After Christmas Sales - Are they worth it?

I normally am not big on the after Christmas sales..  Don't get me wrong, I always love a good sale!  But I'm just not big on dealing with the huge crowds and all the traffic!  However, this year I did venture out to to two different shopping malls this week to see what after Christmas deals I could find.  The traffic and crowds at the mall on December 26th were crazy.  My 22 year old daughter, who is pretty much a professional shopper, and I did manage to get some good deals on clothing and accessories!  I was in need of a new winter wardrobe, well a Southern California winter wardrobe anyways... which pretty much means I needed a few sweaters and long sleeve shirts. With my daughters help, I did get a good start on that new wardrobe!

While we were out  and about, the stores were bustling with busy shoppers... and employees too who were mostly ignoring us.  They were busy taking down the Christmas and holiday decorations... Cardboard boxes lined the aisles while decor was packed away until next year.  I was surprised to see them packing stuff up in the middle of a busy shopping day.  I figured they would do that sort of thing at night after the crowds went home.

We found that the best deals to be found were the leftover Christmas items that were on clearance.  You could find holiday decor anywhere from 50% to 75% off of retail.  The day after Christmas is definitely the best day to score great deals on Christmas ornaments and decorations!  I know that some of the large craft stores will go as high as 90% of these items in another week or two, but by that time all of the good stuff is pretty much gone.

Today I went shopping to a different mall with my mother.  We found several more deals (half price or better) on clothing and more accessories.  Today, December 29th, there were no crowds at all and parking was a breeze!  The Christmas decorations were nowhere to be seen and some of the stores actually have Valentines items displayed in their windows already.  You'd think they would at least wait until after New Years to start with the Valentines decor...

Check out this picture of people waiting to get into an after Christmas sale the day after Christmas... It kinda makes you wonder if it's worth it :)

All in all, we had fun on both shopping days and we did have shopping success.. We pretty much shopped till we dropped both days... The feet are very tired, but it's nothing a great soak in a hot tub full of bubbles won't fix!  I'm off to soak...

Tomorrow I think I'm going to start a new decorating project...  Now I just have to figure out which one.

Until next time...
Happy decorating!