Black Friday!

I love shopping! I always have & always will, especially for toys. So having my daughter makes it that much more fun, but unfortunately toys are expensive & I am not rich. So last year for my daughters 2nd Christmas I decided to give out black friday at toys r us a try. I didnt want to go into this blindsided so I developed a few rules to follow.


My five black friday rules:
1. Have a budget, and do not go over.
2. Check on the deals & make a plan.
3. Do not buy anything that is not on sale.
4. Sleep until a reasonable hour & go out shopping at a normal time(I dont leave my house until 10:30am, Toys r us sales are all day!)
5. Leave an extra $20-$30 for that "I didnt plan on this, but it would be perfect" sale item.

With that said, my budget this year was $130. I ended up spending $102, and that was for $230 worth of toys!  I followed all my rules & due to my research & plans I ended up purchasing some things that rang it at big discounts(50% off) that were not labeled as Black Friday sales at the store! It took a total of 2 hours in the store, but it was totally worth it. At the end of the day, I came home with 2 animal planet toy buckets, 2 Disney story collections books, a pretend cleaning set, 10 2-pack squiggies, a stuffed animal, 2 total dress up princess outfits, a movie, a 25 piece crayola arts & crafts kit, and a Disney princess castle with all the princesses(this was my not planned on item). And since I came in under budget I still have money to spare for other great sales that might come up! Overall, my Black Friday advice: Plan, Plan, Plan. I budget for months ahead of time to make sure I have the money I need on Black Friday, if it weren't for the sales, my daughter wouldn't get half the amount of presents she gets!