Black Friday Hauling

1:26:00 PM mandy 6 Comments

Come to think of it I have never posted a clothing haul before, accessories & bags yes, but not clothes.
So here's a (yet another) first!

I don't know how many will read through all of my buying reasonings, but it will be interesting for me to look back on in the future. "Oh...that's why I bought/got that!" kindda moments. I'm a bit forgetful and sentimental like that.

But kudos to those who do read through most/all! :]



Some of these were from a trip to Woodbury Commons Outlet my family and I made last Saturday. But a majority were bought after a trip to Manhattan on Black Friday. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but still pretty bad.


1. Forever 21 - Love 21 - Black Skirt ... $19.80

• Wasn't on sale but I really liked how it looked on me & I'm picky about skirts. But then again, I need to start wearing the few that I bought recently...heh

2. Coach Legacy Leather Penny Shoulder Purse - Deep Port ... $99 (Orig. $198)

• Err, the impulse buy. The Coach outlet is just pure madness. Watching everyone stand on a line with bags hanging on both arms, in both hands, and on all fingers can make a person envious!
• This small bag stood out to me the most. Everything else was either of canvas material with their monograms printed all over or the style seemed impractical or too mature for me at the moment.

3. Fossil Sydney Giftable Bifold Wallet - Bright Pink ... $21 (Orig. $35)

• This isn't color I would usually consider. But in the end I thought it might stand out more inside my bags. *shrugs* (My strange logic..)
• Although I love how compact it is, it is hard to put things inside! Maybe I just have to break it in first? But things like business cards and tea shop reward cards do not fit into the card slots at all. Bummer.
• Despite all that I'm not returning it since it is a great size for me now. I don't have that many cards anyways so this forces me to only keep the necessities and it fits into my small bags.

4. Kate Spade Card Holder/Wallet ... $22.50 (Orig. $45)

• Another impulse buy. A card holder has been on my wish/need list for a while now and was going to order from eBay. But when I got the the outlets, I honestly felt a bit jealous (again) seeing so many Kate Spade shopping bags around. Oh well! Saves me the effort of ordering and having to wait forever for eBay packages to arrive.

5. Various sports bras from Aerie (50% off original)

• Ever since the summer, I have been wearing sports bras as often as possible (not for exercising reasons). Ones with skinny straps are great for oversized and wider neck sweaters! I personally like the thicker strapped ones for certain tank styles so I won't feel or look over exposed.

6. AE Knit Jeggings - Crush Berry ... $29.96 (Orig. $39.95)

• I had a pair that was a similar burgundy color from Uniqlo that I loved...until it ripped by my inner upper thigh area. (Embarrassing!) Luckily I had a long coat on that day. & I was only able to wear it a few times last Fall/Winter too. *Shake my fist* Uniqlo never brought this color back!
• I've been waiting to get this color for a while and thought I was getting a good deal at the time since it was the AE outlet. But I really wish I waited to buy these during AE's Black Friday deal instead. Could have had 50% off instead of 25%, too bad I had cut off the tags a week earlier.

8. Various undies from Aerie ... 10 for $30

• Or to be exact the deal I got was 5 for $30 + 5 Free
• Yup, that is what the signs in store and my receipt say

9. H&M Sweater ... $14.95 (Orig. $29.95)

• Lured by the special promo price tag. But not a bad find. I wasn't expecting to buy much or anything from H&M since I usually have a hard time finding things there anyways. Their Black Friday sale selection was much smaller than I expected too.

10. AE Real Soft Mistletoe Sweater - Black ... $22.47 & AEO Factory Slouchy Crew Sweater - Chrome Green and Ocean View ... $19.98 

• I bought the 2 slouchy sweaters first. I LOVE how comfortable they are. I really regret not grabbing more at the outlets, especially for that price ... 60% off 'original'! (Although I know that this item is specific to the AE outlets, the quality doesn't seem much different from the regular AE sweater I got.)
• The mistletoe sweater was bought after realizing I couldn't get my hands on the slouchy sweater in black anymore. ('Slouchy' wasn't listed on the website before Black Friday, but was afterwards...Hate it when this happens!)
• Mistletoe sweater isn't bad, but I like the style and fit of the slouchy sweater more. (It is looser by the arms.) Materials appears to be the same for both sweaters, so they're both equally soft to the touch.

11. Levi's Cardigan

• Can never have too any cardigans! & I didn't already have this color either. Unfortunately, I don't remember the price nor have the receipt..I think after discounts and coupons it was ~$20 more or less?

• Bought Wednesday before Thanksgiving when GAP had 60% off most items & mom received a $10 coupon, hence the great deal.

