NEW KIDZ IN TOWN

HI I'm the Bargain Huntress' new apprentice. I have several kinks i need to work out of my system to find better deals. Number one is: I hate finding good deals. Why go through the countless number of extra effort when i have money to get what i want?

Here is a genuine leather $1.99 wallet. Pretty flashy huh? Well across town they're having a HUGE sale, and you can get this fantastic wallet for ONLY $1.97! Well see i have to learn the way of the bargain huntress and force myself to drive across town, spending a dollar on gas in the process and come home to post what a STRIKING deal i got, on my blog.

Try Groupon

One of my newest favorite places to find bargains is Groupon.com. They have great deals on local businesses. You go to Groupon.com, select the city where you want to find deals, then wait for a deal to snatch up.

I found two great bargains recently. Last December they offered a $50 Nordstrom Rack gift certificate for $25! So I found awesome deals at Nordstrom Rack, then basically got another 50% off the discount prices. I bought several sweaters, a pair of pants, tights, and some t-shirts for $25. I'm about to use the other one when I go to Hawaii. I bought surfing lessons for my husband and me. We each get a two-hour lesson for $43 a piece. I was expecting to pay $100. That's over 50% off. I can't wait to go surfing!!!

Tips:

• You can choose more than one city to watch (receive emails for).
• Make sure you read the fine print. Don't waste your money because you weren't aware of all the rules.

Homemade Foam Roller

Have you used a foam roller before? It's almost like having a personal massage therapist. My IT (iliotibial) band, a muscle that runs down the outside of the leg, gets really tight all the time, so I use a foam roller at the gym quite a bit.

This morning I wanted to use one, but I'm not at the gym and didn't want to run to the store for a foam roller. So I made up my own version.

I pulled my yoga mat out of my closet and three cans of green beans out of my pantry. Then I rolled the cans up in the yoga mat and secured it closed with the band that came with my yoga mat. It worked like the real thing!

Tips:

• If you want to buy one, the cheapest I found online was through Amazon.com for $6 (+ shipping).
• The nice thing about having your own is that you don't have to share sweat and body fluids with others at the gym.

2011 Bargain Quests

After the Christmas decorations are put away, the melancholy brought on by the winding down of another holiday season gives way to the excitement of kids going back to school, filing taxes, organizing my house, and a list of new bargains to seek.





Here's my list for 2011:

1. Airfare to Hawaii for 7--my parents have their Mariott timeshare reserved for spring break for us, so I just need to find a great deal on airfare.


2. Surfing lessons--see #1.


3. Mattress set--we've had our current mattress set as long as we've been married, almost 17 years. It's time for a new set.


4. Deck furniture--to furnish the new deck we're building in the backyard. The deck should be complete in a week or two.

What's on your list?

Bargain Hunting: As Good as Sex?

From Shape Magazine (Dec. 2010)

"Bargain Hunt Your Way to Happiness

"The next time you're in a bit of a slump, hit the holiday sales. It turns out, scoring a good deal during a shopping trip can be as pleasurable as feeling sexually aroused. Researchers from the University of Westminster in England measured the brain waves of 60 people and found that the idea of getting a discount excited them just as much as being turned on."


No wonder I love it!!! See ya! I'm going to the mall...

4 Movie Tickets for $15

Go get your lipstick and your sexy stilettos. You're going to have a date night! You can get 4 movie tickets for $15 through tippr.com. Register for an account to receive a $5 account credit. Then find the daily deal (4 tickets for $20) under "Seattle."

You'll get 4 movie tickets for $3.75 each. I haven't seen that price at a movie theater since leg warmers were in fashion.

Tips:

• This deal is only good today, so hurry!
• Find more great deals on MyCityMommy.com. You can find your local affiliate in the drop-down menu (top right). (That's where I found this deal.)
• Use this deal with the restaurant.com deal. You'll be an inexpensive date...but not a cheap date.

