Meet Our Patch Black Friday Shopper

Here's how Jen Millard of Lexington. describes herself and her Grey Thursday/ Black Friday plans. .

My family and I have lived in Lexington for the past three years. Prior to that, we resided in Cayce.

I have a wonderful family who provides all of the love and support anyone can ask for.

My best friend and life partner, Rick,  is a teacher and coach at White Knoll high school. We have three beautiful children. We have a 14 year old son, 9 year old daughter and a 3 year old firecracker of a daughter. 

I am the avid 'grey Thursday' and black Friday shopper in our household.

Being that Rick is not much of a crowd person, he leaves it to me. My partner in crime on these shopping trips is my wonderful sister in law, Dorcia. We are both proclaimed bargain shoppers and hate to pay full price for anything! Dorcia resides in West Columbia. 

Our black Friday trips always start way before the actual day arrives. We subscribe to many online websites such as Blackfriday.com to get a sneak peek of the deals that will be available on that day. I find this so helpful because it allows me to see what store has what I am looking for before the actual ad is released. This also helps me get a handle on the budget I will need for our adventure.

Being that I am a bargain shopper, I do not like to spend an obscene amount of money. I pick maybe two or three big ticket items that I target. We generally allow only one big ticket item for each of the children so if we can save on these items on Black Friday, I am all for it! 

This year my main things that I am looking to grab will be a 32 inch television for our 14 year old (this is the only thing he has asked for); a new Nintendo DSi for the 9 year old because I don't think she needs an IPOD and anything that will have the Disney princesses on it for our firecracker who swears she is Cinderella!

Walmart is having a doorbuster sale on the television from 10-11 on Thursday night and there is a new guarantee of being in stock this year so I will let you know how that turns out! This should cost $148. Now the Nintendo is on sale at Kmart for $79.99 (thanks to my Kmart shopping card) at 8:00 On Thursday.

So here I can choose to go to Kmart to purchase the Dsi at 8:00 and then race to Walmart to get in line for the television which is supposed to be guaranteed as long as I am in line by 11:00 or I can price match the Dsi at Walmart. The logical part of me says to price match.

The adrenaline junky says to race!!! The other thing to consider is that Kmart will allow lay away for door buster items while Walmart will not. The advantage to this is that I will have to only pay a portion of the cost which allows me to use more of my budget for some of those not planned but have to have items that always pop up! 

Some people think that Black Friday shopping is nuts. Other people swear by it. I myself find it fun.

I will not fight you for an item. I will not steal an item from someone else's cart. I will not go over budget (I hope).

I just remember the stories of what my mother went through to get me the Cabbage Patch dolls that I HAD to have and how it was worth evrey minute of it when she saw my face light up on Christmas morning.

This is the feeling that keeps me going every year. Knowing that the purchases I make will provide our chldren with that joy and happiness knowing that Santa was able to bring those items they asked for. 

Wish me luck!!