A Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping list
November 15, 2017
I’m not normally a big fan of BF. I’ve not been out in the early hours of the morning since I last humored my woollyheaded friends who really really wanted to go to Best Buy and the mall over ten years back – I went along to keep the boys company and hang out.
These days I only shop online but I hear tell that this year, online sales will outpace sales at physical brick and mortar locations so with some good luck, the sales get better accordingly. I’m sharing my list here
- iPhone charging cable, preferably 6 ft. My Amazon Basics cord has been abused terribly and is about to snap in two. Can’t decide if this is due to user error or poor materials but I’m willing to take the blame.
- iPhone for PiC with as much memory as can be crammed into a hand computer. His hand me down phone is dying a slow and painful death. Mostly painful for me, the Home IT person on call.
- 8 TB external hard drive. I missed that Amazon sale during FinCon where it was running about $130 but I also didn’t have a chance to do some research on which one is compatible with both PCs and Macs since we use both.
- Fireproof safe.
- Portable generator. I’ve got my eye on one that’s about $1000, I suspect they won’t be having a sale on them but it’s worth checking just in case. If no sale, we’ll keep on waiting because I’m working on cash flow recovery.
- Husky Universal SAE and Metric Mechanics Tool Set, 60-Piece set
- (Only a want) Purely if there’s another $25 sale or the like: a new Kindle. Mine has been dead for over a year now.
- Edit to add: blank address labels! I print our own address labels to spare my hands and save on costs. Maybe Staples?
I have a few things I’m hoping go on black friday or other discounts. T’s iPhone is also dying a slow death, so we’ll keep an eye on this even though I’m not thrilled about spending hundreds of dollars on electronics. Good luck on shopping!
If you don’t score a kindle, I have a very old one that I would be willing to give to a friend! (It was lost for some time and then eventually unearthed after I’d already replaced it.)
Thanks, and good to know! I will let you know 🙂
Good luck. I’m looking for a new business laptop and printer. My old laptop is super slow and the printer is dead. I won’t stand in line, though. Hopefully, I’ll get an okay deal on the internet.
You might check out Staples, they seem to be focused on business tech on this year’s sale.
My iPhone battery is getting worse (on heavy usage days I have to “feed” it several times so it doesn’t die), but I’m really not ready to pony up the $$ for a new phone. I’m thinking I’ll just pay a reputable company to replace the battery for me, hoping that will extend it’s usefulness another year or two. By then I’ll probably be forced to get a new phone by Apple. :-/
I know you’re good with disaster preparedness, but, wow, a generator! I’ve just never thought of that since I’m thinking it would have to be a major, *huge* disaster for me to need one of those. Am I being shortsighted? I also know those things need regular maintenance, and I’m not sure I want to take that on unless absolutely necessary.
It may be nice to have a blog post about your thinking on this aspect of disaster preparedness, as well as what you foresee going into a fireproof safe. With the recent fires up here, people were urged to have their “papers” ready to take if they needed to evacuate, which left me wondering exactly what those “papers” would be. I mean, I have all my “important” stuff available electronically (scans of my passport, credit cards, etc.), so why do I need to cart the stuff around? What would I put in a fireproof safe? I can’t imagine that.
I hope you find a good deal on a Kindle. I got one last year as a gift (a Paperwhite with built in lighting) and it has become indispensable!
Reddit has some suggestions on important papers – https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yoa3e/what_specifically_are_the_important_papers_you/
A scan of your passport is great, but if you want to leave the country, you would want the full thing.
Thanks for the link!
This has a longer answer I will dwell on later but offhand I would keep my original documents and data backups in the firesafe proof. I don’t want to keep sensitive backups in the cloud and if I lose my computer, we’d need relatively easy access to the digital copies somehow.
I’ll check to see if any of the Christmas gifts I’m planning on getting for others go on sale, but otherwise I’m not likely to buy anything on Black Friday.
Just a thought if you’re looking for a generator. Some rental companies will run equipment for a year and then buy new ones. The used generators are sold off at a discount. Depending on the discount, it could be worth looking into?
I’ve been trying to put a cohesive thought into words on your last post, but I’m a mental jumble. All I can say is that I hope you’re doing better, and I feel that you’ve made the right decision. *hug*
That’s a great idea, I didn’t think about that but will look into it. Thanks!
The only thing I have on my Black Friday wish list is a new TV…I’m not happy about it but our TV is dying a slow and painful death so it’s time. I guess I should be happy it decided to die when we should be able to find a good deal. We don’t get quite the same level of deals here in Canada but TV’s seem to be one item that you can find with good discounts.
I’ll probably keep an eye on a few sales to see if any potential Christmas gifts pop up but there isn’t too much else I need this year.
Fingers crossed that you find a great deal for your replacement!
I hope Santa brings you everything on your list 🙂
I’m avoiding all brick and mortar stores (even the supermarket, I use Click and Collect), until after the New Year. I went to the mall last weekend and it was already a total nightmare of terrible parking, unruly crowds, and what I call Xmercialism. Bah Humbug! Yay Amazon!
But I’m Santa! 😀 😀
I’m ok with only finding some of them – I’m not jonesing to spend ALL THE MONEY. Just mostly really need a great deal on the external hard drive and the phone.
You could donate to the March of dimes or disabled vets and get address labels for life Lol I haven’t donated in years and I get them at each new address. Hopefully I will again with this move.
A couple years back I did a BF at 5 am. I had insomnia so I was up and just went to staples for a cheap laptop.
I think this year my Xmas shopping will be mostly at B&M stores and I’ll wrap them and ship it. I think it’s the excitement of being back home in Florida 🙂
*laughs* It’s true, I donate to a number of charities and get address labels from them. But I’d rather they didn’t spend the money and make my own 🙂
Welcome home 🙂
I just remembered I still am wanting a roomba that can handle dog hair and rugs. I missed a Costco deal on the 960c and want to buy from there due to return policy. I don’t think I’ll see a more compelling black friday roomba deal. Oh well, I guess I saved $500 by continuing to use the tools I have…
https://www.costco.com/iRobot-Roomba-960C-Wi-Fi-Connected-Vacuum-Robot.product.100367634.html
We’re likely going to do the Target deal for an iPhone 8 for T. Still $$$, but at least we get a $250 gift card and it is a purchase we’ll be making eventually anyway.
Thanks for the heads up on the Target deal! I was trying to figure out what their pricing on the phone is, and if we have to go to the B&M store to get it.