Restaurant.com Promotion Code

Tips:

• Read the fine print. Most restaurants require a minimum purchase of $35.
• Don't forget to tip on the total bill before the discount is applied. Some restaurants add it in automatically anyway.

Free Museum Day!

Saturday, Sept. 25th, Smithsonian magazine hosts its 6th annual Museum Day. Museums all over the country are offering free admission, although some require a ticket. Click on the link to find a participating museum near you.

For those local to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the Fort Worth cultural district will have 8 different museums open that day for free from 10am to 5pm:

• Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
• Amon Carter Museum of American Art
• Kimbell Art Museum
• the Modern
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
• Fort Worth Botanic Garden
• Fort Worth Community Arts Center
• Log Cabin Village

Click here or more info.

Tips:

• Be prepared for some crowds. Everyone loves a freebie.
• Keep the outing totally free and pack your lunch.

Better than Meds

Enjoy some free therapy on my niece's blog.

Have an awesome day!

Travelocity Top Secret Hotels

Travelocity just added a new service: Top Secret Hotels. It works just like Hotwire.com. That is, you see the price, the general location, and the hotel rating, but not the name, before booking the hotel. After you pay, then you find out the exact hotel. I generally book hotels this way. Never have I experienced disappointment in the value. More often, I have been pleasantly surprised (once to the utmost) at the level of luxury for the amount of money.


Also, I have taken advantage of Travelocity from the start (years before my husband began working for its parent company). My experience with their customer service has been fabulous and they consistently have competitive rates.


The combination of Travelocity with my favorite hotel booking method fashions my perfect universe.


Even better, right now they have a promotion for a 2+ night hotel stay. Here are the details:



"Team:

If you haven’t seen the exciting news already, Travelocity is pleased to announce its brand-new product: Travelocity Top Secret Hotels. It's the new, easy way for our customers to get unpublished discounted prices (up to 45% off) on 3- and 4- star hotels. We also let customers know the price upfront, so there's no guesswork when they book and no hassle of bidding (like some of those “other” guys).

In fact, a recent customer paid only $101 for a 4-star hotel in Chicago that normally would have cost $207. And a customer headed to San Francisco paid just $112 for a 3-star hotel which normally cost $202. Impressive indeed! And now we’re going to fill you in on a little secret on how to save even more.

Want an answer to “Can you get me a discount on travel?”

Yes! First encourage your friends and family to visit our site and book a Top Secret Hotel with their American Express card and enjoy $20 off a two+ night Top Secret Hotel stay when they enter the promo code AMXSECRET20. Don’t have an American Express card handy and need to use a different card? We’ve also created a “secret” introductory Friends and Family promo code, SECRET 20 they can use for a limited time as well.

Happy travels!

The Travelocity Team"



Tips:

• The hotel booking is non-refundable. So be certain of your travel plans before paying.
• You can either use the link above to visit the Travelocity Top Secret Hotel website, or you can simply start your hotel search on the Travelocity home page. The results will include a Top Secret Hotel option at the top of the hotel list.
  
  

Back from San Marcos: Part 1

We arrived in San Marcos Friday night.... Isn't it beautiful? It should be named one of the 7 wonders of the world.

We shopped Friday night, stayed at La Quinta in San Marcos (not impressed...I don't recommend it), then arrived back at the Outlet Malls by 9am. We shopped amongst other Spring Breakers, including travellers from Mexico, all day Saturday and arrived home by 10 pm. It was a busy place, but not overcrowded.

Evidence of a happy trip:

Full trunk (see above)

Empty wallet (see below)

Here are a few of my favorite purchases:

Original outlet price: $80.

Original price for the sweater: $99

Shorts: originally $69

Dress: originally $78

Roxy hats for bad hair days: originally $22 each.

Tips:

• Avoid traffic. We left at the wrong time, hitting Austin just before rush hour, which added an extra 2 hours to our trip.
• Bring snacks. Dining options are slim at the outlet malls.

