Black Friday Shopping Done Right

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For years I’ve bragged about the good night’s sleep I have the morning after Thanksgiving, portraying an attitude of non-interest regarding Black Friday shopping.  But, it’s time to come clean. I am a willing participant in the Black Friday madness, including this year.  Well, sort of.  Let me explain. Two Black Friday “Secrets” To say I slept in on Black Friday was no lie. I woke up well past eight o’clock, a full 4 hours past my normal weekday waking time.  I fought no crowds, visiting exactly zero stores that day.   There are two very important things to remember when […] Read more »

There’s Always Another Sale

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For all my ranting about sleeping in again on Black Friday, this year I found myself almost being sucked into it’s mystique. I didn’t go out into the craziness of brick and mortar store shopping, but I was looking at the Black Friday laptop sales at a major electronics retailer. I almost spent hundreds of dollars on something I didn’t want. Almost. My daughter’s laptop, purchased 4 years ago, had been a Black Friday door buster that we were able to buy hours after all the insanity of the morning shopping had subsided. It’s performance doesn’t impress a now 15 […] Read more »

I Slept In On Black Friday…..and STILL Got a Door Buster Deal

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My daughter caught a case of jealousy when her brother purchased his own computer after saving up for the better part of the year. Tired of butting heads with my wife for the use of a computer that contains her SIMS computer game, she decided she wanted her own computer as well. When we started talking about how much one that would serve her needs would cost, and how long it would take her to save up for it, there were tears. A lot of tears. When you’re eleven years old, eight months is an eternity. Daddy heart melt of […] Read more »

American Consumers Dive 5.6 Billion Dollars Deeper in Credit Card Debt in One Month

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While some of us were saying No to Restaurants in November it seems others were saying YES to binge shopping sprees financed by credit card debt. In an article sent to me by my friends over at Impulse Save, consumers racked up 5.6 billion dollars in credit card debt in November alone. Judging by the shape of the economy (specifically unemployment) one would expect these numbers to be down so this is an astonishing statistic. The Time Moneyland article also shared Federal Reserve data that shows consumer borrowing skyrocketed by 20.4 billion and is the highest month-over-month increase in the […] Read more »

Are You Making Excuses for the Money You Spend?

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spending too much money on shopping

Yesterday was Black Friday. Did you hit the stores at 4am? Were you one of the million of folks out on Thanksgiving to shop the stores that opened in the evening? Or maybe you are like me, you avoid stores on Black Friday (and the days surrounding it) like the plague! I wasn’t always this way, there was a time when I hit the mall bright and early on Black Friday. I was armed with nothing more than my credit cards and a large cup of coffee. The problem with my “plan” was that I didn’t have a list (and […] Read more »

19 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping on Black Friday

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Hello all! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? If you’ve been a reader for more than a year you probably know I hate Black Friday. There are many reasons for this and I won’t go into it again but I really have a problem with what the Christmas season has become. Really what we have let it become but I digress. Gobble up your turkey and say bye to your family because you have early sales to hit up! (Yes, this is sarcasm.) This year I wanted to provide a checklist of questions to ask yourself to make sure you are […] Read more »

10 Reasons to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday

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Photo Credit: denipet If there’s something I hate worse than debt when it comes to money, it’s a frenzied shopping spree instigated by the companies to give you a false sense of savings. That’s right I said it. I HATE Black Friday and all that it stands for! I can think of 100,000 better uses of my time as well as my money than camping out in tents the night before the doors open, and then participating in the human version of Running of the Bulls. People need an excuse to spend money and the stores have given them Black […] Read more »

Buying Bargains: How We Will Spend Less But Give More This Christmas

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Is buying bargains high on your list of priorities? If not, you may want to reconsider. On Monday I told you I would share with you how my beautiful wife and I are saving money this Christmas. I also wanted to share with you some of the ways we are bringing in a few extra dollars to offset the unexpected expenses we’ve had in November. We donated more money this month than we budgeted so we thought it was a great idea to put our thinking caps on to earn extra dollars. Too bad I didn’t have my thinking cap […] Read more »