Living Happily on a Shoestring: Black Friday Deals

by Christine Wilkinson

Black Friday is near...so near you can start as early as 3:00am tomorrow (eeesh!). A great place to review effective recession shopping is here. Don't forget to look in the newspapers and online for coupons before you leave the house or shop online (and print an extra or two for strangers -- it makes everyone happy).

While the deals are far too many to list, here's a smattering of what you can find.

Best Buy is offering a Toshiba Satellite Laptop (C655D-S5089; 15.6” w. AMD V140) for just $197.99. (Note: the store opens at 5:00am but tickets for this product will be handed out to those willing to line up at 3:00am).

Kohl’s, which is opening its doors at 3:00am, has a great deal on a Prodigy Hudson 5-piece luggage set selling for $89.99 (regularly priced at $199.99). You can shop online at Kohl's starting at 3:00pm today (!).

Not to be left out, JCPenny.com is offering a Protocal 5-piece luggage set for merely $38.88 (regularly priced at $180).

Target is offering a Westinghouse (VR-4085DF) 40" 1080p LCD HDTV for only $298 (normally $549.99). It is also offering the Wii Fit Plus Bundle with Balance Board for $67.00, which is $32 less than the normal price.

Walmart is offering an in-store only promotion for a $100 Walmart gift card when you buy a BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Motorola or Samsung Smartphone.

And more in-keeping with my price range, Burlington Coat factory is selling women’s sweaters for only $9.99, warming both my soul and my torso.

The online store Deal Vista has an entire Excel spreadsheet dedicated to all its Black Friday specials. It's an impressive list for sure.

As noted in my Recession Guide to Savings, Consumer Reports found that the best places to buy electronics are online (not brick and mortar stores). Its top ten picks are below (and all but Costco are available with additional cash rebates through Fat Wallet):

1. http://www.vanns.com/
2. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
3. http://www.crutchfield.com/
4. http://www.amazon.com/
5. http://www.newegg.com/
6. http://www.beachcamera.com/
7. http://www.costco.com/
8. http://www.jr.com/
9. http://www.buy.com/
10. http://www.tigerdirect.com/

Fat Wallet has an amazing page that lists all Black Friday specials both by store and category, and has the added feature of an Expert’s Pick section - click here.

For department stores I highly recommend visiting the website of each to find printable coupons to make the sales that much better. For instance, if you visit http://www.macys.com/ you will find two printable coupons: one for 20% off all sale and clearance apparel, fine and fashion jewelry, as well as intimates and shoes, and another for 15% off sales and clearance items for Him, Her and Kids if you use your Macy’s card or WOW!Pass (whatever that is). These same coupons are available in the Washington Post (Wednesday's edition).

Likewise, Lord and Taylor has both newspaper and online printable coupons for: 15% off a storewide savings pass for regular, sale & clearance; as well as a 25% off fine jewelry sales and clearance savings pass (good from Tuesday November 23rd through Monday, November 29th). If you're the early bird who loves getting the worm, L&T opens its doors at 5am and the first 500 customers receive a $20 Doorbuster Card for $20 off a $40 or more purchase (and can be used with other sales and coupons).

One last special truly jumped out at me. Bray and Scarff is offering 20% off all Energy Star appliances, 10% off other appliances. Here are two incredible specials that B&S is offering for Friday and Saturday only: $799 for the pair of Energy Star Whirpool Duet Front Loading Washer and Dryer (each unit normally sells for $649! -- that's a $500 savings, not to mention the reduction you'll see in water and electricity usage). The store is also offering Whirlpool Cabrio HE Washer and Dryer set for $999 (each unit normally sells for $899 -- that's an $800 savings).

Happy Hunting, but more so, I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.