Black Friday

[Flo]

I know, I know - we are supposed to be aiming to be self sufficient here.

But do you go for Black Friday to replace items that you think you can't manage without or need a new one which hasn't appeared second hand/free/in an appropriate skip? Or is it a chance to buy something on the cheap(er) that will help you to be more self sufficient?

Or are you one of the buy nothing day brigade as a protest?

[Green Aura]

I had a quick look through 4m4zon's Black Friday WEEK (started last weekend!) and found neither bargains nor anything I'd want to buy. It certainly seems to becatching on over here though - I got an email from my essential oil supplier this morning to inform me they're having a Black Friday sale.

I don't particularly ave any problem with saving a bit of money on buying something we need but I have to confess to being p*****d off that they obviously charge too much in the first place, if they can offer fairly substantial discounts on large quantities of merchandise.

Do you remember the Harrods sale, where folk would camp out for days to be first in to get something that was a real bargain? You know, they'd have one £700 TV for £20 and a washing machine for the same or somesuch. They also bought in loads of cheap, nasty "special purchases", just to sell to bargain hungry customers. I remember a friend coming back with a clear plastic cube to make square boiled eggs - because everyone needs one of those right?

Do they still do that or has the internet killed the Harrods sale?

[Flo]

Nope the Harrods sale doesn't look to be anything special at all on a quick internet search. Back to Facebook Market Place and Gumtree and eBay at that sort of price.

[BernardSmith]

My wife and I had a discussion yesterday about who buys on Black Friday and neither of us view ourselves as "consumers". We purchase what we need when we need it but going to stores to buy anything (including buying anything "online") is not something we do for fun. Cannot imagine anything that would encourage us to enter a store or simply order something because it was "on sale" or because it was reduced in price on "Black Friday". Consumers we ain't.

[ina]

I'll try to take the day off work next year - forgot all about it this time. Traffic was even worse than on a normal Friday afternoon in Aberdeen - made the bus very late, and I almost missed my connection... Absolutely can't seen the attraction of shoving and fighting to be able to say you've got a bargain, when everybody knows it's highly unlikely it really is a bargain. And anyway - what would I need? I replace the essential things (washing machine, kettle) when I need to. When one of those breaks down, I can't wait until the next Black Friday.

[Flo]

You mean you don't keep a spare kettle and washing machine in case one breaks Ina Know exactly what you mean though.

[ina]

You mean you don't keep a spare kettle and washing machine in case one breaks Ina Know exactly what you mean though.

Wouldn't know where to keep them!

A friend of mine has a farm and loads of space. Her husband's hobby is buying stuff at roups and auctions... I usually just ask her first when I do need something new. Except for kettles - theirs seem to be breaking down quite regularly, and I know she doesn't have any spares about. Mine broke last year when I was sick - the first time I was glad Argos could deliver within a few hours. (Likewise the washing machine broke when I was sick...)

[Flo]

Ah yes - Argos does have advantages though I prefer AO for larger white goods. They usually have something on offer. It's good when friends have "space" and allow you to ask.

[Green Aura]

A spare kettle is one of the few things we always have on hand. A 200 mile round trip to replace, or a week's wait for delivery, is a too much for a brew!

[Odsox]

Ah, we can go one (or two) better than that.
We have a quick boil gas kettle for our gas hob and a flat bottom kettle that goes on the wood burner stove.
Both of which are left over from previous times, the gas kettle from when we were "of no fixed abode" living in a caravan 25 years ago.
Both very useful for power cuts where a spare electric kettle would be as useful as a .......

[Green Aura]

Ah, now that's a different kettle (!) of fish. We have a camping kettle for the calor gas stove but it doesn't work well on the ceramic hob.

[ina]

I always have the Kelly kettle for emergencies - just got to make sure I always have some old newspaper in the house!

[Weedo]

Mystery solved, I now know what a "roup" is! I noted this word previously in old farm diaries (early 1900's) from the original owner of our place - Mr Ronald Macrae - and never knew what it meant. Never heard of "Black Friday" (except in relation to historical devastating bushfires) but then I don't internet shop

[Flo]

Weedo - Black Friday is something that started in America as the day after their Thanks giving Festival, sort of like what would have been the January sales in the UK back in the day - a time to spend your presents of money, get out of the house, bag a bargain (yeah well we all know about that with the advent of the internet) and generally spend too much. It's sort of spread into the UK and Europe.

[Flo]

It gets worse doesn't it? Black Friday seemed to start a week before the day itself and then stretched into Cyber Monday. Just to get those who hadn't spent up in the shops before the weekend to see what was online (still) or was this just to see if they could get rid of the rubbish that no-one had purchased before the weekend.