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KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer - Green Apple $299.99

• My mom actually bought this a week before Black Friday when Macy's sold it for $299.99, the lowest we've ever seen it, at major retailers, in the last couple of years.
• I We I have been eyeing this mixer since we moved into our new house and always joked about getting one. But the price was always too high. I know my mom always kept an eye out for the prices (even though she never explicitly told me) because she has casually asked "should we get it" multiple times when we saw any version of the KitchenAid mixer at Costco. But those were never the Artisan or in the color that I wanted (Ice Blue, Pistachio, Metallic).
• For Black Friday, this was on sale at macys.com for $345.99 + 10% off + $50 manufacture's rebate. (But sans the 10% off in-store.) Which makes it a better deal than what we got it for. But considering that:
• 1) my mom had to lug this thing from Manhattan to Brooklyn via public transport
• 2) mom's feet/ankles/legs already ache from work
• 3) we'd have to mail in the rebate and wait for it to come back
• She decided the 10% savings isn't worth all the trouble.
• I tested it out today to make cupcakes and I love it so far. Makes things soo much easier!

KitchenAid Architect Hand Blender - $99.99 (Orig. $139.99)

• Hand blenders haven't been on the wishlist for very long. But our magic bullet doesn't seem to cut it when it comes to blending smoothies anymore & the better(?) blenders available are very expensive. Few YouTube videos later, I thought a hand blender could do the job & more.
• Mom originally bought a Cuisinart version for under $20 (because she saw that it was circled in her Macy's booklet. I always just randomly circle things that are "on sale" & normally she doesn't buy what I circle anyways). Later we found out that that version didn't have a detachable shaft so it had to be returned.
• Fast forward a little over a week later on Black Friday, we noticed that the Kitchenaid version was on sale in-store. All it's many attachments caught my eye! Strangely, my mom was very easily convinced by me to get this now instead of waiting longer for possible further discounts.
• The night before, I had checked macys.com and saw that this was going for $139.99 + 40% off. Which means that the "sale" price in-store wasn't as good. Of course my phone battery died on me that day so I didn't have proof to show them. BUT I did ask the cashier (who asked the supervisor/manager) and they told me that macys.com is different/separate from the actual store. WHAT?! So there was no price matching...
• I could have ordered online, but my mom is skeptical of the interwebs and (especially big) package deliveries.
• I also tested this today to puree/blend sweet potatoes. It was pretty awesome I'd say. Can't wait to try the milk frother attachment. Homemade lattes maybe?! :D

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Sales get me every time...
I can get a little very carried away if I don't stop and think things over and over again.
But sometimes rationalizing goes out the window at that moment and I can only take it as a lesson learned. Be smarter next time! Right?

Some interesting tidbits & tips I learned:

• American Eagle outlet store has a combo of both it's AEO Factory & normal AE store items (at least at Woodbury it is).
• Don't go thinking everything are outlet items and that they are the lowest discounts possible.
• Sometimes their outlet items make it to their online store, sometimes it does not but it will be at a later time.
• American Eagle online's special Thanksgiving discount (50% off, I think a new promo this year) isn't the same as their online Black Friday discount (40% off, same as previous years). BUT in-store discount may still be 50% off!
• Don't freak out if you miss the 'good sale'!
• I learned the hard way, after getting pissed and stressed earlier Friday morning...*sigh*
• If you plan to go to a big outlet mall or Woodbury Commons Outlet to be more exact:
• Print out a map and list of stores & highlight the places you want to go to on the list & map
• This way you can see where you want to go and can devise a route to efficiently use your time there.
• Join their free VIP program online & print out their special online VIP coupons
• Depending on when you go and if you could use coupons or not...the online print-out coupons are better deals than the ones in the VIP coupons booklet available at the Woodbury Outlet Information Center.
• Macys.com ≠ Macy's in-store ... apparently.
• I can understand that not everything in-store is online and vice versa.
• I can understand that discounts might be different from one platform to the other to attract sales to different places.
• I can also understand that Black Friday deals may be different from Cyber Monday deals.
• But please explain why the two are regarded as completely different entities from each other and that there is no price matching in-store to the online promo/price?
• I am not really the type to make a fuss about it in-store. I especially didn't question further because the lines were super long on Black Friday and I didn't want to be "that person" who held everyone up. Also we were in the Cellar (home goods) part of the store and practically everyone was holding big boxes of electronics/pots and pans, etc.
• I bought a lot less clothing/accessories/bags-wise than I originally planned to at Woodbury. I even walked in and out of the Cosmetic Company Outlet store empty-handed!
• I seem to really like American Eagle because even at the outlets, most/almost all of the clothes I got were from there.
• Seems like Woodbury Commons gets a lot of (or enough) Chinese visitors that they also have Mandarin and Cantonese announcements over the loudspeakers. My family and I just thought that was interesting.

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Did everyone else get some good buys recently?
Do you take part in the holiday sales madness? In-store or online?