TODAY ONLY! Get a free serving of honey walnut shrimp at Panda Express.
Get a free turkey product from Jennie-O with this $5 mail-in rebate.
Restaurant discounts are happening at Restaurant.com right now with a coupon code that expires Thursday, March 11, 2010.
If you live on the East Coast, check out this Filene’s Basement coupon for an extra 10% off their designer sale.
Here’s a Coldwater Creek coupon for 20-25% off when you spend $100 or more, now through Saturday, March 13, 2010.
Snag a Kenneth Cole coupon for 20% off when you donate gently-used shoes for Haiti. Ends March 31, 2010!
Buying books, DVDs or Blu-Rays? Check out these two Borders coupons for 25-40% off.
Plus, did you hear that Disneyland gave away all its free passes for 2010? The volunteer-for-a-day-and-get-a-free-pass proved more popular than Mickey Mouse.
Gwenypics/Flickr
I’ve been feeling generous towards a low-income friend lately. Not that he needs any help, but I am able to give it. I’m not interested in giving this friend a loan, but I’m considering subsidizing various activities with him, like picking up the lunch tab or treating him to a movie.
The prospect of giving gifts to a friend outside of Christmas, birthdays, and special occasions makes me nervous. Is this even appropriate? Will I hurt his pride? I called etiquette expert Nancy Mitchell for tips. Here’s what she advised.
What are the rules when it comes to giving gifts to friends?
I think the number one rule is to know the friend and know how to proceed. Would the person be wiling to accept things or is the person extremely proud and you’ll have to use subterfuge?
Let’s start with the person who may be very proud and not be willing to take what they think is charity. You can call them up and say, I got a gift certificate to a restaurant or theater. I would love to have you come with me, are you available? They might not have to know you went out and bought the gift certificate yourself.
Or say, Someone gave me two tickets to the hockey game. Would you like to go? If you had a friend who had children, give child care once and a while. I’d love to babysit sometime. Can I babysit and give you an evening out? Or say ‘I’ve got too much of a certain product. Pass things on, share some of the wealth. Offer to share frequent flyer miles.
Is it ethical to give gifts like this to friends who, if they knew the whole story, would say no?
I think it is because you don’t have an ulterior motive. You are giving from your heart and you are showing great sensitivity to someone’s situation. It’s not going to hurt anyone, it’s going to help.
What are the no-nos of giving?
You would never let anyone in on the secret. It’s between you and whoever is the recipient. Because if the cat got out of the bag there could be some hard feelings.
What about if your friend is open to receiving gifts? (more…)
Is it possible to feed one person on $27 a week? That’s what reader Christiane asked me after I wrote about trimming my grocery bill on this blog and for my Friday column in the N.J. Star-Ledger. Christiane was flabbergasted.
I read your column at Star-Ledger every week with the greatest of interest. It is fantastic to see that there are people in this country conscious about their spending. But, I am amazed: $27 per week for groceries???!!!?? What do you eat and how many people do you feed for $27 per week?
And my next question would be – do you honestly like the food you buy for such little money? And does the $27 include warm dishes every day? I really cannot believe it.
I would consider myself very conscious about spending, but when it comes to groceries, unfortunately I only like the expensive stuff and I am not willing to substitute anything I like with something I don’t like. I also would never substitute fresh and healthy food with canned or otherwise prepared stuff and may face the bill later in health care costs because of unhealthy nutrition. And when you drive around to get the weekly offer in each grocery store in your area, did you consider your time and the fuel you spend on this?
I am really, really interested in what your secret is! Thank you so much for revealing it (I bet a lot of people are asking the same question)!
Best regards,
Christiane
I’m happy to share more details about my grocery habits if it helps other save!
1. I aim to feed one person (myself) on $27 a week. Some weeks I go over.
2. I eat mostly fresh food and a lot of home-cooked meals. I almost never get take out but I do occasionally graze for dinner if I don’t feel like cooking.
3. I love the food I eat! In fact, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what I am going to have for my next meal. I really like food.
4. Yes, my meal plan includes warm dishes everyday, though sometimes that means re-heating leftovers.
5. I eat canned food, but usually only for tomatoes, beans, and occasionally corn. I also save and clip coupons for groceries.
6. In terms of cheap v. expensive food, I seek out value. In other words, I don’t equate expensive food with quality food. There are a lot of great values at off-the-beaten path grocers, Trader Joe’s, and mainstream chains.
Tip 1: The main thing I do to keep my grocery tab down is to shop by price and quality, not by a pre-set list. For instance, instead of putting down “brocolli and asparagus,” I’ll put “vegetables-2″ on my list. Buying in season produce is usually the best bet. When I get to the store I’ll see what looks like the best values. I do the same thing for fruit and meat. Then I put together meals and snacks based on what I purchase.
