Beating Broke

We Conquered Black Friday

November 28, 2011 By Shane Ede 16 Comments

With the recent changes in my employment, it’s become pretty darn important for us to not only keep to our budget, but to reduce our budget as much as we can in order to keep from sending our finances into the whirlpool of red ink that is broke.

One of the ways that we’ve got to cut back, because of the time of year, is in our Christmas present shopping. We’ve already come to the agreement with our extended family that we wouldn’t be exchanging presents with them. However, with the wonderful consumerism myth that is Santa Claus, it’s a bit more difficult to completely cut off the kids from any presents whatsoever. With that in mind, we decided that we’d still be getting the kids a few things, but would have to take advantage of as many great deals and coupons as we possibly could. And, you all know what that means.

As a general rule, I avoid the masses of people that throng to the Black Friday specials. I don’t have the patience for all those people rushing around the aisles, searching for that one last electronic door buster special, or digging through the mountain of cheap DVDs in the middle of the aisle. But, when you’ve got to save some money, sometimes you’ve gotta take a few risks. 😉 Late Thursday night, after all the turkey had been eaten, we went through the flyers for the stores and decided on a few things that we should pick up to give to the kids.

Luckily, for us, our kids are still young enough that they are satisfied more by quantity, than by amount, so it’s easy for us to buy a few bundled items and pack them individually and still come away with as much present opening satisfaction as we would have otherwise.

We took the tips that I wrote a week or so ago, and put them to good use. We went into the day with a detailed idea of what it was we were looking for, and where we were looking for it. We had a list of what we wanted to get, and a budget to spend on that list. If the stores were out of something, we didn’t substitute with the similar, more expensive, item that was conveniently set up next to the empty shelves.

And, we conquered Black Friday. We stuck to our list, only buying one extra item. We not only kept to our budget, but we beat it! When we were done with our busy morning of shopping, we had everything on our list, and we’d spent less than $150! Christmas will be a little lighter under the tree than it has been in previous years, but I’m pretty sure the kids will be happy with it, and we’ll all have a great time, like usual.

Now, we just have to avoid the impulse purchases that will come today in all the Cyber Monday emails and ads, and we’ll be all set. 😉 But, we conquered Black Friday, and that’s something!

How did you all do this Black Friday? Did you go out and shop with the masses? Did you stay home and polish off the turkey leftovers?

photo credit: joiseyshowaa

I Quit My Job: Recovering

November 21, 2011 By Shane Ede 27 Comments

When I finally put in that two-weeks notice, I was floating on this nice little cloud, high above the world, happy with my decision and feeling like I could do no wrong. Like Andrea of So Over Debt put it, it was the first good nights sleep I’d gotten in quite a while. And, of course, for the two weeks that I was still working, I stayed on that cloud, anticipating that last day, and the end to my tenure at that employer.

As those two weeks went by, I went from anticipating the day, to downright demanding it came faster. As more and more of my tasks were transferred to temporary replacements, and I packed more and more of the stuff off of my desk, I began to think about all the things I could be doing at home, at my computer, with this site, and my other sites. It was torture!

At the end of those two weeks, I nearly ran for the door! I was already filled with ideas of what I would write the next day, the things I would do, and the changes I could make. Little did I know that I had a bit of a different path planned. You see, I woke up early the next morning, with the flu. Yep. I spent my entire first day of self employment with the flu. The following day, I was well enough to at least sit at my desk, but being productive was almost certainly out of the question.

One of the things that I decided, early on in this adventure, was that the income from this and other sites wasn’t going to be enough to make up the difference, or even to make a dent in it. I would have to get a part-time job in order to help pay the bills, while I built the sites up to a reasonable income level. I already had a lead on one, so the first full week of self-employment, I went and met with the owner and we worked out some details, and I started last Thursday. The part-time income from that should help with the bills. I’ll get a bit less done on my sites, as I’ll be working three days a week, but it was something that I felt/feel was necessary in order to keep some constant money coming in while I work on building other things.

