Donna Freedman Rocio H. is the winner of the SaveUp 2010 swag bag. Thanks to all who entered. Rocio: I sent an e-mail asking for your mailing address. Please respond by noon Friday so that I can get the prize mailed before I go out of town. This Friday’s giveaway involves a slight rule change. Stay tuned. … Read more
One harried late-October evening, I rushed through a store’s costume section in a frenzy of last-minute preparations. To my horror, the reds and greens of Christmas cards and wrapping paper beckoned from a nearby aisle.
“Oh, spare me,” I said aloud. “I haven’t finished feeling guilty about Halloween yet.”
Some of you helped send me to the SaveUp 2010 conference by voting for me. Now it’s time to give back.
Within reason.
I didn’t have a lot of reading time this week because I stayed in Chicago for a few days after attending SaveUp 2010. Thus my recommended reading list is short and sweet. A cheaper Christmas? at I Pick Up Pennies Get a bigger check from Social Security at Kiplinger’s (hint: timing is everything) 25 a-peeling … Read more
I just spent a few days in Chicago at the SaveUp 2010 conference, sponsored by Savings.com. All of us DealPros shared tips on holiday shopping and celebrations.
I took notes.
That’s how one guy described discounted gift cards — the subject of my current column, “Instant savings on holiday shopping,” over at MSN Money. (Edited to add: That column is no longer available on the MSN Money platform. Read on for the basics.)
These cards become available for various reasons, usually because their owners need the money or because the gift was unsuitable. Resellers like Plastic Jungle or Cardpool make them available to consumers at less than face value.
You can save 3% to 30% (or more) on cards for places you plan to shop for the holidays. There’s an aggregator site called Gift Card Granny that pulls up the best deals from eight different sources.
But these aren’t just for gift-shopping. You can use this “new coupon” to provide consistent discounts for your everyday purchases.
The Entertainment Book is replete with coupons for discounted oil changes, theater tickets, comedy clubs, hardware, symphony concerts, driving school, carpet cleaning, and a dizzying array of other goods and services.
Me? I went straight to the cupcakes BOGO.
On a dark winter night in 1981, regulars at the Fairview Inn in Talkeetna, Alaska, looked around and realized that every single person in the room could pee standing up.
Where were all the women? Someplace else! So the town’s bachelors decided to throw an irresistible party.
Thus was born the Talkeetna Bachelor Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition, a double-barreled event designed to bring women to the snowy confines of this small town near Mt. McKinley. It takes place this year during the weekend of Dec. 4, 5 and 6.
I’m going. Again. You wanna go, too?
While visiting my dad recently I enjoyed a whole bunch of regional delicacies. Although I get irritated with those who claim it’s my job to uphold the economy by spending lots of money, I do believe in supporting small local businesses.
Or so I said every time I visited a South Jersey custard stand. Rationalization is a wonderful thing.
In a recent post, “The true and simple rules for house-sitting,” I wrote about how startled I was to come home to a nearly dead potted tree in my living room.
There’s more.