Tip 2: I shop at different stores. I stock up on nuts, wine, and butter at Trader Joe’s one week, then buy fresh produce at my favorite local grocer. I try to only buy groceries one day a week, but if I run out of produce I’ll make a food run with a pre-determined spending limit of $5 or $10.
Tip 3: I try to only buy 1 or 2 bread products each week so that I eat everything before it goes bad. Instead of buying pre-made snacks I buy healthy food that makes great snacks, like nuts, fruit, or veggies and hummus.
Tip 4: I don’t buy junk food because if it’s in the house, I’ll eat it. That means no soda or pre-packaged cookies. When I break down it is to buy candy or ice cream.
Tip 5: I follow my mother’s rule on sweets: if you want cookies, make them.
Tip 6: I eat from the garden. Instead of buying orange juice I eat fresh oranges off my tree. Same with lemons, limes, herbs, and lettuces.
Tip 7: I have pantry where I can stash bargain-priced canned goods, onions, potatoes, and yams.
Tip 8: I eat starches that cost almost nothing, including potatoes, yams, and rice.
Tip 9: I get a lot of my protein from non-meat sources like beans (hummus), eggs (boiled ones make a great snack), and nuts.
That’s all I can think of for now. I hope this helps you trim your grocery list. If you have another way you cut your food bill, please leave a comment.
UPDATE: Pam shared her secret for low-cost breakfasts:
I have a cheap, healthy breakfast every day at work. I purchased big containers of oatmeal, frozen blueberries, and raisins from Costco, and a 2 lb. bag of brown sugar and wheat germ from a grocery story. Then I make my own oatmeal (it is healthier, tastier, and has less sugar) in the microwave at work. One day it is a raisin oatmeal, one day blueberries, and sometimes I’ll put in mixed oats from Trader Joe’s or a bit of cinnamon for a twist. I’ve been doing this for years, and it saves a lot of money and calories!
Speaking of buying groceries on a budget, here are seven recipes that serve four people for less than $12 per dish courtesy of BJ’s, a warehouse club on the East Coast. (If you are not near a BJ’s, check out my tips for getting Costco deals without paying for the membership.)
Guess how much each the recipe for Lemon-Chicken Bowtie Pasta costs and the person who comes closest will win a free one-year membership to BJs, valued at $45. Leave your answer as a comment on this post, on my Facebook page, or on Twitter. One guess per email, please.
The giveaway will work a bit like “The Price Is Right.” The reader whose guess comes closest to the amount without going over wins. If multiple readers guess correctly the prize goes to whoever answered first.
BJ’s has 187 locations in 15 states. Find a BJ’s near you.
Lemon-Chicken Bowtie Pasta, serves 4 at ??? price – guess for a chance to win a $45 BJ’s membership
8 oz. Barilla® Farfalle
4 Perdue® Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (1¼ lb.)
5 Green Onions, sliced
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Wesson® Canola Oil
1/ 8 tsp. McCormick® Cayenne Pepper
1½ cups Progresso® Chicken Broth
2 tsp. Grey Poupon® Dijon Mustard
¼ cup fresh Lemon Juice
White Sauce (see below)
1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside. 2. Cut chicken
into ¾” pieces. Set aside. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high
heat. Add green onions and garlic and sauté one minute.
3. Add chicken and sauté, turning chicken occasionally until
cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes. 4. Add pasta, toss
and set aside. 5. Adapt Basic White Sauce recipe (see previous
page): mix cayenne pepper into flour before adding. Reduce
milk by 1½ cups, substituting same amount of chicken broth.
Add chicken broth-milk mix to fl our mix per recipe instructions.
6. While sauce is still hot, whisk in mustard and lemon juice,
then immediately pour over chicken-pasta mixture; lightly toss
to mix. 7. Garnish with sliced lemon and serve immediately.
BASIC WHITE SAUCE Makes 2 cups.
Your microwave’s cooking times may vary.
Please watch carefully.
4 Tbsp. Land O’Lakes® Sweet Butter
4 Tbsp. Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour
2 cups Milk
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1. Melt butter on high in 1-qt., microwave-safe
bowl, about 20 to 30 seconds. 2. Stir in fl our,
using spoon to break up lumps, until smoothly
blended. 3. Add milk, salt and pepper and stir
until completely blended. 4. Microwave on high,
pausing to stir every 30 seconds or so, until sauce
is thick and bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Variation: Add 2 cups of shredded Cracker Barrel®
Sharp Cheddar Cheese and toss with cooked elbow
macaroni for mac and cheese. See pasta recipes
for more variations.
For six more recipes that feed four for less than $12, keep reading.
TheConsumerist.com
Jetblue is selling a bunch of flights from JFK for $10 each. The site was getting hammered last time I checked so give the pages time to load.
