It's only September and already the excitement over Black Friday is growing, especially after we covered Dealnews.com's predictions for Black Friday. It turns out those predictions weren't the first bits of information to trickle out! Ace Hardware's Black Friday ad began making the rounds on deal sites in early August.

Even though the ad wasn't finalized, there are a few deals that look worth getting up early for.

• 58 piece socket wrench set for $9.99
• Vehicle battery booster for $9.99 after rebate
• Stanley 19" plastic toolbox for $4.99 after rebate
• 18 volt Makita drill for $49.99

Unfortunately Ace requested that the ad be taken down on many sites earlier this month to avoid any customer confusion over the final ad, which will be available in November. Since Ace has asked for the ad to be pulled, there's no way to know if these deals will still be up and running on Black Friday. But if so, it seems a good indicator that Ace is bringing the heat this year. We can only hope that Ace pulled the ad to lower prices and add to the plethora of deals that are coming our way in November!

For more Black Friday deals, see our Black Friday 2008 Scorecard feature, and keep up with all the latest updates at our Black Friday section.

This coming Fall it looks like prices for LCDs will once again plummet as consumer demand has tapered off leaving excess stock in the retail channels. It seems that early in 2008 manufacturers of LCD displays shipped a record number of LCDs especially large ones, which coupled with a faltering economy has turned the HDTV and display business into a "buyer's market". This price drop comes on the heels of a spat of price cuts in May of this year as Sony began to drop prices on its Bravia line.

The price drop is coming because of simple economics, and consumers should hold off at least until September to pick up any large LCD displays. If you are hanging on for another month or two before making the purchase it would be a good time to sock away more money towards your new TV rather than putting it on your credit card. If you can hold off until November, I wouldn't be surprised to see rock bottom prices on name brand LCDs. If prices drop enough you can toss a 42' LCD into that house you're still trying to unload and throw it in with the purchase. In this market you gotta try something!

Chances are, unless your budding intellectual is heading off this fall to become a graphic designer or a mechanical engineer, you don't need to take out a second mortgage just to get them a new computer.

The Dollar Stretcher provides plenty of reasons why every student should have a computer at their disposal when they enter the hallowed halls of Academe, despite the already high price tag that comes with college. Today there are more choices than ever before when it comes to finding a computer that fits your student's needs.

And as The Dollar Stretcher also points out, forgoing a Mac and picking up discounted student software at the college bookstore will save you lots right upfront.

The article points out a cool new model of laptops called subnotebooks that are small, low-powered, low-cost laptops which are suitable for handling typical student activities such as paper writing and web surfing. If you are looking for a more traditional notebook this fall there are still plenty of deals to be had on laptops and desktops which pack a little more punch. Purchasing a refurbished laptop or PC is a great way to save and still get a decently spec'ed out machine.

Here are a few deals out there right now on good back to school machines.

Meijer has a cool new site they recently launched called Meijer Mealbox, which wraps recipes, meal planning and coupons into one slick easy to use package. Mealbox is currently in beta but anyone can use it to get a better handle on meal preparation and grocery shopping. The service revolves around a widget which lets you browse recipes, complete with nutritional info, and add them to a weekly planner under breakfast, lunch dinner and other to plan the week ahead.

As soon as you add an item to the meal planner the ingredients are automatically added to the shopping list for the week. This is where Mealbox really starts to shine -- the grocery list is grouped by ingredient type so that you only need to look at one section of the list as you go through the store. No more realizing you needed shredded cheese at the last minute because you wrote it next to deodorant on your list. It gets better -- anything you add to your list that is on sale that week is marked on the list with the sale price. Finally, if there are any coupons available from Meijer or the manufacturer for the items on your list, the coupon is embedded right below the list so it prints out at the same time.

As a regular Meijer shopper, I can't wait to add this tool to my weekly routine of grocery shopping. I love the fact that I can sort the recipes by meal type, ingredients or by special diet requirements to find what I am looking for. I wish I could sort by recipes with sale items this week so that I could get the best bang for my buck. My only other complaint is that I can't change the serving size of the recipe to reflect the fact that we are cooking for two. Still, the service is in beta and I can easily adjust the quantities on the shopping list for the time being. This is an excellent tool and is a prime example of a company that "gets" its customers. Now if only they would implement a tool attached to my cart that would push all those annoying "aisle talkers" out of my way!

