Shopping on the Day After Thanksgiving

How many of you do this? Several years ago, I started doing this and I've been doing it ever since.

I had always thought that you'd have to be really nuts to want to stand outside in the cold at 4 AM or earlier to get the first dibs on shopping. What's the appeal? But then I found out from my nieces and nephews that the sale prices are really good and that most stores only offer specials until perhaps 12 noon. Not being one who really paid much attention to the "After Thanksgiving" sale ads that come out on Thanksgiving day, I had no clue.

But now I rush out on Thanksgiving Day and purchase several copies of the Chicago Tribune just to get any coupons and ads that are in there. Our family has found that sometimes, certain stores will put in a discount coupon that saves even more money and that pays for the $0.50 cost of the paper and still saves you a lot of money.

My favorite place to go on the day after Thanksgiving is Best Buy. Yeah, I'm a sucker for electronics and software. But the last couple of years, I haven't found many sale items that I really needed. Some of the people wait in line all night long to be the first into the store. I can't do that (and refuse to) so I often go around 5 AM. Most of the time, that's too late to get any of the "super" deals that only have a couple of units per store. Maybe this year, if the weather cooperates, I can try getting there a little earlier. Yeah, I'm nuts!

Anyone else into this yearly madness? We make a game out of it. My daughter and I go to Best Buy and my wife goes to other stores. We keep in contact via cell phone to see what we've all got. We don't expect to get lots of stuff, we just want to see if we can get a few items at a good price. Then we get back in time for breakfast and we are done for the day. That's usually around 8 AM. If we pick up one or two things really special, we're happy with that. Some folks go crazy and get all upset if they don't get some specials. We don't care. We're out for a good time and that's what makes it worth doing. Take the fun out and I don't think I'd want to do it.