This is only part 1, because in May I'm headed back for a birthday/Mother's Day trip with friends. Wanna come?

Headed to San Marcos Outlet...

The outlets in San Marcos, TX were named the "third best place to shop in the world" by ABC's the View. It is the biggest outlet destination in Texas, and the 3rd biggest in the world. Find more info in this post.

Thesaurus.com:

"Main Entry: heavenPart of Speech: nounDefinition: place where God lives; wonderful feelingSynonyms: Arcadia, Canaan, Elysium, Shangri-la, Utopia, Zion, afterworld, atmosphere, azure*, beyond, bliss, dreamland, ecstasy, empyrean, enchantment, eternal home, eternal rest, eternity, fairyland, felicity, firmament, glory, great unknown, happiness, happy hunting ground, harmony, heights, hereafter, immortality, kingdom, kingdom come, life everlasting, life to come, next world, nirvana, paradise, pearly gates, promised land, rapture, sky*, the blue, transport, upstairs, wonderland "

This is where I'll be, what I'll be experiencing this weekend.

This is what my husband calls it:

"Antonyms: hell" (from Thesaurus.com)

I'll report back in a few days...

Try to have a weekend as fun as mine!

File Your Taxes for Free

Here's my advice for filing taxes last year. I feel the same way about TaxAct.com. In fact, I just filed electronically today for free and should be receiving my refund in 2-3 weeks!

Tips:

• Gather all your tax info before starting. This includes w-2's, property tax statements, social security cards, etc.

$30 For Longer Lasting Joy

From thriftyfun.com


"Being frugal does not mean one should not enjoy life, just that we should examine our way of life to see if what we are doing is bringing us pleasure for the cost associated. I recently had the problem of deciding to fill in the artificial nails that was given to me as a gift from my husband or taking them off and saving the money spent for upkeep. I do feel like I'm worth $15 every other week, but in the end I think it just comes down to the fact that I have other interests that I would rather put my money....For me personally, I decided I would get just as much enjoyment for my $30 this month in the following way: I could buy school supplies for a child I do not know or I could buy a lot of pencils and take to the school for use when a child does not have one. The next month I could find a nursing home in my area and take $30 worth of socks in all different sizes or I could save my money for a couple of months and take some nightgowns and pj's for the ones that do not have family.

"My nails were pretty but I found after examining that I can get much more joy for my money. I'm gonna take the same money and buy some polish, calcium and vitamin D (as someone mentioned) and work on my own nails and use the left over money in a more frugal and neighborly use. "

By notwrong

Tips:

• Other ideas for small doses of philanthropy:
• Buy $30 worth of toiletries to donate to a local woman's shelter.
• Take $30 worth of canned goods to a local food pantry.
• Save the $30 a month until the holiday season, and provide a nice meal and gifts for a family in need.
• Buy $30 worth of books to donate to your child's library.
• Do you have other ideas?

From Thriftyfun.com: How to Fill a Stocking For Free

From Thriftyfun.com

"We all love stockings. Up until just a few years ago, my mom would still give me one and it had always been my favourite gift to open. Stockings don't have to cost anything and are supposed to be filled with small trinkets and goodies, not things like $50 gift cards and iPods! Remember when we used to get clementines in there? What happened with that? :)

"Here are some things you can get for free, but plan early for some of these:

• If you happen to go to trade shows or conventions, you can always get free things there. Have a look around. I usually go to a Health Show every year and get a free goodie bag with things in it.


• Go to freebie sites, start collecting early and keep a box set aside for them. There are SO MANY free things to be had out there from big companies. A few years ago I kept a box with all the freebies I got just to see how full it would get. Over the course of a several months it was filled with things like books, cards, samples of makeup or soap, shampoos, cleaning products, amazing.


