Perhaps it’s because the weather’s been cooler this summer than normal, or maybe it’s that Hallmark’s ornament premium is tomorrow, but I have winter holidays on the brain! I even read Llama Llama Holiday Drama to Nicki as her bed time story last night. Since we’ve been spending a lot of time going through everything we own I’ve been starting to make our Black Friday wish list.

Here’s what I’m hoping to find deals for:

New Screw drivers The blades on all our screw drivers are pretty worn down. When assembling our desk I had to constantly switch between them trying to find one with enough grip to get the job done. I’d really like to get one or two high quality screw drivers that will outlast me. Tools are a popular holiday gift, and you can usually find them on sale.

New Coffee Maker Poor Domingo. His barely six month old coffee maker is already seeing better days. Both the coffee pot lid and the lip of pot are deformed from the heat of the washing machine. The lid no longer sits on the pot, and the pot is prone to spilling. Prone to spilling is not big deal per se, which is why we’re willing to wait for a replacement. Given how much he does around the house for me, I’d really like him to have a “nice” coffee maker. Alas, not being a coffee drinker myself I don’t really know what features constitute “nice”, so I’ll have to do more consumer research on this one.

What we (probably) won’t wait for:

New Shaver for Domingo This is another item that went kaput way earlier than we expected. Domingo has been using his backup/travel shaver in the mean time. Given that Black Friday is still 4 months away, I’m not entirely sure we’re going to wait on this one. Since it’s his shaver I’m leaving the decision of wait or not up to him.

IPhone 6 I’ve been using an IPhone 4s and eligible for a phone upgrade since February. At the time, there were some rumors that the iPhone 6 might make a debut during the World Wide Developer Conference in June, and was supposed to have a significantly improved camera over the IPhone 5s. I didn’t want to update my phone and have the camera component be obsolete again in a few months. The new rumor is September. I’m hoping this one is true, as I’d very much like to have a better camera phone for Ziggy’s arrival! (I plan to use my DSLR more, but late’s face it, the camera phone is easier…) Given that I’m not the kind of person to wait in line overnight when not pregnant, and Ziggy’s due date is November 20th, waiting for a Black Friday deal may be tricky.

SodaStream Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker Starter Kit, Black and Silver We live in a top floor apartment towards the end of the hall. Carrying groceries, but especially something heavy like drinks back and forth from the car can get real tiring, real fast, especially at the end of a long day. Last year there were a tone of Black Friday deals, so I was planning on waiting for another Black Friday, but noticed they were in the middle of a $20 rebate promotion. That brings the effective price to be in line with the average Black Friday deal last year (although last year there were a few better bundle deals). I found the cheapest one above the $65 minimum needed for the rebate and decided to make the purchase now. The added cost will be offset by a few extra months of usage. After I made the purchase Domingo pointed out we can make other carbonated beverages, like sparkling apple juice. I have been craving it all pregnancy with Ziggy. Double win.

A word of caution: if you go with the amazon one, do NOT accept the 10% coupon. The rebate is not valid with any coupons. Unless your buying a $200 soda stream, the rebate will be a better choice.

What we’re considering, but only if we find a super awesome deal:

Dishwasher safe Knives (and other odds and ends) The switch to dishwasher safe dishes has been an awesome time savor. (Seriously Calaphon, why couldn’t the contemporary line have been dishwasher safe before we set up our wedding registry?!) So now we’re making an even bigger push to have only dishwasher safe items. The biggest issue right now is the knife set. The set, like most of our good kitchen stuff, is Calaphon brand. It doesn’t appear that they make dishwasher safe knives, so I’ll have to do consumer research to find out good brands. I likely won’t have time to pick out a new set and hunt for the best deals before the holiday sales start. (Deals on kitchen stuff tend to be early November, sometimes even late October in preparation for Thanksgiving.)

Update: Domingo did a little research and found the after school sale season is a good time to buy a shaver. Guess we won’t be waiting until Black Friday after all! The back to school sign sales flyers already starting to circulate.

Posted in Shopping | Tags: Black Friday