Frugal living

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to hoping the Mayans were wrong and the world doesn't end...

Not sure about you, but I had an amazing holiday. Ironically, I didn’t travel to anywhere or did anything beyond vegging out with my husband in our new house.

So why was it so amazing? Because for the first time in years, I actually had vacation days available to take during the Christmas break!

Usually I would use up my vacay days long before December rolls around by going on some trip or another each year. But this year? Thanks to buying the new house, we were freshly in debt and not exactly interested in traveling. Which translated to getting 10 days off from work in a row! Oh happy day (or, well, 10) for Karina.

Anyway, I’ve got a bunch of blog posts in the works for the new year… but just wanted to start off with a 2-part blog series documenting my Boxing Day 2011 shopping experience. First up? Shopping for a camera lens!

A Nightmare at Best Buy

So ever since I bought my Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR camera the previous year during Boxing Week at BestBuy.ca, I’ve been keeping my eyes on purchasing Canon lenses to use with the camera. In particular, I really had my eye on the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II lens.

I did a lot of research last year during Boxing Week 2010, and the lowest price I could find for the lens (with availability in Canada) was $99.99. However, since I didn’t buy the Canon camera until Christmas Day (online via BestBuy.ca)… I didn’t really start searching for the lens until late into Boxing Week sales. Basically I lost out on being able to buy the lens at that lowest price, and if I had really wanted to purchase it at the time I would’ve had to fork over at least $119.99 Canadian (which, of course, I didn’t because I was cheap!).

Anyway, fast forward a year to present day, and I started noticing the same Canon EF 50mm lens (nicknamed the Nifty Fifty and the Plastic Fantastic due to its “low price but sharp optical quality“) popping up all over the place for Boxing Week sales. Canon was also heavily promoting their camera lenses all throughout December on TV.

I discovered the lens was available at BestBuy.ca during Boxing Week only $89.99… that’s $10 less than the lowest price from the previous year!

The Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II lens was on sale at BestBuy.ca for only $89.99 during Boxing Week (that's a $40 price drop from a regular price of $129.99!)

But, surprise surprise… I was once again late to the show and alas, it was sold out again online at BesBuy.ca when I went to buy it. Consider it some sort of curse.

I did more digging and found the same lens on sale during Boxing Week at FutureShop.ca for $10 more (i.e. at $99.99).

The same Canon lens on sale at FutureShop.ca for $99.99 during Boxing Week... that's $10 more expensive. Boo.

At the time when I checked, I believe they had only 4 units left. I figured even though it was $10 more at Future Shop than Best Buy, at least paying $99.99 for the lens would mean I’d be paying the same price as if I were to purchase it a year ago. Plus, I had been so good and resisted temptation for an entire year… I figured I might as well bite the bullet!

Well anyway, for some reason the fact that I took 10 glorious days away from work for my mini-vacay (filled with vegging at home with my hubby in the cozy comfort of our new house!) somehow translated to “me feeling suicidal” (don’t worry, I mean it strictly in the shopping-sense… not literally!). By which I mean, “Hey! Let’s go Boxing Day shopping ON THE ACTUAL DAY OF BOXING DAY! And not only that, LET’S HIT UP BEST BUY!”

Seriously, I've learned my lessons. NEVER EVER enter an electronics big box store on the actual day of Boxing Day (or Black Friday). EVER.

True, we didn’t get up at the crack of dawn just to stand outside for hours (thank God, I didn’t lose ALL of my common sense!). But going to Best Buy? On the actual day of Boxing Day? Simply put, one word: Suicidal.

If there’s ever a day you want to shoplift at Best Buy in Canada? Do it on Boxing Day.
(Note: I’m completely kidding. Please don’t do this. I am in no way endorsing shoplifting.)

Let’s just say the alarms that would ring if you were to unplug the cameras or the computers in the store? They were all blasting at full-volume continuously without fail. And there weren’t anywhere CLOSE to enough staff available to attend to turning off those alarms. They also had crap thrown left, right, and center… with everything completely in disarray and not in their right place.

And if you wanted to buy something from the camera department? Doesn’t matter if it’s something as expensive as a DSLR camera or something as minor as my coveted Canon portrait lens… you had to stand in a separate line that’s in the middle of the store (i.e. separate from the cash lines by the front door).

The line would wind and curve around the aisles of the photo department… slowly progressing towards ONE SINGLE CASH REGISTER that’s standing next to a locked cabinet of camera products. And the line? It progresses slower than watching grass grow.

So of course, I stood in line because at that particular Best Buy location they actually had my Cannon EF 50mm lens in stock (I had inquired before standing in line, of course)… and available for the lowest sale price of $89.99!

At several points in time I considered abandoning the line… especially when it seemed to be unmoving most of the time. But each time that happened, the line inched forward a bit and I decided it would be a pity to leave after having stuck by it for so long. So, alas, I would continue being a sucker and stayed in line.

Different views of my coveted Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II portrait lens

After what felt like two hours of lining up, I finally arrived at the cash register. And guess what? I got the very last unit of my coveted Canon lens at that particular store location. I kid you not. Someone 2 people ahead of me in line had bought the same lens… so I was literally THISCLOSE to have wasted all of that time in line for nothing. Thank God that wasn’t the case!

Well at least now I’ve officially learned my lesson. Never, ever, EVER go to an electronics big box store on the actual day (i.e. December 26th) of Boxing Week sales. That $10 that I saved? I mean it’s great and all that I was able to successfully purchase the lens at the lowest sale price… but it was completely and utterly not worth wasting 2 hours of my time. I could’ve earned way more in wages for that equivalent time period.

But for now? I’m going to pretend my Best Buy Boxing Day 2011 experience was a “special case” and an exception to the rule… just so I can justify it in my head in order to calm my sanity. (But truthfully, it really isn’t!)

On a final note, I still have to return the dang Canon lens that came in the mail from FutureShop.ca. Trust me, I won’t be doing that anytime soon! I don’t want to return back to an electronics big box store until well after the return lines die down… ’cause I just know they’ll be insane immediately after Christmas holidays.

Next up? The second part to my Boxing Day 2011 shopping experience. Read about the fun times that I had shopping for art supplies and hand-painted yarn (both at deep discounts!).