Now, a full week and a half after I quit, and the holidays rushing in on us, somethings are coming back into focus. I’ve always gotten a bit worked up about finances. That’s why I created this site, after all. So, knowing that we lost over half of our income and will only be able to constantly replace about 1/3 of that income immediately, has me a bit stressed. My wife want’s to do some holiday shopping, and my natural instinct is to shut off all of that, and “give hugs” this Christmas. It’s caused a bit of friction, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

I’m recovering. From the high of quitting my job. From the flu. From stressing entirely too much over money. From a lot of things. Such a major life change is bound to require some recovery period, and I am confident that I’ll come out the other side. There’s just a few bumps in the road. What an adventure!

photo credit: alibree

Avoid Temptation on Black Friday

November 18, 2011 By Shane Ede 11 Comments

If you’re like almost every other American, after you’ve gorged yourself on all the Thanksgiving day feasts, you’ll be headed out to do a little gorging of a consumer variety. Black Friday is well known as one of the largest shopping days of the year. Most every retail store has some huge deals for the turkey-drunk shoppers that wander to their doors. And, like most every other American, you’ll likely spend way more than you had planned on spending.

As your favorite personal finance blogger, I urge you to not do that. I’m all about buying what we need at a price that is below the normal retail price. Sales, coupons, and rebates are the way to go when buying things that we need. But, chances are, the things that will be on sale on Black Friday will not be things that you need. In fact, they’re likely to be things like big-screen televisions, computers, and the hot toy of the day. You’re going to be tempted to buy them all, because the marketing department makes it look like such a incredible deal! Here’s some tips for avoiding that temptation, and coming away from your Black Friday shopping with a happy account balance.

Have a budget. This should be the only tip you need. But, you’ll get in the store and be tempted. But, having a defined budget for how much you are planning to spend is still a good thing! Even if you go over that budget, you’re much more likely to at least stay close to it if you have a budget, than you are if you don’t have one at all.
Make a list. You’re likely shopping for gifts for everyone, hoping to make them all happy while saving some money on what you buy them. Make a list of the people you’re planning on buying for, compare it to the flyers that will be inundating your vision over the next week, and then make a master list of people, with the things you plan on buying for them, and where you’ll be buying them. Now, stick to your list!
Be aware of prices. Just because the marketing department put the price in big yellow letters over a big red starburst does not mean that it’s really a good deal. The stores will be full of items that they are marketing as a big savings, when they really are not. Be aware of the prices of competitors, sure, but also be aware of what the price for that item was last week and be wary of artificial sale prices that aren’t really sale prices.
Don’t fall for the swap. Many of the places will have a very limited amount of the big sale items on hand. When they run out, they’ll “swap” the sale item for a similar item that’s more expensive. You’re there for the big sale item, and you can’t leave without it, so you pay the little bit extra to get the similar item. Usually, that “swap” item is regular priced, and not on sale at all.
Free can be bad. More than any other day in the year, the stores will be pushing free items. “Buy a tickle-me-broke, and get a free tin can!” The free item is usually a low cost item (loss leader) that they can afford to give away, while the item you have to buy is usually not on sale for as much as they’d like you to believe, and is a much higher profit item.

The biggest thing to remember while you’re doing your shopping next friday is to be aware. Be aware that the store isn’t out to save you money. They want to make money, so they will do what they can to bring you in the doors with a huge sale and then sell you all the high-profit items that aren’t on that huge sale list. We’ve all seen the videos each year of the people trampling each other trying to get one of the ten of those super cool kitchen gadgets, or video game systems. Don’t be that person. Be conscious of what you want to buy, how much it sold for before, and what the price should be the day you’re buying it. Have a set amount you want to spend and stay close to that amount. You’ll be happier that you did.

What are your plans for Black Friday? Gonna be in the crowds at midnight? Or wait until it cools off later in the day? Or, are you a Cyber Monday shopper?

photo credit: Matt McGee