est. 2009TRAVEL & STYLEDriftless Living

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A Midwest-living writer, photographer, and cancer researcher who is raising her children in the Wisconsin Driftless with her husband by her side. A chronicle of our adventures and learnings of country living, parenthood and this precious life.

Holiday Shopping {Black Friday or Cyber Monday?}

Let’s take a survey on when you like to do your holiday shopping…

I personally prefer online shopping, so I’m looking forward to Cyber Monday. However, we are considering venturing out on Black Friday as well!

Both Matthew and I like to do lots of research before we make a purchase. While this has prevented many an impulse buy, it also leads to 8 trips back to the furniture store to pick out a mattress, although others decide to to buy their furniture online in stores as Ivy and Wilde and others.

So of course we’re doing our research a full week in advance to prepare for our shopping adventure into the city! Rather than keep all of the deals to myself, I thought I’d share some of my favorite sites.

DealNews and BlackFriday2010 are both reputable websites that seem to cover a wide range of stores.

Some of the favorite deals that I’ve found are:

1. Chefmate Appliances for $3 at Target. Originally $20 (approx.).

2. Nook Wifi eReader for $99.99 at Best Buy. Originally $149.99.

{My colleague has this and I got to play around with it briefly this week. Talk about bringing a book to life! The color on this thing is amazing, the text is easy to read, it’s lightweight, versatile (you can browse the web) and you have the option to share/lend books to other Nook users.}

3. 8GB iPod touch with $50 gift card $225 at WalmartOriginally $229 without gift card.

4. KitchenAid Mixer $129.99 after 10% off, $20 rebate, $30 Kohl’s Cash at KohlsOriginally $250.

5. Dyson DC14 for $219 at SearsOriginally $439.

{Have I ever told you about how much I love my Dyson? No? Well, I do. This is the Dyson I currently own and there’s just something about being able to see all of the dirt you’re vacuuming up. So rewarding. Wow…I just equated vacuuming with being rewarding.}

6. Apple iPad for $399!!!! (Originally $499) At select TJMaxx and Marshalls. Exact locations haven’t been released, but will likely be leaked over the next week.

{I’ve been thinking about getting an iPad because of my slight Apple obsession. However, I think I’ll hold out and wait for the speculated iPad 2.0 release in first quarter 2011.}

7. Pet beds at Menards. $9 for the giant size.

{Last year’s Black Friday Matthew ventured out with his sister to Menards. The story goes that Matthew needed two carts, one for the dog beds, and one for everything else. And, he even ran across the store to grab 4 giant size dog beds. Awww…what he’ll do for his pups. 🙂 While I can’t say the dog beds hold up the best, they work for our needs and are cheap.}

And now for Cyber Monday. While I won’t do as much research for Cyber Monday, I will be scoping out this website for deals. I’d say 90% of my shopping is currently done online and I’ve perfected my ability to find coupon codes or money back in some way.

I’d like to let all of you in on a little secret…that can potentially save you $54 in just a few months *true story*.

The two websites that I use for 99% of my online purchases are Ebates.com and Retailmenot.com

Please, to save yourself some money and get cash back, sign up for Ebates!

How does Ebates work?

You sign up for free, and then will have access to coupons, deals and a % cash back on your purchases through stores listed. You click the link to the store through Ebates (and it’s important you do this step so it links the store to your Ebates.) Once you make your purchase on, for example, Sears.com, the money is credited to your Ebates account. It’s that easy. The reason it works is that all of these stores are competing for new customers and they pay Ebates a commission for bringing in new customers. Ebates gets paid, and thus, so do you. You get paid every 3 months, and I just received my first payment of $54 this month!

The other site I use is Retail Me Not. They have coupon codes, promotion codes, and deals for so many online stores.

Come back after Black Friday and Cyber Monday and let me know how your shopping went. Did you find any other deals?

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