black friday aftermath

i never thought i'd say this, but i think i've lost the will to shop.

this year's black friday was particularly fruitful - i'm quite proud of the findings and savings. knocked off everything on my dad's list and then some. polished off the rest of my list. even found a few things for myself.

sparky's guide for black friday

1) safety in numbers. never attempt black friday alone. after much of 2008 was spent waiting in lines (lines to get INTO the stores, lines to pay for my purchases) this year showed much progress in efficiency. there were 3 of us, which sometimes dwindled down to 2 when bry decided to split off and do his own thing. but all you need is another person. when a store is ridiculously crowded - the best strategy when you get in is to put one person in the line to pay. the other will look around and choose their purchases, and then come stand in line while original person shops. at the end of the day, you each waited in line, but for half the time. this proved particularly useful in katespade, where the line to pay snaked through the entire store. (which was at least half off). carol and i found that we would shop WHILE waiting on line, since it curved around every possible display. the results? bags for 1/6 retail price. i personally was hoping that if i purchased more formal and girl-esque items, i would feel motivated to go out and look nice. (fairly expensive risk, hence, taken on black friday).

2) leave early. after fiasco 2008 of leaving at 10.30pm, intending to get there for midnight madness (and not being able to park, getting directed 4 miles away and taking a shuttle bus and stepping into my first store at 2am) - this year we left at 7pm on thanksgiving. got there by 8.30pm, ate something, hit the first stores by 9pm. it was glorious. when it started to get mad crazy - we were already half done. great parking spot, which we could shuttle our bags back to - much to the dismay of hopeful drivers circling and trying to take our spot.

3) strategic store planning. while some may insist that you need to know exactly what you want, i don't think that's necessarily true. the key factor is, you have to know what stores you want to go to - what time they open, what their deals are, and where they're located relative to one another. some stores are more popular than others - it's far more efficient to wait in line for 20 minutes early in the evening, than to find yourself in a maze of ropes and a sign that says "from this point, 2 hours" later at night. whereas other stores almost never have a line to get in. i regret that we didn't brave northface when we were initially daunted by the line - it turned into impossibility as the day went on.

on the way back, we stopped at target, though only briefly. that was the last of my shopping energy - after that i was totally done. as dante used to say, "basta! finito!"

now, to try and get myself back on a normal sleep schedule....