The Blonde Diaries

There are some pretty good deals out there today.  I’m not sure if these deals will be offered on Black Friday so you might just want to bite the bullet and make your purchase today and if you find a better deal on Friday just return your purchase from today.  So here is a quick roundup of what I have found so far today.  As always, click on the store name and it will open in a new window so you can make sure to check out all the deals without using a back button.

Bestbuy.com -> Band Hero Super Bundle- all game consoles are available and on sale ranging from $125 (PS2) to $145 (Wii, XBox 360, PS3)

Walmart.com -> Nikon CoolPix 8MP digital camera bundle on sale for $80! Click on Today’s Values on the main page.

Ecost.com -> Refurbished Digital Photo Frames are available starting at just $30.  There are a variety of photo frame colors, sizes, and special features such as MP3 music players and photo printers attached to the frames.  Most are 7″ or larger.  Definitely visit the site and click on the digital frame link under the electronics menu heading.

Target.com -> Today’s Daily Deal is an iStereo which doubles as a charging dock for your iPod or iPhone.  The iStereo is $50 today (retails for $130) and that qualifies for free shipping. While you are over on Target.com you might want to check out the Men’s Polos.  I found quite a few for under $10 Sunday night.  Mike wears these all the time and they hold up really well.

Amazon’s Gold Box deal today is an LG Blu-Ray Player for $99. I remember reading that there will be a few better Black Friday deals ($80 I believe) but they will require you to camp out over night and that isn’t too fun. So if you aren’t camping out then grab this deal today!

That is all for now.  Ebay hasn’t updated their daily deals or their mystery deal yet but if they are good I will come back and tell you about them!

Why wait for Black Friday when there are Daily Deals?!  About a month ago, I discovered that there is a growing trend with retailers to offer a product or multiple products at a discount each day.  The products change each day but the deals have remained pretty good.  To top it all off most sites are offering free or really cheap shipping and no sales tax.  I find it is worth checking these sites each morning and afternoon at lunch to see if there is a bargain I can pick up now to help keep my holiday budget in check and to help me make one less trip to the mall or general merchandise store in the next month.

I’m hoping to make reporting on Daily Deals a regular thing – probably not daily but at least a few times a week when I spot something really great.  I plan to update this post again around lunch when more deals have been released. If you are looking for something in particular let me know and I’ll keep my eyes open for you.  All links open to a new window so make sure to check them out!

Geeks.com – new item added daily at 6am PST with $1.99 shipping!

Buy.com - Buy.com has daily, weekly, and weekend deals under the menu heading “deals”. They offer everything from books to electronics to jewelry. Today it is a 4GB Zune MP3 player with a free car accessory pack and free headphones for $79 with no tax and free shipping.

Newegg.com – Three pages of electronics ranging from wireless mice to 40inch HDTVs all with special “deal” prices. Today, there is a Toshiba 40″ HDTV 1080p for $610, an 8GB USB flash drive for $22, a DVD burner ready to be installed in your computer for $27, and an Acer netbook for under $400. Those are just the ones to catch my eyes immediately.

Bestbuy.com – scroll to the bottom right of the page for the Daily Deal. Today it is a LG Blue-ray DVD player (1080p) for $120. Not bad!

Target.com – enter daily deal in the search box. A new deal is offered each day at 12 midnight CST. Yesterday was the BeerTender for $65. Today is an electronic chess board that teaches you the game for $65

Walmart.com – Scroll down to the Save Big Now heading on the left menu and click on Value of the Day. Today is a prepaid phone from Virgin Wireless for $20

ebay.com - Daily Deals are released every morning at 8am PST. On Wednesdays there is a mystery deal released at 11am PST (yesterday it was the 2 disc set of Twilight on DVD for $9.99) and on Mondays every deal is under $10. Today’s sneak peak is showing a laptop. Previous items have included Garmins, dvd players, and toys. No tax and free shipping. Most items come from reputable companies or websites like Buy.com or Disneyshopping.com. Click on the Daily Deal menu option.

Amazon.com – Amazon releases 7 daily deals each day – 6am PST, 10am PST, 12pm PST, 2pm PST, 6pm PST, and 8pm PST so you just have to check back often to see what they are offering. They typically give you the category as a hint before the item is released but that is it. To find the deal click on the gold box or the link that says “Today’s Deals”

I decided to try out Mike and I’s first big purchase together together -> our new television. We’ve been discussing purchasing a larger television as mine was just 19 inches and rather pathetic when hosting friends and family for gatherings. So we religiously watched the ad papers and jumped on a sale at Best Buy last week. We found a lovely 47 inch LG television that I am in love with.

So now that I’ve digressed, I’m going to get back on track. I am hanging out at home while Mike works away in Beaumont so I have full control over the television. I found my latest Netflix movie rental -> Confessions of a Shopaholic. I have to admit that I love the book series so much more than the actual movie. The movie just goes off on such a wild tangent from the books that it can be frustrating at times but nevertheless it is such a funny and cute movie on its own that you have to laugh while watching.

One of my favorite parts comes from the beginning of the movie where Rebecca is watching young 20-somethings at the department store (she’s about 10) and they are buying all of these beautiful clothes with their “magic cards”. Everyone is so happy and everything is just beautiful and perfect. If only credit cards were more like magic cards that allow you to buy things and not pay for them. Instead, if you miss a payment it follows more closely to my second favorite line, “They said I was a valued customer, now they send me hate mail”.

Once again it is time for the Texas tax free shopping holiday.  It seems that the weekend is being pushed back a little further each year.  I remember a few years ago it was the first weekend in August and now it is the third weekend in August.  The end result is the same no matter when it is held though – most clothing and shoe purchases under $100 qualify for a tax-free break!

If you haven’t blown your budget for the month or have a shopping list for back to school clothing or starting a new job, you might want to consider a trip to the mall between August 21 and August 23rd.  To get the most bang for your buck remember the various outlet malls around Texas and budget stores for trendy clothes like Forever21 and Charlotte Russe.

Have fun shopping tax-free next weekend!

Back to school shopping is similar to holiday shopping.  You have a long list of items you need to buy and if you aren’t careful those items can run up a rather large bill.  I remember going from store to store as a kid trying to find everything my brother and I needed for school at the best prices.  Now that I’m an adult, I don’t blame my mom for driving us around and shopping multiple stores.  I do it myself all the time.  In fact, I have to say I’m a bit spoiled now that online shopping is all the rage.  In just a matter of minutes I can Google search exactly what I want and find hundreds of websites selling what I need.  If only this was available back in the day.

One of my favorite things to shop for online now is shoes. Sounds odd when you think about how shoes vary from style to style but with places like Zappos offering free shipping it really isn’t that hard to order a few pairs of similar shoes. You can try the shoes on in the comfort of your home and just send back any that do not fit properly. The price matching policy and no tax on your orders helps out a bunch too. Zappos started out just focusing their web sales on footwear. Over the past year or two they have expanded into designer handbags and clothing. Yup, the same free shipping, no tax, and price guarantees work for clothing items as well. They are carrying everything from 7 for All Mankind jeans to Lucky Brand clothing. While I’m on a shopping diet at the moment, I have made a mental note to check back for holiday shopping season as well as for when I finally drop a few pounds and move into a smaller size.