[jeanettebr]

UPDATE
I want to thank everyone for their posts and GREAT ideas! AFC members..
Here's what I have finally decided on. I do not want to brave Black Friday people and really want a new tv BEFORE winter....SO

DRUMROLL!...42" Vizio 1080p HD LCD from WM. I saw them priced at $697 but when my mom and I went looking today we saw them in a different store priced at $647! I asked them why it was cheaper and the guy said it was last years model (2009) and the other one was the new model...I was like..umm..whats the difference .....He laughed and said....a year
My mom bought one right then and there but I waited because I needed to discuss it with Dh first. I was worried about the cost even though I thought it was totally worth it. Then mom told me that she had just put $100 for me and $100 for dh in a christmas card this year because she couldn't think of what to get us! She said I could have it now but we are doing our gifts SUNDAY so its ok!
Total for tv will be $696.44 with tax so with the $350 I already have....the $200 from my mom...we are only spending $146.44 more to get a 42" instead of the 32!
I am going tomorrow to get it....I am SO excited I can't sleep! Oh and when I took mom home I hooked her tv up and it was BEAUTIFUL
I feel like a kid at Christmas...and Dh was on board with it...he said GET IT

and thank you joshmamabear for the MIR thing..I am working on it....so far I have found a $15 Bud MIR so that will knock my price down to $131.44 after gifts from mom and my change jar!




Ok...I started using Q's and this site March 31 and LOVE how much I have saved...thank you AFC!
Another thing we started doing was when I would use Q's I would only use paper money for each and every transaction (yes even if it was under a quarter ) and at the end of each shopping trip I would empty my change into a jar in our bedroom. At first we didn't know what we would do with the extra $ but we finally settled on a new tv!
We have an old tv in our living room..it still works great..but its 27 inch and we had to get one of the converter boxes for it. With the change over to digital my dh can no longer use his tv in his garage. We got 2 of the converter boxes with the government rebate thing but couldn't spend anymore to get some for the other tv's. He likes to sit out there and watch sports and relax after work...it's his man cave. The tv he had out there was...sad...to say the least!
We thought a new tv would be great for all of us...the nice new big one in the living room and he could have the old one and the converter for his garage! Make a nice christmas gift for us

here's where I need help! I haven't bought a tv in years....let's say over 10 years probably more! So I have no idea what to look for and more importantly WHEN to try and get one.
Does anyone know when the best time to buy tv's is? Black Friday? After Christmas???
I am tight with my money (ya think?) and I just want the best bang for my buck. I won't be able to buy something like this for many more years to come! I am alittle freaked and nervous about it.

I rolled our change the other day and so far I am at $320 rolled and somemore that isn't yet plus I have another $100 or so coming in rebates to add to it I am so proud of it..woohoo! It may sound like small change to some of you but to me it's a big deal!

I would appreciate any and all advice from you great people!!

[philomena83]

Great savings!! We haven't purchased a TV in a long time either, but I do remember seeing some sweet deals for flat screens around Black Friday.

[JaimeDae]

Great post, we'd like to buy a new tv too!

[mforward]

Hey Jeanette - We bought our flat screen last Black Friday at the now-out-of-business Circuit City. It was a fantastic deal on a Sony - we had never bought Sony before because it was so expensive. I would just wait and see what is offered Black Friday, if sales are down, they will start offering better deals to get people shopping for Christmas so you may luck up. Congrats by the way on saving the change. I have taught my children to do this and they fund their savings acct with change and also those emergencies where mom won't give them any (more) money (can you say State Fair).

[rachellynn]

I don't know anything about tvs but great job saving!!

[jeanettebr]

thanks for the replies...I was thinking this year I would probably be able to get a great deal with business' trying so hard to get people to shop and spend...fingers crossed!
I know some items go on sale at certain times of the year but have no idea when to shop for a tv. I was thinking Black Friday would probably have the best deal but wanted to check with you all

[A2Woman]

We bought a tv last Black Friday at Best Buy. They had a lot of deals on lots of styles. We just bought a 26" for our college-bound DD to take with her. I shopped around last year, and they had the best deal for what we wanted.

It's CRAZY at Best Buy on BF!!

[mtdt3237]

Choose LCD over plasma. They are priced higher but much better picture!

[jeanettebr]

Originally Posted by mtdt3237

Choose LCD over plasma. They are priced higher but much better picture!

I thought so too when I looked at them in the store....thanks!

[jeanettebr]

Originally Posted by A2Woman

It's CRAZY at Best Buy on BF!!

I know! I am alittle nervous about braving the crowds on Black Friday

[mamapatt75]

congrats on the savings. and yes choose lcd over plasma..better picture and also with the plasma if for instance your husband watches alot of sports the score board area that is in the same spot all the time will eventually burn into the screen. this is what a worker at best buy told us when we were looking for our tv. and black friday usually has some good deals on tvs

[jeanettebr]

Originally Posted by mamapatt75

congrats on the savings. and yes choose lcd over plasma..better picture and also with the plasma if for instance your husband watches alot of sports the score board area that is in the same spot all the time will eventually burn into the screen. this is what a worker at best buy told us when we were looking for our tv. and black friday usually has some good deals on tvs

YIKES! thanks for that info..I didn't know that!

[mforward]

When we got the sale flyers the day before (Black Friday), my husband went online and compared prices and features to determine which deal he wanted to go for. Fortunately for me Circuit City and Kohls were right next door to each other. He got in line and was there when the doors opened. He said it wasn't too bad since he knew exactly what he wanted. He went home with the tv while I was still in line to pay at Kohls!!!!!