• Craft Shows. Right around the holidays there are a lot of craft shows. Some crafters give out free samples of things that you can keep and set aside. (like soap pieces for example)


• If you are planning to spend money on some holiday gifts, look for items that you get something free with purchase. This time of year that's easy! Use the free gift for a stocking.


• Best Buy gives you a gift card if you trade in an old cellphone. So dig out that dinosaur phone of yours and bring it in!


• Cash in credit card points or airmiles for free gift cards, magazine subscriptions, video rentals or movie tickets. They often don't cost a lot of points.


• My drugstore often has deals where if you purchase a certain amount of goods at the store, you can get a free gift card of some sort. It is usually movie tickets or coffee cards. I rarely go in and spend $40 in one shot, so sometimes I wait till I need something big or lots of things then make a big trip so I can get the freebie.


• Make some cool Rock Candy! Most people have sugar and food colouring in their pantry, so follow this recipe: http://candy.about.com/od/hardcandyrecipes/r/rock_candy.htm


• Go to a department store and ask for samples of perfume and make up. Maybe get a free makeup application while you are there :)


• PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has a lot of free stuff to give away like stickers and booklets. Check out their website for all the freebies. http://www.peta.org/


• Print out some free Baking and Cooking E-books here: http://www.preparedpantry.com/baking-guides.htm or some other independent books can be found here that are free: http://www.ebook88.com/shelf.html or do a search for free ebooks online.


• Make Compilation CDs with the recipient's favourite music or a new band that they may not have heard of yet. Myspace.com has tons of free indie music that can be downloaded from upcoming artists!


• I don't recommend eating at fast food places, but sometimes they will give away free trinkets for children, even crayons and a colouring sheet or book. I've seen people just come in and not buy anything and ask for a free toy for their child.


• Make candy or caramel apples! Most of us have sugar and apples at home or this time of year you can probably still get some for free from farmers. http://www.allfreecrafts.com/halloween/candy-apples.shtml You can use recycled and washed chopsticks to put in the apple.


• Make a free printable calendar for kids that they can colour in: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/calendars/a/2010calendars.htm


• Have a swap or exchange with friends of items that you no longer want or things that you want to re-gift. This can include clothing, gadgets, handmade crafts, bath and body items (un-used), kids' toys, etc.

"Good luck and happy holidays everyone!"

Tips

• The point is to get creative.


• Last year my daughter requested a nice letter from us as parents instead of a gift in her stocking. The kids loved it, and that idea just might turn into a tradition.
  

Making Old Tissue Paper Look Like New

"While making gift bags for the local nursing home, I realized I had a lot of tissue paper from events past. All the pretty colors and patterns, I couldn't bear to throw it away so I flattened it out and decided to iron it. Worked like a charm.

"Take 3 sheets of tissue paper put them together put iron on polyester with a tad of steam. Iron on both sides. The one in the middle will be perfect too. Fold it accordion style and bingo: recycled tissue. When you think of how much of this stuff goes to the land fill every year, this is a good way to recycle. "

By Dancer from RGV, TX

Dallas Outdoor Expo

Looking for a fun, low-cost family activity in the Dallas area?

Kids 17 & under are free. Adults are $5.

Tips:

• Check their website for more info.

Free TV and Movies

From Thriftyfun.com:

"Hulu.com

is a free website where you can watch movies, TV shows, missed episodes;

all for free with no membership."

By Diane from Denver, CO

Huge Sale at Restaurant.com

How do you get a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant for $1?!

Check this post at Fabulessly Frugal.

Tips:

• Hurry! The promotion only runs until 9/13/09.

Mint.com

Money management software has been a marriage-saver in our home. I seem to have a black hole in my wallet, while my husband keeps a TIGHT grip on every penny. Since I keep track of our finances (because my mom did), when the money disappears, it's on my shoulders.

Mint.com offers free web-based software to help you keep track of your expenses, follow a budget, and perhaps make changes where needed.

Tips:

• Read cnet.com's review.

Thanks, Jamie, for the head's up!