Black Friday

I'm not a great believer in the American system of shopping. Cutting coupons on Sunday is a foreign idea to me. I just don't get it. Maybe because I grew up in a country that did not have the concept of coupons til the past couple of years.

You're being tempted to go shopping for something on sale, just to spend money that you wouldn't have spent to begin with if you didn't check out the coupons! The time and effort I see some people putting into cutting coupons just bewilders me. You're spending an hour cutting coupons to save you a few cents, when you could have worked that hour and earn several dollars.

I've lived here 14 years and only last year found out about Black Friday. The only reason I found out about it is because I accompanied my sister-in-laws in their shopping spree. I ended up finding memory cards for dirt cheap.

This year I decided to check up the newspapers for any special deals on black Friday because I was looking for something specific for my brother. A couple of months ago before I went to Israel he asked me to check out the price on a 4gb thumbdrive. It was $179. The black friday sale had it for $69. Well worth the price. I also found that a 1gb thumbdrive was for sale online at circuit city for $4 (yes, that's FOUR dollars!). So I bought a few - gifts for coworkers and a boss. As I was checking out the newspapers my sister-in-law called and asked if I minded buying a TV for her at Circuit City. For reasons I cannot elaborate just yet, I was willing to do it for her.

My husband and I woke up at 4am so we can make it to Circuit City by opening time at 5am.

Mistake #1.

Should have already been standing in line the day before!!! When we got there at 5am we were customer #200. Only 20 coupons were handed out for that TV. It was sold out before the doors even opened up. It would have been nice if they posted this at the front door, and prevented the waste of time for some of us.

So we rushed over to Staples which was due to be opened at 6am. We were #40 this time. I split the responsibilities between my husband and I - you get the SanDisk memory card, and I'll get the 4gb Thumbdrive.

Mistake # 2.

Husband suffers from the syndrome called "look, something shiny!" and gets easily distracted at anything concerning computers.

After 15 minutes, we were standing in line with fifty of our best friends at Staples. Friends we've made through an hour of standing outside in the cold. Through some negotiation skills we managed to come out of the store with 4 of the 4gb Thumbdrives (1 for my brother, and 2 extras for his friends and one for my husband - because he is tired of carrying 2 of them - 512 mb and 1 gb), and 3 of the 2gb SanDisk memory cards (1 for me, and two for my dad). Oh, and a 200gb hard drive, because it was for $20 and it was there. (I decided to pick my battles with my husband and didn't argue over this one).

Will I do this again next year? Only if I know that I need something. Otherwise, it's insane to be standing an hour outside in the freezing cold weather with a bunch of crazies looking for a good deal. Thankfully, the stores started to do the black friday sales on Thursday and online, so I avoided the stupid line for Circuit City.

I dread next weekend when it's time for me to shop for clothes. I hate shopping for clothes. And after last year's trauma, my sister-in-laws refused to join me this year again. Apparently, I don't buy what they think I should buy and it frustrates them. I hate shopping. I hate this season. I hate winter. I hate the holidays. Can't wait for January and February. Anniversary and a birthday - always a good thing to look forward to.