This week’s Super Savings Saturday revolves around Thanksgiving and Black Friday aka The Coupon Olympics. 

I started out bright and early, up by 6:00AM, put the turkey into the oven, and headed over to Cumberland Farms for a free coffee. Since it was only 8 degrees outside, a hot drink was most welcome.

After that, it was on to the drugstores. 

Rite Aid:

I only focused on items that were free after rebates. Yes, there were other goodies, especially snack food, that I could enjoy, but I was honestly afraid I’d eat all of it and it took a lot of willpower to skip the cookies, Planter’s nuts, etc.

What did make it into my cart? Hair elastics, ear buds, Kleenex, two candy bars (for the kids), and lightbulbs. While not a huge haul, it was still good stuff. Total: $33.00 with $33.00 in Bonus Cash. 

CVS:

Better selection than Rite Aid. I separated transactions, rolling Bucks as I went, spending $4.00 and received $4.19 ECBs back. Freebies included toilet paper, paper towel, canned corn, pantiliners, baby wipes, razors, gum, face mask, toothpaste and Ibuprofen. Great haul!

I went back home to drop off the bags, checked my turkey, and then made a quick stop at Shaw’s for an extra pie. (I thought 3 would’ve been enough, silly me…) Well, I was too late and they didn’t have pecan, only unwanted gross ones like coconut custard and mince. I left with nothing.

Between noon and 4:00pm, it was feast time. I was starting to feel tired and was overly stuffed, but there was more shopping to do! At 5:01pm, when the Macy’s door opened, I was there.

Macy’s:

By far, this was the worst experience. 12 free-after-rebate doorbusters were advertised, some of which were really useful like a slow cooker, slippers, drinking glasses, watches, pearl earrings, perfume, etc. I was hoping to get the whole lot. I left with one item!

The store was unbelievably ill equipped—no sale flyers, very few signs and/or mismatched signs, low stock, and confused employees. Supposedly, 3 of the 12 items were never delivered to them, along with the flyers—something I find hard to believe. Rebate forms, which should’ve been plentiful, were not at registers, only in the office. Every cashier I spoke to was incredibly frazzled and most were downright rude. I get that working on a holiday can be unpleasant, but these folks were beyond nasty. 

Another thing I noticed was the large number of East Indians in the store. I do NOT say this to disparage the Indian community in any way! It was just unusual because 90% of the customers were Indian and that’s not common in my area, here in Northern New England. 

So what did I buy? The only thing I could readily find—a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. 

Hopefully within a year or two, every doorbuster will be online. The mall experience has truly gone downhill and become nightmarish. Although, I can’t even imagine what it was like at the Alabama mall shooting. People get too caught up in the craziness. 

Black Friday:

On Friday, I decided to venture into Walmart. I had free food digital coupons that were expiring, and I was curious to see how it compared to the mall madness.

At 10:00AM, the store was pretty messy, but not overly crowded. The big tickets items like TVs and phones were long gone and the folks I saw had carts filled mainly with toys and housewares. The atmosphere was no different than an average day. 

I bought canned corn, canned green beans, canned cranberry sauce and a bag of red potatoes. The cans will be donated to the local pantry since my family doesn’t like that stuff. 

After Walmart, I drove across the street, into the Target parking lot just to peek. It was not busy, which surprised me, nor was the Home Depot next door. It seems like Thanksgiving Day has become the new “Black Friday” making Friday much less chaotic. 

And that was my holiday shopping experience. How about you guys? I’d love to hear where you shopped and what you bought, if anything.