New customers can get a free photobook from Picaboo or, if you already have an account with them, there is a BOGO free coupon that is good through March 31, 2010.
Use this Gap coupon code to get jeans at 30 percent off. Just trade-in an old pair by Sunday, March 14, 2010.
Snag a bag of free dog treats from Science Diet when you share your name, email and address.
Coldwater Creek coupons! Get 20-25 percent off when you buy $100 or more. Good in stores and online.
Do you live near a Dunkin Donuts? Then get free coffee every Monday in March.
alancleaver 2000/Flickr
My friends at AOL’s Lemondrop blog (I blog for AOL’s WalletPop) wrote a helpful article about how exactly to pay off high-interest credit card debt. I don’t carry a balance and I found this article fascinating. The story offers five approaches to paying off the debt, some of which might help you.
Her sitch: In June 2008, Tiffany owed $14,611.47. She’s managed to chip away at the balance by using gift money, tax refunds and watching her spending, but she still owes close to $8,000, and she’s not sure what else to do.
“I don’t have any real system,” she says. “I tried fun Excel spreadsheets and advice from friends, but nothing really panned out. In the end, I just kept throwing any money I could at it, from $50 to $200, as often as I could. But I’m hoping to move in the upcoming months, so I won’t be able to set much aside to pay off the debt. Help!”
How’d she rack it up? Tiffany lives in a college town and has had trouble committing to long leases, so she’s moved five times in as many years. “Every time I moved, I would put extraneous costs on the credit card, telling myself I’d pay it off right away,” she says. “But one new thing always leads to another when you move into a new place.” On her expense list: paint, shower curtains, rugs, cleaning supplies and lots of takeout food. “It always caught me off guard when it added up,” she says.
The glitch: Tiffany has plans to move to New York City in May, where she’ll look for another nonprofit job. Currently she works for a women’s transitional home and brings home about $1,750 a month after taxes. She expects to make $35,000 to $45,000 in a similar position in New York. “What I make now is barely anything, and in general the pay isn’t great for nonprofit work,” she says. “Having a salary that can just wipe the debt away is unlikely. What do I do?”
The expert’s take: First of all, the fact that Tiffany has shaved more than $6,000 from her balance in less than two years is fantastic. But her plan to move to the Big Apple with $8,000 still hanging over her head raises th e eyebrow of Boston financial planner Cheryl Costa. “I would suggest she look long and hard at whether she can afford the move to New York,” Costa says. “Does she have an appreciation for how much it will cost her to live there? If she makes this move, it may take forever to pay down her debt.”
Keep reading to see what five steps the expert recommends for Tiffany.
mdanys/Flickr
I recently talked to Diana Castilla at News Net TV about travel deals for cheap hotel rooms and cheap flights. The segment is running Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 6 a.m. on KVMD (cable news channel 31 on Dish and Direct TV) or you can watch it online starting at noon.
If you are a student or educator, you can get a lot of cheap travel deals at StudentUniverse. Anyone can save money on a trip by renting a home or condo. Sometimes you can even arrange swaps!
If you are really pinching pennies, check out this post on 17 ways to save money in Vegas.
Reader Bob left four great travel tips as a comment:
I travel a lot and over the years I’ve learned a few trick… Hope these are helpful..
1. Everybody knows about flying into alternate airports (e.g. OAK instead of SFO) but increasingly it’s cheaper to book a multi-destination flight to lower the fare. Last year I saved $300 on a RT from SFO to AMS by booking the outbound from SFO to TGL and walking away at AMS. Note that you can’t do that on the inbound since airlines will now cancel your entire ticket if you miss your flight at the origin. So inbound was booked from AMS to SFO.
2. In Europe, take advantage of the rail system. It is almost always cheaper to fly to LHR and train to Paris than it is to fly direct to CDG. Same is true for many other popular destinations.
3. If you can take it or leave it, haggle!! I’ve got amazing deals from airlines by calling them the day of the flight, pointing out that they were flying almost empty and offered them what I thought the trip was worth it.
4. Add a ’stop’ – a lot of times you can add a layover for little or no money. Just last month I added a Paris stop to my Istanbul trip for only $80 more by booking an open-jaw flight.
Happy traveling!
Reader Debra wins my review copy of Creative Unemployment: How To Transcend Job Loss
I would love to read this book. I have been looking for work since the end of April – it is very emotionally draining.
I hope this book helps you get through this difficult time, Debra. If you missed my review of the book, author Harlan Kidwell Jr. focuses on the emotional journey that follows getting laid off. One thing that comes up often – even when you have a job – is how to talk about money with friends who want to spend more than you do. Socializing can be a minefield when you are cutting back!
To reduce spending, go over your budget again or attend a totally free swap meet.
