Ready Set Shop

By Dian Vujovich

I know that there are a few of you ramping up for Black Friday’s sales.
The crowds are expected to number over 57 million around the U.S. If you’re going to be one of them standing in line in the wee hours of the morning before any other reputable soul, other than those working a night shift, would even consider awakening, make sure to mind you p’s and q’s.

The “p” part stands for planning. If you don’t know what you want or where to buy whatever it is you think you might want to purchase, stay home. This day is not for the timid shopper. Or the window shopper. Both are likely to get trampled.

Plus, without some pre-planning, how would you know if you’ve found an item that’s deal-or-no-deal priced?

Dan de Grandpre is the editor-in-chief of http://www.dealnews.com. It’s an interesting site for finding out what’s a buy and what’s not. He and his staff must spend all day looking for deals and confirming them at both on-line and in-store shops. Bless them.

Here are a few of the deals he found and suggests:

•HDTVs. Looking for a deal on a new boob tube and Dan’s suggests the Westinghouse 32″ 720p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $246 at Target; Samsung’s LN40B500 40″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $600 at Sears; the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46S504 46″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $798 at Wal-Mart; and the Vizio 55″ 120Hz 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $1,200 at Costco.

• Laptops. Last year the best prices on laptops were found during the months of April and September so me very mindful of the prices offered today. For those interested in a 16″ or larger screen, Dan’s biggest discounts were found at Staples and the HP Intel Celeron 16″ Laptop they’re selling for $300; the Sony VAIO Intel Dual-Core 17″ Laptop for $399 at Best Buy; and HP Core 2 Duo 17″ Laptop for $450 at Office Depot.

•Gaming things. Check out the Sony PS3 + 1 blu-ray movie 2 games for $299 at Wal-Mart and the Nintendo DSi + Brain Age + $20 gift card at Best Buy for $170.

•Clothes. Dan says that the closer you purchase apparel to Christmas, the better the deal. He recommends avoiding Macy’s Black Friday clothing sales for that reason. “Take the Van Heusen men’s dress shirts for $15.99,” he says, ” Isn’t that about what those cost at T.J. Maxx?”

As for the q’s, and stands for lines, be nice when you’re in one. That means no elbowing, shoving, fighting, spitting, screaming, yelling, temper tantrums, crying or butting-in allowed. In other words, don’t behave like a child. Even though the spirit of the season is supposed to bring the child out in each of us, it’s the sweet, thoughtful and appreciative one. Not that spoiled nasty brat from our dark side.

Happy shopping.