Home Stretch

I've been quite busy lately because I've been trying to build a lot of credit time for next week when I'll be able to take the whole week off to be home in Indy! We've already put up our Christmas tree and the apartment is decorated, so we're officially ready for the holidays.

Something I wanted to share with everyone, particularly in this doom and gloom economic paradigm we're in, is a good way to save some money this Christmas. This year's Black Friday is going to be the best one in decades because October's negative economic indicators scared the crap out of most retailers. With consumer confidence low and retail sales even lower, stores are willing to sell consumer goods at extremely low prices this year to entice "frightened" consumers. Everyone should take advantage of this. Prices will probably never be this cheap again, at least not until the next recession.

There are some great websites you can visit so that you can form your plan of attack:

-www.tgiblackfriday.com
-www.blackfriday.info
-www.bfads.net

Remember though, it's only a bargain if you need it :-)

And a word of caution; don't wait until the day after Christmas to shop because retailers have been jacking up prices on this day knowing that people are wanting to spend the ever-more-popular gift card. When people use gift cards they tend to not pay as much attention to the price, and retailers know this, hence the immediate price increase.

By the way, I'm essentially ignoring the broader world news right now because (1) I'm too busy (2) It's annoying and (3) I'm in too good a mood because of the upcoming holidays.

Happy Hunting!