Gear from Black Friday

After far too much shopping, I now have a lot of the gear I need for my adventure! As many things as there are to hate about Black Friday (materialism, minimum wage workers forced to work on the holiday, cold, day of thanks followed by day of spending, deaths), it does help easy the burden on things you really were planning on buying.

May not look like much, but this stuff is crucial for the next five months

Pack- $100, saved 15%

I will be LIVING out of this baby! We only saved about 15% here, but also received a $20 off of a $100 purchase at Dick's Sporting Goods that might come in handy later. At this time of year, there were no sales on any packs. Comparable packs are priced up to $300, with $175 being common, so still a good find. The best part is my brother needs this too for his huge Boy Scout trip, so we'll get our money's worth out of it.

Sleeping bag- $20, saved 60%

So glad I found a small one! I got quite lucky with this one too. We couldn't find the price, couldn't find a sales associate, couldn't find a price, finally went up to the cash register just to check the price, were shocked at how low it was so we bought it on the spot! Special thanks to the cashier at Sports Authority who gave us a coupon since ours had expired the day before.

Steripen- $40, saved 50%

This UV light creating purifier is what I will use this for all my water abroad. Filters like people often use here in Minnesota aren't strong enough, and with this deal iodine tablets would be more expensive (and gross!). My mom found this one for me, the last one!

Water Bottle Kit- $0!

I grabbed this for the 1 liter nalgene, but it came with all sorts of fun perks as well. It contains a whistle/compass, basic poncho, emergency blanket the size of a deck of cards, and a flashlight. Keep reading if you want to hear the story of how it was free.

Headlamp $0! 

Could be a bit better quality and it needs batteries, but you can't beat free! Thanks go out to my fun cousin Cassie for coming with for this one, and my aunt for the coupon.

Total Spent: $160 Total Saved: $140
A great few days of shopping! most of my expensive items are purchased, but I do still need boots and medications.

For those that are curious about my trip to Herberger's, keep reading to hear about how I got the headlamp and the water bottle for absolutely nothing...

Herberger's!

Herberger's was crazy busy two hours after they opened, for good reasons. They had lots of Door Busters, and $10 off any item priced $10 or more coupons. These coupons were a tad tricky, because you had to get something that was not a Door Buster and was at least $10.

The water bottle was priced at $30, and on sale (not Door Buster) for 50% off. The headlamp was $20, and also half off. At those low prices, my mom grabed the headlamp and I headed off with the water bottle. Once its my turn in the long line,I hand it over to the cashier, show my coupon, and dig in my wallet for the $5 I should owe her ($30, 50% off is 15, less the $10 coupon, equals 5). Before I get it out, she hands me my receipt and water bottle and tells me to have a nice day. I'm a tad confused because I didn't give her anything, so I ask, "Don't you need anything? The coupon?" She again clarifies that I'm all good to go, so I walk away, not really sure why it rang up as less. 

The water bottle turned out great for me, but my mom had far less luck. Her's also rang up lower than it should have, at $7 instead of $10, and so the cashier wasn't able to accept the coupon. I, of course, would have none of this, so I go back to double check the price, then go to a new cashier. She tells me the same thing, but I explain that it was originally 20 and should be half off, according to the sign. She says "oh it rang up as more than 50% off though, so its even less!" I again explain, "well, its supposed to be 20, then half is 10, and if I use my coupon... its, uh, cheaper." (Didn't wanna rub in that I was getting it for free!)

By this point she seemed very flustered, so she just tapped away at her screen, giving me my way. This poor woman in her forties definitely was not used to being up at 2 am. I actually wish she would have walked over and looked at the sign with me, I don't want to argue my way into free money, but I do want to get the price that they are advertising. I feel like I just I bullied her into it, wrecking her night even more. I made sure to thank her for working Thanksgiving, and gave her my sympathies. She started to tell me about her waterfront property she was missing out on, but at that point the crowd had carried me away.

It was a fun little challenge to get these two items, and even though they weren't crucial purchases, I'm still very grateful that I found them. Anyone else find some good deals? Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, thanks for reading!