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Deals and Steals: Saving money until replicators are invented

Tribbles

Tribbles

Commander
Red Shirt
Most people wouldn't be averse to saving a little money, so let's use this thread to help each other find great deals! Information on any kind of tip/coupon/promo code/sale is appreciated, whether they apply to groceries, restaurants, auto/vehicle, entertainment, computers, toys, etc.

With the holidays coming up, this might also be a good way to keep an eye on scoring gifts for a decent price.


I'll start with two notes on restaurants, the first being a deal and the second being a tip:

1) Today only (9/30/10), restaurant.com is having a 90% sale off many certificates. Just enter promo code WOW at checkout and the discount will be applied. (Warning: pay attention to the stipulations listed by each individual restaurant. They vary place to place.)

2) Before you go out to eat somewhere, check their website and see if they have a mailing list or rewards program. Some places will e-mail you a coupon as soon as you sign up. TGIFriday's, for example, sends out coupons almost every week, and some of them are pretty good, such as buy one entree, get another entree free.

If you are concerned about spam, create an e-mail account specifically for this purpose. :)
 
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Before you go to an amusement park, always search around online for discount coupons. You can often save up to half or more off the gate price.

If you want to see a Broadway show and save 50-80% on the tickets, use one of the TKTS locations. You'll probably have to wait in line for a little while but the savings are huge.
 
I hate to be a grammar nazi, but it's "averse" not "adverse" you want in that first sentence. Sorry, it's the teacher in me! (Of course this means I'll likely make my own spelling or grammar error now).


As for saving money, I'm seriously down to the "Eat Less" strategy at this point. I need a sugar daddy.
 
--Great tips, Robert Maxwell. I love amusement parks, but they're so expensive. Six Flags used to offer a significant amount off admission ($10, perhaps?) if a guest brought an empty Coca-Cola can. My group of nine took advantage of that offer once. Unfortunately, I don't think the promotion is still active.

--I'm embarrassed. I should definitely know the difference between the two. I'll remember my mistake and be humbled the next time I'm enraged by someone else's grammar failings. :) Thanks, thestrangequark.
 
Tribbles said:
Most people wouldn't be averse to saving a little money, so let's use this thread to help each other find great deals!
Click to expand...

One of the most useful money-saving tips I learned early on was to ask myself several times if I actually wanted something, when I felt like buying it. If the answer came back as yes every time, buy it.

But if you hesitate, or come up with a counter-argument, you don't need it. Sure, buy it if the expense is negligible to you, otherwise leave it for a time when the answers come back as yes all the time.

thestrangequark said:
As for saving money, I'm seriously down to the "Eat Less" strategy at this point. I need a sugar daddy.
Click to expand...

Careful now, you're diabetic, the sugar could kill you. :p
 
Here are some mad tips to help you slash your expenses

- You can cut your water bill by only flushing the toilet once a day
- Use candles instead of electric lighting.
- To save even more money, steal the candles
- Stop making repayments on your credit card. They can't do anything about it
- Instead of owning or renting a house, find an unoccupied house and live in there. Be careful not to draw too much attention to yourself
- Dogs, cats and birds are an inexpensive source of protein
- Water is expensive. Drink your urine
 
If you review 5 items that you already own on KMart's website, you get a $5.00 KMart gift card. If you review 6 or more items, you get entered for a chance to win a $500 gift card. Here's the linky.
 
thestrangledcorpse said:
I need a sugar daddy.
Click to expand...
sugardaddy.gif
 
If you want to go to Las Vegas, sign up at various casino/hotel websites. They'll email/mail you some good offers. Availability is scattershot, but it's there.

Ex: Mandalay Bay as low as $65/night. We checked, there were 3 nights in a row scattered over the time, with other nights $10-20 more (and expensive nights, too, of course). Oh, those nights included their all-day-buffet. THE Hotel was $85/night. Hubby's thinking of extending our stay in Vegas for a night or two.
 
Well, I find that not buying things is even more effective than saving money on the stuff I buy. :lol:

For instance, we pretty much never eat in restaurants. Eating out is one of the biggest money sucks there is. When we do (rarely), we bring our own bottle of wine, which I can get very cheaply because I work in the wine industry (and we favor restaurants with low or no corkage fee), and only ask for water. Beverages run up a bill enormously.

I frequent garage sales and thrift shops for the stuff that I really need. 95% of the time I can find what I'm looking for at a fraction of the price of something new (and it's more environmental, since I'm recycling).

When I absolutely need to purchase a new item (for instance: new running shoes every year or so), I shop around for the best price online and then I use eBates.com to get money back on my purchases.

I pick up the free local paper and look for fun free events on the weekends. There's almost always something interesting going on that doesn't cost anything - outdoor concerts, ethnic food festivals, etc.

The library is a fabulous source of free DVDs in addition to books (including audio books) ... and they often have neat community events as well.

I've pretty much perfected the pauper lifestyle in recent years. We've retired a crapload of debt! :bolian:
 
Pretty cool deal at Target right now: buy two console games from $15-$60, get one free! This applies to all XBox 360, Wii, and Playstation 3 games. You can also get this deal multiple times in one transaction; in other words, if you buy six games, two of them will be free.
 
To any Australians

If you want to buy books cheaply go to either Book Depository UK or Book Depository US. Books are slightly dearer than at Amazon but both BDs have free postage to most countries (inlcuding Australia) which means that they can usually end up cheaper when using BD than Amazon. Books end up being generally much cheaper than any books bought in Australia. Sometimes the UK BD is cheaper than the America but at the moment the US is cheaper most of the time.

Australians can also use Booko to compare cost of books and DVDs at different online stores (Australian and overseas stores).
 
Yum, Orange n' Cream... thanks, Gary!

I just read that Burger King is giving away a free cup of coffee to each customer on Fridays in November before 10:30. No purchase is necessary (but it is an effort to promote their new breakfast menu).
 
I don't usually pimp websites, but I want to point to slickdeals.net.

I was able to pick up the Halo Reach: Legendary Edition for $120 with a free copy of the regular Halo Reach Game. I sold the flaming helmet code for $46 on eBay and I was able to get $45 for the Halo Reach game.
 
Yeah, that's usually the site I check out if I'm looking to purchase anything. Can usually find a deal, or coupon, or something.

Not impulse-buying is also your best way to save money. Just don't buy crap you don't need...
 
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