Mighty Bargain Hunter

$25 Restaurant.com dining voucher for $0.65 through Christmas Eve 2011

The price cuts of price cuts is back!  Normally Restaurant.com sells their $25 dining certificates for $10.  Through December 24th, 2011, you can get 90% off this price on most of their $25 certificates using coupon code JOY.  (I’ll help with the math: that’s one dollar.)

But that’s not all!  Head over to Mr. Rebates, sign up, and score an additional 35% off cash back when you click through to Restaurant.com over there!  That makes 65 cents for a $25 voucher for qualifying purchases at thousands and thousands of restaurants nationwide.

(Too much work?  There’s nothing against heading straight over to Restaurant.com to get one for a buck.  No-sir-ee!)

Just double-check the terms and conditions which will be clearly visible next to your chosen restaurant.

Posted in Deals and Steals, Dining, Rewards | 3 Comments »

Bargain shopping without the mobs — even now

Some of my wife’s Facebook friends posted some pictures the bumper-to-bumper traffic into the local mall / retail area today.  It’s definitely not the best time to run in and out of stores for a few things, being a week before Christmas and all that.

So we stopped at our local antique mall this afternoon.  It was more crowded than usual, but nowhere near the traffic level at the typical retail outlets.  That, and since many antique malls have a large variety of sellers, there is a similar large variety of types of merchandise.  It’s more part antique mall, part flea market, part craft mall / boutique shop.  We found the standard assortment of antiques:  depression glass, occupied Japan figurines, washboards, pump organs, old advertising signs, etc.  But others had hundreds of books both old and new, CDs, DVDs, and more.  One seller had fossilized shark teeth (which we got for our daughter).  Another had dollhouse furniture.  And of course there were plenty of booths that had a mishmash of unusual items.  We found a painted gourd for one of my relatives that would go great with their decor.

Heading to an antique mall can mean making an end run around the holiday crowds.  As an added bonus, the gifts that you find for your friends and family can potentially mean more since the gifts from these places are a little harder to track down than ones that can be bought at Amazon.  If you get them at a steep discount, so much the better!

Posted in Bargains, Holidays, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Christmas dinner on a Scrooge budget

It’s that time of year again when the only thing that’s stretched tighter than our budget is our nerves. Christmas shopping can put a huge financial strain on the average family, but it’s even worse if you are the one pegged to cook the Christmas family dinner.

It’s natural to want to put on a flashy looking meal that looks and tastes delicious, but by the time the big day rolls around, most of the budget has already been blown on filling little Johnny’s stocking with awesome electronics. The good news is that Christmas dinner can be done on the cheap, and none of it involves stealing or shooting the neighborhood pigeons.

It’s human nature to want to wrap the presents in sumptuous paper with a massive bow on top, but that type of packaging doesn’t come cheap. The same can be said for food makers, all of whom put their products in packages that are designed to catch your eye and make you buy. But the packaging is no indication of the quality of the food inside. You can save yourself a fair amount of cash, simply by ditching the gold trimmed paper, and buying a less extravagant looking package of the same food.

Oftentimes the dinner party gets started with some little snacks or finger food, and while most of those are available in the frozen, pre-packaged section of the supermarket, you can save a ton by just making them yourself. Canapes are a perfect example of a food that’s expensive to buy packaged, but cheap to make at home. Your dinner guests will love that you made the effort to do a little cooking DIY. It’s also smart to keep in mind that your guests will be doing a lot of eating throughout the course of the day, so keep the dinner fairly simple and stick with a couple of sides, rather than offering all the trimmings.

Try not to go too overboard when you are buying the food you need. Avoid pre-packaged food as much as possible, and don’t go for an ostrich-sized turkey when you know that a good portion of it will end up in the trash, or as permanently uneaten leftovers. It’s understandable to want to make sure that your guests get enough to eat, but allowing a Tiny-Tim-sized amount of common sense to prevail will leave your wallet thanking you for weeks to come. The same rule applies when it comes to drinks and desserts, as in most countries it’s expected that guests will bring a bottle of wine or some sort of candy treat with them. By all means pick up a couple of items, but let your guests do their share too.

Christmas is a time of giving and sharing, but you can easily do that without having to take out a second mortgage on your home. Guests are usually always friends and family, and they will be delighted with the effort that you have made to feed them, even if it means they don’t get both mashed and roasted potatoes.

Posted in Dining, Frugal Living, Holidays | 5 Comments »

A $75 fire service subscription fee is a bargain

Seriously.  If you have to subscribe to your fire department, there really is no reason not to.

This method of paying for fire service in advance — a bit like paying Triple A for their services — has gotten recent national attention due to the aftermath of the dark side of this arrangement: no pay, no spray.  Whether by oversight or by a willful roll of the dice, if your membership isn’t current when your house catches fire, firefighters will arrive and watch your house burn to the ground, and perhaps spray your paid-up neighbors’ properties if the fire on yours gets out of control.

Harsh?  I prefer the term “fair”

I don’t think any reasonable person would wish a house fire on anyone.  To say that what happened to Gene Cranick and more recently to Vicky Bell is unfortunate would be a huge understatement.  But if the fire department made exceptions for anyone, the precedent would be set and no one would pay.  Vicky Bell and her boyfriend “were aware but thought this would never happen to them” and called the fire department, hoping that they were bluffing.  Instead, they were added to the list of examples of what can happen if you don’t keep your fire subscription up to date.

Seventy-five dollars a year works out to less than 21 cents per day.  It’s not free, but it’s hardly unreasonable.  It’s certainly worth having the cavalry come in to save your stuff and perhaps your life.

If this is how your jurisdiction operates, pay it.  It’s a true bargain.  Fire can happen to you.

Posted in Bargains, Insurance | 4 Comments »