Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day?

As you read this, we're about to get onto an airplane and head off for a few days of nothing but sunshine, books, and good food. Even if we weren't, the last thing we'd want to be doing is pushing through crowds to buy a flat screen TV or ...whatever. We'll save our shopping for Alameda Flea and local independent shops. But we do wonder -- are we alone?

Comments (19)

I'm not part of the hordes of canadians going to the states for the shopping today, I'll be going to the craft fairs for the next while, and ordering from amazon.ca, and making my own gifts.

nieces and nephews all get money. I will buy a couple of gifts for family and I usually make small gifts for my friends.

NO WAAAAY am I using my day off to wait in LOOOONG lines. I too will be attending upcoming crafts fair as well as searching online for eco friendly gifts.
For my BFF's I've already purchased each of them ENVIROSAX (thanks for highlighting them!).

I considered doing some very light shopping today (everything in my favorite comic shop is 20% off today!), but grad school beckons. I will spend the day writing papers.

Not giving any gifts this year.

Horrid economy wreaking havoc on my industry = not a whole lot of discretionary income (I'm in commissioned sales).

Instead I am getting a part-time job and focusing on getting debt free.

I'm a bad American consumer. I don't buy into mindless or "obligatory" consumerism. Pun intended.

Got 460 bucks worth of furniture, a GPS system valued at 300 bucks, and all the christmas decor we needed this year (including wreath and ornaments), for about 450 bucks TOTAL. Yeah, we ended up waiting in a row twice, but we were done shopping by around 10 AM, oh and at IKEA we got free breakfast. lol So yeah, it was worth it. Definitely.

I do giftcards... everyone gets what they want and is happy. Even though I have stood in the line at 3am for a TV once.

um. I've been sending out food or plants for the past few years. Lots of nice catalogues and e-commerce sites out there.

My family has decided not to exchange gifts this year. For once, our presence really will be our present to one another! And frankly, we're quite happy about it. The season will be much more relaxing without the pressure to buy gifts for everyone.

I shop online. Who doesn't?

online shopping for eco-friendly gifts for everyone this year...can't stand the crowds at the stores, plus i can have my gifts sent to the east coast ahead of my arrival and save the trouble of carrying them on the plane with me!

I didn't join in on Black Friday because I had to work a 15 hour day. And I don't work retail!

I did a little target shopping, but it was at 1pmish. not too bad actually. yeah, it was crowded, but I found a great parking spot, got in, found everything I wanted, and got out quickly. :)

I had to buy some stuff for myself anyway, and figured I'd take advantage of the sales - at five pm :)

When we shop varies from year to year, depending on our holiday plans, but I've never shopped Black Friday and never will. We don't really buy the kinds of things that are on deep discount then, so there's no point in joining the frenzy -- call it one more spot in line for someone who'll appreciate the sales.

Crowds Bargain hunters 6AM = me in my warm bed with the kitty and doggie curled up - Snoring, happily.

Wasn't at the stores early on Friday, went later in the day. But I did get happily a lot of my shopping done for the holidays, and best of all I got a few nice things for myself ;)