In this economy -- and in any economy -- the best daily deal is a free deal.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Wal-Mart's frequently updated free sample page. All you have to is click "Get your sample", type in your address, and they mail it to you. No shipping charges, no nothing.

Among the products currently available are Vaseline moisturizer, Glad trash bags, and Dexatrim Max20.

If you want more free stuff, visit www.startsampling.com, and start clicking away. I ordered me some Brut aftershave balm moisturizer.

Check out this frequently updated blog for the latest news on free samples.

Some deals only come around once or twice a year, but offer savings that justify the wait. This post is part of our series on such 'don't miss' sales.

Would the men kindly avert their eyes for a moment? Or just focus closely on the model to the right. Thanks.

OK, ladies. Don't deny it. Victoria's Secret has us right where it wants us. A sexy-but-accessible brand name, it lures us with the one-two punch of retail: It is both practical AND frivolous. We all need new undies and bras from time to time. And we all want to wear pretty little lacy things under our clothes.

It's no wonder we all wait patiently for its vaunted semi-annual sale. Held each year in January and May, just as we're getting a little bored with the bras in the drawer, the store brings out its signature pink bins, and fills them with cute underthings at up to 70% off.

Quality lingerie is pricey, and Victoria's Secret is no bargain for its mid-range quality. All the more reason to shop the sales, during which underwear is $3.99 and bras are marked down to start at $12.99.

Watch for announcements and listen for buzz as the sale approaches. Keep in mind that they start almost a full month online before hitting the bricks & mortar store.

We now return to our regular posting. You can tune in again, men. Guys? Hello...

Some of us have smart shopping-OCD. We're so obsessed with getting a bargain that we undervalue our time, and will spend 20 minutes to save 20 cents. That I suffer from the illness became obvious to me when I tested the patience of some friends while I compared unit prices on sugar free iced tea mixes at the grocery store.

I'm not alone, however. Jean Chatzky, recently wrote that she spent a full workweek trying to save a few hundred dollars on a new television. Chatzky offers a wonderful formula for estimating the value of your time, and deciding whether comparison shopping for Tic Tacs is worth doing:

Say you make $100,000 a year. Remove the last three zeros ($100), divide the number in half and you get your approximate hourly rate, in this case $50. Unless you're "making" that much by shopping for your TV or constantly combing the Internet for slightly higher CD yields (or whatever your time-suck happens to be), you're losing money.

Here on WalletPop, we love offering money-saving tips but it's important to keep this in mind: Depending on your financial situation, some of these tips may be too petty to be worth your time. Being a "smart shopper" may actually be costing you money!

I was FLORed. (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.) Late last night I placed an order for a few dozen FLOR carpet tiles for my living room, the 'Morning Coffee' pattern in 'Decaf' (reddish orange) and 'Espresso' (dark dark brown). The shipping cost, via UPS Ground, from the Georgia warehouse to my home in Portland, Oregon was painful, though, $39 for my order; I would have ordered a few extra tiles in some other colors and textures, but that would have tacked another $13 on my order. I shivered, and pressed "buy."

This morning, bright and early before the sun was up here on the West Coast, I got my shipping confirmation. Speedy! I thought. Then around 9 a.m. I got another email, this a promotional offer. "Free Shipping for a Limited Time!" the subject read. Ohhh... ouch!

I spent several minutes feeling peeved, and then I thought: why not just call? I dialed the customer service line and was connected to a friendly representative who happily processed a refund for my shipping. Giving me plenty of time to enjoy my morning coffee.

If you, too, are in the market for some FLOR tiles, now's the time! The free shipping code is BP887W, and the email didn't say when the promotion would end.

In the mechanical age (the one preceding today's computer age), buying factory-refurbished goods was a gamble. Sure, they may have replaced all the belts, but who knew what other wear points were about to break?

In the computer age, though, wear is not such a factor, and some bargains can be had by taking a very minimal gamble on factory-repaired goods. One such source for deals is Apple.

At Apple's outlet store, you can pick up a previous generation 2-gig iPod Nano for $79, about half of its original price. A 4-gig version is an even better deal at $99, and a 30-gig iPod sells for $179 vs. the usual $249.

The site also offers MacBooks, although the savings here are much slighter; a 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo selling normally for $1,999 can be had for $1,699.

Each comes with a full one-year warranty. My experience with such devices is that if they work for a week, they'll work until I drop them onto a cement floor, so I wouldn't be afraid to take a flyer on these deals, if the price is right.