Thanksgiving Deals by Sam

So this past weekend was the big shopping weekend... In the past I have done the crazy Black Friday deals, gotten up early, fought crowds and got mad over deals lost, and excited over some good deals.

This year, with a baby on the way, and my new frugal (well trying to be) self had no plans on hitting up the morning sales. Most of the deals are on stuff I don't need, and regardless of how much you "save" you still have to spend money and extra money. That is the part people forget... yes you are saving, but really you save more by just not spending at all.

Now I am not saying that we didn't buy anything this weekend... but we were more careful, and were sure that things we bought, we really "needed". So here is a recap of my fun special buys for the special holiday shopping.

Ladder - scored a good deal on a ladder at Lowe's. I know, exciting right! Well it really was, because the one I bought (online - ship to store) the store didn't have in stock. So they upgraded me to the next up in weight rating. So I got a $67 ladder, for $19 (the original sale ladder was $53) so I really got a deal!
Shoe Tree - Last year I got a few shoe trees and really love them. So I wanted two more, and have been waiting for a good sale on some. This weekend Men's Warehouse had their nice ones for buy one get one. Now theirs normally sell for $14.99 and are nice, the cheaper no name brand ones from Meijer are regular price for $9.99 (not as nice). So this way, I got the nice ones for $7.50 each pair. Can't beat that! (better still, I resisted buying another pair... despite it being a good deal, I don't need to spend on more).

Tools - yep... I like tools. Well I try to buy them when they are on sale, not when I need them. That way I get them at a good price, not at whatever price they are when I need them. For my Z a few months ago I bought a Craftsman screw remover and the part was so rusted it broke the remover tool. I returned it for store credit (love Craftsman warranty). I saved the card until now, and this weekend they had the screw remover and bolt remover for 50% off. So I got both tools for the price I paid for one this summer. Score.

Mac Mini - so I used to be a MacAddict, I had it bad. I was the first person to own a iPod... had one in 2002, and got into Mac Laptops before every college kids begged for them for Xmas (actually most begged to not get one). Lately I have gotten way behind.... but the PowerBook (my old G4 ABook) that Heather has been using was on its last leg. So I started looking for a used Mac Mini, she doesn't need high power, but does need something more reliable, and something we can hook up back up drives for photos and video of the pending family addition. So I found one, with a broken superdrive (DVD burner)... but I can get an external one and we saved about $400!

So there it is folks... deals by Sam. Feel pretty good about the weekend. Did buy things like light bulbs, outdoor light strings, and little things like that... but held off on big frivolous items.