to fight the crowds and score a great deal on a new digital camera, the camera ended up being a complete piece of garbage and I returned it a month later and vowed to never put myself through that ordeal again.  If you are one of those crazy enthusiastic people who want to get up at 2am or, worse better yet, camp overnight in the Best Buy parking lot, more power to you.  Just don’t look for me.  On Black Friday morning I will be home, in bed, cuddled with my girls (and dear sweet husband who does not like to be left out!) underneath our 800 thread count sheets.

That said, there are some really great Black Friday deals out there.  So although I have no interest in hitting the stores myself this Friday, I decided to put together a list of my top Black Friday deals for those of you who are insane do enjoy the mad rush of the busiest shopping day of the year.




Electronics:

  • 40″ LCD HDTV by Westinghouse at Target for $298 (regularly $549.99)
  • 32″ LCD TV by Emerson at Walmart for $198 (regularly $328)
  • Canon PowerShot SX12 IS 10MP Camera for $129 (regularly $220)
  • Phillips Portable DVD player at Walmart for $49 (regularly $69.99)
  • iPad at TJ Max for $399 (regularly $499)
  • Sony BlueRay Player at Target and Best Buy for $99 (regularly $179.99)
  • Sony Vaio 15.5″ Laptop at Best Buy for $399 (regularly $599)

Toys:

  • Wii Bundle at Sam’s Club for $299 (regularly $400)
  • FurReal Friends LuLu’s Walking Kitty at Walmart for $10 (regularly $30+)
  • ZhuZhu Pets at Walmart for $4 (regularly $9)
  • Leapster 2 at Walmart for $25 (regularly $40+)
Household:
  • Dyson DC14 Vacuum at Sears for $219 (regularly $439)
  • KitchenAid Mixer at Kohls for $129.99 (after 10% off, $20 rebate, $30 Kohl’s Cash, regularly $250)
  • Chefmate Appliances at Target for $3 (regularly $20)
Clothing & Jewelry:
  • 2 carat Diamond Bracelet at Kohl’s for $99
  • Apt. 9 Cashmere Sweaters at Kohls for $34.99 (regularly $100)
  • 1 carat tw. White Gold Diamond Earrings at Sam’s Club for $499
  • 1/2 carat tw. Diamond Earrings at JCPenney for $79.99
My own personal sanity-saving holiday bargain shopping strategy is to take advantage of Amazon Black Friday Deals.  You may have noticed the new little Amazon deals widget I posted on the left-hand column last week so that you can have access to all the current lightning deals every time you check out my site.  I am a HUGE fan of Amazon lightning deals–I have the same widget on my phone–and I order them all the time.  (In fact, between Amazon.com, Groupon, and coupon shopping, I almost never pay full price for anything.)  Amazon has great Gold Box & lightning deals year round, but from now until Christmas their deals are absolutely spectacular.  Click here to visit their Holiday Deals page.  The best part about Amazon.com (besides being able to avoid the holiday crowds) is that when you sign up for Amazon Mom, 2 day shipping is free.

And while I will be avoiding the mall and big box stores at all costs, I just don’t think I will be able to resist all the freebies at Walgreens and CVS.  If you haven’t had a chance to check out the upcoming deals, go to SouthernSavers.com or SimplyCVSShopping.com (CVS only) to preview the ads.

And just a little FYI:  I always try to post on Twitter & Facebook any super hot deals I come across.  If you aren’t already, be sure to “like” Living Well, Spending Less on Facebook or follow me on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss a beat.

Happy Shopping!

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Printing a coupon or ordering a product through this link may result in a commission, which helps pay for the cost of running this site and keeps the content free. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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