Big ticket event day savings!
I must say these big sales event days are growing on me. This year, with a bit of extra cash in the pocket, I’m planning a big spend at the Albany Mega Centre Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales. Building on the shopping success of last year, the target is big ticket items like electronics and homewares.
It’s ironic that for many years we fought hard against blatant commercial tricks aimed at getting you buying things you don’t need. We’d see the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Singles Day sales promos and talk about ‘not being suckered in.’ We slowly softened our stance as my wife, Janice, started buying a few things online, convincing ourself it was just essentials we really needed. Last year, we stumbled into the big sales, almost by mistake, and quickly realised that for those with good planning and self-control sales like Black Friday represent a great opportunity to make huge savings.
The prices were phenomenal. We were at Noel Leeming and the TV I had been coveting for ages had 25% off. We had a perfectly good TV and I couldn’t justify spending big on a new one but with that much discount it was an easy decision. I put it in the lounge, moved the lounge TV to our bedroom and gave our bedroom TV to my teenage son, Nate. They also had deals on Chromecast so Nate now streams his phone on his TV – apparently never needing to leave his room! Happy faces all around. I also got a ‘boom box’ speaker for the outdoor area and a new computer monitor. I sneaked back there the next day and got a FitBit which I gave to Janice for Christmas. More happy faces and more big savings.
The next stop was Farmers Home. We try and get at least one new thing for the house every summer. Thanks to the November sales we got a lot more than what we normally would. I got a new desk for the study – a well-timed purchase given the time I worked from home this year. Replacing the lounge suite, and putting the old one in the rumpus room, also turned out to be a good move over lockdown. Parents and kids both had a comfy place to hang out.
We also purchased a freestanding lamp from Lighting Direct; a luxurious set of sheets from Bed, Bath and Beyond, and replaced a number of our kitchen appliances from Briscoes. And while this sounds like a lot, they were all things we had spoken about buying. We did it sooner than planned to make big savings. I worked it out, we saved well over $2,000 last year.
This year, Janice and I have been planning for the sales since our ‘island’ holiday was canned in May. We came down to the Mega Centre for Singles Day, using the time to see what was around and what discounts were on offer this year. With lockdown, the concern was that retailers may not afford the same discounts. There was no need to be afraid – the sales are bigger than ever.
Black Friday is only a few days away and Janice and I will go on a mission to Albany Mega Centre. We have a list and we’ll be strong on only buying things we need. Electronic and homeware will again be the main focus but we’ll also use the sales to get Christmas presents for the wider family. Blatant commercialism or not, with many of the best stores and brands all in one place, and everything massively discounted, Albany Mega Centre is the perfect sales event destination.