Black Friday Virgin Mistakes

I did it. I got up this morning at 5:30am and was shopping by 6am. I tried to prepare myself for the madness and chaos and masses of people, but really, could anyone be prepared for this? I swear those women could sense that I was new to this whole thing. They could tell that I had not been hardened by years of Black Friday shopping because I was being polite to the other shoppers and they gladly pushed me aside to get to the items I was searching for.

My first stop was Target. I got there right as they opened and yet, after finding my 6 or 7 items, I found myself standing in the check-out line that wrapped around the store. After standing thee for a half our and not moving more than three steps, I decided that my $20 or $30 in savings was not worth this. Not to mention that my back had begun spazaming by then. So, I dropped my cart at the end of an isle and left.

After nearly 2 1/2 hours of shopping I came home with only one of the items I had on my list. Not a complete success but Tim did say he was proud of me for following through with my plan of going.

So, here is what I learned on my first ever Black Friday shopping experience:
Shop with a partner. With a partner along, one of you can stand in line while the other one searches for more items/deals or scopes out the store for shorter faster moving lines. And you have someone to talk to while you’re waiting hours to check out.
Bring snacks or water. Seriously, those check-out lines are crucial.
Go with a list and ads in hand. If you wander around the store, trying to find those “great deals” they will all be gone before you even get there.
Don’t go shopping on Black Friday when you’re pregnant. Seriously, maneuvering those shopping carts around a crowded store is bad enough on a regular day, but when there are three other carts squeezing down the isle side-by-side, it is nearly impossible to move. And, standing in virtually one place for hours is killer on the lower back.

There you have it. One item. I’ll probably convince Tim to go out shopping with me after he gets home from the studio today or maybe tomorrow. Otherwise, it’s on-line shopping for me. How did you do? Any fabulous buys?