I’m not a big “Black Friday” shopper, but I enjoy watching the news to see all of the craziness.

This year, Black Friday seemed to start more than a week early, based on all of the pre-Black Friday deals that I saw. On the news this morning a reporter commented on the lack of crowds at a local mall and how a large number of consumers are purchasing online. I think that is probably true, but I also think Black Friday is being watered down by “Grey Thursday”, “Small Business Saturday”, and “Cyber Monday”. By the way, why isn’t there a cleaver name for Sunday? Something like, “Super Black Sunday” or “Jet Black Sunday”.

Anyways, as Black Friday spills over into the days around it, it seems likely that retailers will stretch this opportunity to sell over a longer and longer timeframe in the years to come. I could see the entire month of November becoming one big SALE. We could call it “Never Blacker November” and have discounts available the whole month. It’s the perfect time to get deals for the upcoming Christmas holiday, purchase model year end vehicles, update your wardrobe for the New Year, etc.

I could also see some out of the box thinker taking it the other direction. Short “flash” sales that offer huge discounts but last just an hour, maybe even minutes. With smart phone technology, the time seems ripe for this type of thing. “Ultra Black Hour” could create a buying frenzy like non other.

Just a quick post to say that we bought another vehicle. This vehicle, a 4×4, can be used as a daily driver if it takes awhile for my wife to get a job, or can be used as a fun weekend “toy”. We got a great deal by paying cash, $12,250 to be exact.

My wife is on her final interview today with a great company. If she gets the job, she will have 5 weeks of home study before receiving her company car. So, the extra vehicle will come in very handy.

I travel a lot for work and have been destroying our suitcases. Actually, I’ve destroyed a couple by overpacking, but the airlines have also contributed by knocking off wheels and generally beating them up. My wife treats her luggage gently, so I destroyed hers for her.

With our upcoming vacation to Hawaii next month, we realized that we’re all out of functional luggage. We decided to see what offers are out there in this beat down economy.

We found 50% off deal on high quality Atlantic luggage at a local luggage store. We bought an Atlantic 25″ Expandable Upright Spinner Suiter (normally $240) for my wife and Atlantic 29″ Expandable Upright Spinner Suiter (normally $280) for me. In addition to the 50% off deal, my wife had the good idea to ask for an extra discount for purchasing two suitcases. The lady agreed and gave us an extra 10% off.

Yep. We’ve wanted a new couch for quite a while, but couldn’t commit to spending the money in this economy. My wife’s father just shut down one of his stores and is giving us a nice leather couch and love seat. He will be dropping them off with us today, so we sold our old sectional couch on craigslist yesterday for $150. We plan to give my father-in-law the $150 as a thank you for the delivery.

We’ve wanted a safe for some time, but couldn’t justify spending $300-$500 for a new one. So, I checked craigslist and found a number of home safes in the $150-$250 range. After some research, we decided on a Sentry Fire Safe that was listed for $200 (it costs $312 new). I was able to talk the guy down to $175.

We put our cash, passports, social security cards, marriage license, insurance paperwork, and our external hard drive (important digital files and photos). When we have kids in the house, we can also lock up our handgun in the safe.

Here are some of the features of the model (KSW3632) that we bought:

* LCD electronic lock with backlit keypad

* 4 live-locking bolts

* 2-hour fire protection

* Water-resistant

* Multi-Position drawer

* Multi-position tray

* Key rack and compartment for small items

* Door pocket

* May be bolted to floor

My wife’s old company gave “perk” points for special achievements and she received enough of them to order us blender/food processor and automatic can opener.

We received them a couple of days ago and they are pretty nice. We even sold our old blender for $20.00 yesterday on craigslist. Now if we can just sell our old, half functioning, can opener. . . $5.00 anyone?

My wife is so great at saving us money. She saved us ~19%/month on our Verizon wireless bill by utilizing her company’s corporate discount. While updating the account, she also determined that I was eligible for a free new phone this month (which I badly needed). She should start a blog called 1womansmoney. . . I’d subscribe.