[crosscountrysoccermom]

I did a search and found an article that said that tv manufacturers need to get rid of this years models in March, April to make room for the new models.
I would look at the Black Friday ads also. There are always great deals to be had then.

[kurautismnow]

Good for you on saving so much!! We have a LCD too, and LOVE it! Bought it about 3 yrs ago (yes, prices were still high, but DH's Stealers were playing in the superbowl! LOL)

I would look at black friday, too! Good luck with that! LOL

I will say, since buying our T.V., two neighbors of ours have gone with the same brand LCD that we have, it's a Phillips. I have had nothing but GOOD luck with it.

[spendingwise]

Definately check the Sunday ads and online for Sears, Best Buy and the like... the biggest TV sales are actually around Super Bowl !

We just bought a 50in Plasma for $499 (I think) after rebates and such! So keep your eyes open and jump once you find a good deal, and there are lots out there. Also you can combine Bing cash back with a paper rebate and a coupon to buy online and then pick it up from a B&M store to save on shipping.

[joshmamabear]

we bought a new TV this year, the best deal we found was right before the Superbowl event. We researched and compared the brands we like. We found out there is a difference in the ones they sold at WM with only 60 HZ compared to the 120 HZ (can't remember the term on this). You can compare this when you go to Best buy and they have that split demo TV to show you the difference on processing screen movements in the 60 vs 120 hertz. We like to watch action movies and settled for the 120 HZ. We settled for the Samsung LCD TV after comparison with different TVs and promos available. We got add'l discounts for buying all the accessories to mount it on the wall and plug to the quad core pc. PLUS we were given the 90 day price guarantee. If the one we bought had more price cut within the next 90 days (it did 2 weeks before the 90 days expired so we got some more $$ back). There was also a $25 nbpr MIR that time for tv which I got as extra in a trade so I stacked all these for more savings. I think there is another TV purchase MIR right now, check it out if you're buying TV within the next few weeks.

BTW, I agree with others, get LCD instead of plasma.

[jeanettebr]

I talked to a really nice lady at WM the other day that once gave me agreat deal on some toys because they were priced wrong on the shelf....anyway she works in electronics so we chatted about tv's....she explained the refresh rate thing the 60 hz versus the 120 hz and said it depends on what we watch whether is makes a big difference or not..
She also warned me to watch out for the electronics on Black Friday because a lot of them are low end models that are put out to get people in store to buy other things..(she was talking about WM doing that too) So she said I may be better off not getting one then.

My dh won't be watching many sports on this tv...if he watches any it will be on the old one in his garage. He isn't a sports fan but does the fantasy football thing to take his co-workers money although he enjoys watching baseball sometimes.

ok guys..I am not a football fan (hockey fan here) uh at the risk of looking foolish... WHEN is Superbowl???

thanks for all your replies and help!!!!

[PEPSI4U]

HAHa End of January

[jeanettebr]

Thanks

[NinaJo]

We just bought this one Walmart.com: Sanyo 32" Class 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV, DP32649: TVs
for our bedroom a few weeks back. It looks great and we don't watch sport on it
I don't have any complaints

[DebB831]

We just bought a tv at Sam's Club for my parents. 32" I believe - they didn't need anything bigger than that. There prices were similar to Target and WalMart. I agree, either black friday or SuperBowl time is the best deals for these big items. SuperBowl is generally the last week in January, first week of February like a previous poster said. This coming year will be February 7, 2010.

[smhammons]

I couldn't wait to answer this post!! Two years ago I was looking for a tv to replace the one I have in my kitchen. (I spend a lot of time in there and I a a serious football fan and can't miss a game.) the tv I had was a 15 in tube. I have a fairly large kitchen so it was hard to see from some places in the kitchen. My husband told me that if I find one at a good deal at the black friday sale, I could get one. I found a sylvania 20 inch LCD for 99 dollars after sale of 100 off then 200 dollar rebate. I showed up 2and1/2 hours early for the sale. There were only a few people in line and they said they had 40. My husband went to. He wanted something else but found the line was way too long and he'd never get what he came for so he stood with me. We got 2 of the tvs. After rebates I paid 99 dollars each. The best part of this story is, I sold one on eBay for 285 and ended up making 85 dollars and got a free tv just for waiting in line for 2 and 1/2 hours.
This was a great deal but if you want a big tv and you are planning on getting it at a black friday sale, plan on waiting at least 8 hours in line. It will be brutal this year.
My husband recently bought a new big screen. We hadn't had a new one in 10 years. He got a 55 in LED for our family room. He reserched it online and found a company the same one as Best Buy in our area had but for 1,000 dollars less. They delivered it for 100 dollars and you would not believe how great the picture is. My point here, use the internet and visit local retailers. Do some research and you will get the best deal.

Hope this helps.
Good luck!!

[BeckyScott]

I was gonna say something like that.

Depending on how big the town is where you live... how many Black Friday shoppers there are... Wal-Mart will usually have a good deal on a tv but you'll have to black-belt shop to get your hands on one. Like running them over with your cart.

Which is why I've never gotten a tv from Wal-Mart on Black Friday. It is serious chaos. If you can score the same deal online, that would be a much better option.

[wendy1214]

I actually got one of ours 2 years ago at Kmart on Thanksgiving morning! They usually have TV deals then too!