It's almost here…the high holy day of over-consumption in America.  The day after Thanksgiving shopping madness begins earlier than ever this year with some stores opening as early as 4AM.   

I sat down this morning with my cup of coffee and both Chicago newspapers to see what was what.  The Sun Times was stuffed with 2.75 lbs of inserts from 31 stores all offering some version of Early Bird or Doorbuster savings.  The Trib had even more; 38 advertisers weighing in at 3 lbs of special deals and encouraging phrases like "Hurry In!  Only 5 hours to save!"

 

As someone who has lined up in the dark in front of  KB Toys for a razor scooter for my niece and waited in a 40 minute line to purchase 60% off towels at Carson's, I know…it can be exhilarating.  If you love to shop and love deals this day is like a sweet, sweet drug.   So how can you make the most of it without overdosing?

 

Start with a list.  No, not a list you make as you flip through the inserts.  Make the list first.  A deal is only a deal if you are saving money on something you were planning to purchase anyway.   If you weren't planning on buying 2 razor scooters but couldn't resist because it was half off (and really isn't that such a great deal?)  but then ended up with the second one in the basement…you didn't save $40 off the original $80 – you spent $40 you didn't need to spend.

 

So make a list or get out a list of things you've been thinking of buying and gift ideas for the holidays.  Then, look to see if anyone's offering this exact item for a never before seen low price.   Not something similar…this is an area that causes real trouble.  If you really, really want a camera with 6x optical zoom but buy one with 3x because it's on sale…guess what.  You're not gonna be totally satisfied.  And then, sometime in the (probably near) future you're going to buy the one you really want and then the first one's going in a drawer, or a storage unit, or under the bed because it wasn't cheap and you can't just throw it away right? And now you have 2 cameras.  So buy the one you really want.  If you have to wait and save up, that's fine but don't buy something not quite right just because it's an early bird special.

 

Other things to watch out for:  Low end electronics.  I saw more DVD players and mp3 players with brand names I've never heard of…if you've never heard of it then 9.99 might not be a fantastic deal; it might actually be the regular price. (Or a mark up.)  Fine print on special coupons.  If you are heading to Macy's first for the Doorbuster 40% off all coffeemakers and figure it's an especially good deal since you can use the "$10 off a $25 purchase coupon" too...guess what.  "Kitchen Electrics" don't qualify.  Make sure you calculate the savings correctly before making this your first stop.  

 

Some of the deals I saw were great and some weren't and some were just plain funny.  If you buy a (selected) digital camera at Ritz camera you get a FREE jacket.  What?  I don't know about you but I'm not 'zactly sure I want a jacket picked out by a camera store.   My favorite item advertised:  A digital picture fame ornament.  It holds 50 pictures and flashes them across the screen as it hangs on your tree.   Perfect for anyone who doesn't want to just look at the person sitting next to them on the couch on Christmas morning.  

 

My favorite insert was from Sam's Club.  Printed on high quality stock, it didn't mention that any of the prices were lower than normal.  It just showed some large beautiful pictures of some of their items and invited non-members to come in and see what they're all about.  They are opening early at 5am and serving a continental breakfast until 9:30.  Interesting.  This got me thinking…what if instead of offering great deals; every store just offered a wonderful shopping experience on the day after Thanksgiving.  Instead of making you line up in the dark to rush in and fight through crowds of people, they served you Starbucks and over staffed the stores so you could find someone really easily to answer questions.  If they kept their same prices and instead of being the cheapest day of the year, this day became the most civilized shopping day of the year with snacks and helpful employees everywhere.  I don't know about you, but I'd definitely get up at 4AM for that.