Black Friday deals on TV

I have been browsing the ads for Black Friday, and this year there are not many sales. But there are some great deals on televisions if you are in the market for one:

If you are looking for a smaller television Target has a 26 inch Westinghouse 720p LCD HDTV for only $299. The regular price for this is $429.99. It also doubles as a PC monitor if you need one. This is a 2 day sale, so if you can’t make it on Friday, they will still have this deal on Saturday.

If you are looking for a bigger television Walmart has a 50 inch Samsung 720p Plasma HDTV for only $798. This is the best deal I think for this Black Friday. Best Buy has a similar dimension Panasonic for $899.99, but they have 3 year interest free financing on it. I would go with the Samsung, especially if it is $100 cheaper. From what I hear a Plasma has a shorter shelf life than a LCD TV, but it has better pictures. You may want to do your research online before deciding between plasma and LCD.

The Best Buy deal is a Doorbuster, so you will have to line up to get that one. The store opens at 5 a.m. and so does Walmart. Target opens at 6 a.m. So plan out your Black Friday trip to ensure you get all the deals out there.

Gas prices drop below $2 a gallon

I cannot believe the day I will see prices of gas drop below $2 a gallon again, but on my way home from the mall today, I saw a Valero gas station selling regular for $1.97 a gallon. This is a far cry from June, when the price of premium was at $5 a gallon. The prices have dropped as fast as they went up, and they have dropped even further. For the past couple of years, we have been use to gas prices around the $3.50 range. It hasn’t really dropped or increased until this past summer.

I am glad to see that I can fill up my car for around $20 now. This will be nice since we will be taking a road trip to Las Vegas this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Oil prices are currently at $53.89 a barrel. Last week the price fell to a three year low of $49. I guess this is the one good thing that came out of the fall in the stock market. Some analysts think that it may still go even lower because of the pending problems with Citigroup. We will have to wait and see. Maybe we will see gas fall below $1 a gallon. Don’t laugh… If you remember less than 10 years ago, gas did fall to the 90 cents a gallon range.

Lose that holiday weight

This holiday season is going to be another all you can eat feast for us. On Thursday, we plan to eat Thanksgiving dinner at my mom’s house. She usually prepares a turkey, roast beef, and all the side dishes. After that we plan to drive over to Las Vegas. This year we will be spending part of the Thanksgiving holiday in Las Vegas, which means a lot of buffets. I already have a Sunday brunch buffet planned out at the Mandalay Bay and the following morning a breakfast buffet at the Mirage. After the holidays, I need to look into the alli diet pill to lose some of the weight.

A condo short sale in Hacienda Hts

This past week we checked out a condo short sale in the city of Hacienda Hts. It is a 2 level, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath condo. It looked to be about 1000 sq feet. The kitchen was recently updated with new cabinets and granite countertops. The house was very clean and orderly. There are hook ups, so you can put your own washer and dryer. There is one garage space and one parking spot outside. There is also plenty of parking on the street. It is a quiet neighborhood close to the Puente Hills mall and many stores and restaurants. The asking price was a little bit above $200K, which is definitely affordable.

The only problem I saw was that it was really close to the 60 freeway. If you opened the windows, you can hear the traffic on the freeway. It is a little bit on the small side but still decent. The condo is perfect for a single person or a small family, up to 3 people.

We are thinking about purchasing this as an investment property with a friend. We will keep you updated on what we decide to do.

Furniture hunting for the living room

We have been looking into getting some new furniture for our house. The room we want to start first is the living room. A lot of our furniture there are hand-me-downs from my sister’s house. The one thing we want is a new sofa set. We also need to get a new plasma or LCD television and a tv stand. I have seen some pretty cool lift cabinet ones that hide away when not in use. Many of these also come in contemporary furniture styles. I think this will be good investment for the house.

Investing in your car - A/C

One of the biggest investments you will make is purchasing a car. But not everyone of use can afford a new one. When we are car shopping for a used car, we want to make sure the air conditioning unit is working properly. With wear and tear, an a/c compressor can easily go bad. The same holds true if you are planning to sell your car, features like a working air conditioner, makes it very attractive to any buyer.

Besides adding value, an air conditioning unit can make your car feel very comfortable during the hot summer months. So if your car’s air conditioning is not working, get it fixed as soon as possible. It is worth it.

Macy’s gift card bargain

I was walking in the mall today with Brandon, when I saw a sign for a gift card promotion at Macy’s. They will give you a $20 Macy’s gift card if you purchase a $75 gift card with them. Discover card is also having a promotion at certain malls (the Del Amo mall in our area). For every $200 Discover card purchases in the mall, they will give you a $20 Discover gift card.

Now if you combine these 2 deals, you will be saving even more money. Purchase $225 worth of Macy’s gift card. This will give you three $20 bonus Macy’s gift card. In addition the $20 Discover card gift card bonus too.

So in the end you are paying $225 and getting back $80 in gift cards. Your total value for this purchase is $305. That is around a 30% savings. These Macy’s gift cards make great stocking stuffers for your co-workers, friends and family. You can also use them for yourself. I am sure they will have good sales this holiday season.

Don’t forget, you will also get 1% cash back from Discover card too, so that is an additional $2.25 back to you. So check out Macy’s and use your Discover credit card this holiday shopping season.

Save money at Buy.com

One of the best places to find online deals is at Buy.com. You can find a sale on just about anything. There are often posts on some of their good sales on Slickdeals or Techbargains. Those are the sites where I get my Buy.com leads from. They sell everything from toys to electronics. It is my favorite place to shop for memory cards for your camera. Whether you need a memory stick or a SD card, they have the best deals on them. And throw in the rebates they always offer, the savings get even better. The best part is that they offer free shipping on many of their merchandise. Check out their website if you are looking for great bargains for your Christmas shopping list.