I had been reading on some of the Black Friday message boards that items scheduled for the Black Friday sale (this coming Friday) were starting to appear on the shelves at Target. I figured if I could purchase the item I wanted to now, then I would simply go in to the store on Friday or Saturday to get a price adjustment and not fight the crowds.

This afternoon I was able to make a quick Target stop and sure enough the item I was looking for was on the endcap! It was the Little Mommy Twins set that is to be on sale on Black Friday for the advertised price of $30. I scanned the box and to my surprise it was already showing the Black Friday price of $29.99. Yippee! Now I don’t have to go back for a price adjustment!

On my weekly Target visit today I noticed that the Dollar Spot items were clearanced to 75% off. This included those cute little tins that had candy in them, as well as some of the bath and body items. Would make great stocking stuffers or birthday party favor gifts. At 25 cents each a great bargain!

In the back to school section, all items were marked to 50% off. My store had a large assortment of supplies left too, so it would be a good time to stock up.

We’ve been looking into doing some redecorating here at the Not Made of Money household. Now I am not looking for something that looks like it comes out of a decorator magazine, but I do want the house to look presentable and right now we have a few major issues that need to be addressed. We shopped at a couple of furniture stores in the area (including Rooms To Go) and the price tags were a bit shocking. Of course, everything we looked at we tried to estimate how long it would last in our household because with three children, well things tend to get broken or soiled or ripped or torn, etc.

Our kitchen dining set is the item that absolutely needs to be addressed first. I thought we were the only family whose children had completely destroyed the chairs but apparently a fellow blogger has experienced a similar issue. I decided to take her advice and do some searching on Craigslist and boy was I surprised.

Over the past week I have checked what’s been posted in the furniture section on my local Craigslist. There have been no less than 10 dining table sets which would fit our style and our budget. I feel so much better now that I have some workable options and am confident that with persistence we will find a set that we like in our price range.

I find the postings extremely interesting as well, with many people offering reasons as to why they are selling. These include moving out of the area, the furniture doesn’t fit in their house after they purchased it (I guess they forgot to measure), needing to get it out of storage to keep from paying storage fees, divorce, downsizing, and needing quick money. Regardless of the reasons, I have found many wonderful furniture bargains so it is definitely worth checking Craigslist in your area if you are needing something.