Get a free one-week gym membership and a customized fitness plan to help you lose weight through Curves. Note, you’ll have to share your name and phone number to take advantage of this deal.
Emergen-C has new flavors of its vitamin-packed powder mixes, including some that suggest cocktails! Get a free sample here.
Coming later today to my WalletPop blog: a free sample of dog treats, and a tip on how to get 30 percent off Gap jeans.
Charkrem/Flickr
Who has the biggest spending regret of them all? Reader Vikki fell prey to a pair of too-small shoes, which I completely sympathize with.
Have you ever loved a pair of shoes and just knew you had to have them?! I recently bought a pair I had been eyeing for some time. Unfortunately, they didn’t have my size at that time. Knowing I couldn’t wait any longer to have them and afraid they would be gone, I went ahead and bought them a half size smaller than I normally wear! Needless to say, after one wearing, I realize I can’t wear them again but they sure look pretty sitting on the floor!! I should have waited…
I’ve put my size 10 feet through this ordeal, unfortunately. Once, however, I successfully stretched out a pair of size 9 leather walking boots over three painful months. Now they fit like a glove!
Vikki wins a hot pink BargainBabe.com T-shirt for sharing her spending regret. This contest started with my decision to single out one purchase on my credit card bill each month that I regretted. I hope that reviewing my bill with a critical eye will reduce my credit card spending and help me stay on budget. Unfortunately, I can’t return the item – it cost me $8.10 in shipping but was otherwise “free!”
TODAY ONLY FROM 4-7 p.m. get a free peach tea drink at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (not as pictured). No coupon needed, no purchase necessary. The freebie is 12-ounces. Valid only on Thursday, March 4, 2010.
Free address labels! This deal is for 140 labels through Vista Print, which charges you $3-5 for shipping. Not too bad!
Nab a free sample of the vitamin-packed powder packets known as Emergen-C, which has recently added four flavors.
If you don’t clip coupons, how are you going to get free tomato paste and Tylenol PM this week?
It doesn’t get much better than free candy, so check out this buy-one-get-one free candy coupon for Skittles and Starbursts.
Here’s another free sample, this this for PowerBar Gel Blasts, which give you an energy boost on long workouts.
Check out all the deals on my WalletPop blog.
Here’s a nifty graphic from Turbo Tax that shows where your taxes go.The chart singles out 11 categories that benefit from taxes, including national defense, international affairs, and health care. Using data from Salary.com, the chart shows for 10 different jobs the average salary, the average tax bill as a percentage of income, and the average tax bill as paid in dollars.
At the top of the heap you have the CEO, who makes $643,846 and pays 34 percent of his income (some $215, 734) in taxes. At the bottom is the janitor, who makes $28,245 and pays 16 percent of his income (some $4,585) in taxes . Strangely, all the workers depicted are men, unless those are burly cross dressing women.
A pie chart next to each job description shows how many dollars go towards each of the recipient categories. The dollars figures are different for each job but the percentages that goes to each category is the same. Note that military spending is by far the biggest recipient of our tax dollars, followed distantly by health and a nondescript category labeled “other.”
I highly recommend checking out this chart that shows where you tax dollars go.
Randy Son of Robert/Flickr
The weekly roundup of Los Angeles deals from BargainBabeLA.com includes:
Got kids? This weekend (Fri-Sun) is the California Kids Consignment sale in Santa Clarita.
Get tickets to a new play called The Rose Bowl Queens that are marked down by 55 percent. For a limited time only.
Steinmart is 20 percent off this weekend only when you donate clothes to the Salvation Army.
The Ponte Family Winery in Temecula is offering big discounts on small weddings. (Shared by oceangreen33)
Through March 14 you can use a coupon to get into the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley for half-price. (Shared by marie)
This coupon tip comes from a reader named Isabella, who reads my column in the Friday Star-Ledger.
I have been clipping coupons for year’s and save an average of $35 a trip. I once saved $100 (free turkey included of course) and the cashier couldn’t believe how well I shopped. I only buy what I need, look through the weekly circulars, and compare the items that are on sale to the coupons I currently have. I LOVE saving money!
One of my favorite coupon organizing tools that you or your audience may like:
The Couponizer saves me a lot of time and people always compliment me when I’m in the supermarket on how easy my coupons seem organized.
I’m thinking about starting my own organizing company, as I love to do this. I’ve pretty much taken care of my mom most of my life, which I love. I think I want to specialize in helping elderly folks choose the right medicare & secondary plan for their needs. I have learned a lot by helping my folks and saved a lot of money for them. Thankfully. I also really love organizing kitchens, closets, etc.
Sorry to talk your ear off, I just really enjoyed your site and wanted to share!
What system do you use to organize coupons?
I bought a simple booklet with six folders from Rite Aid years ago but have taken to filing my coupons my week and then only clipping them when I’m heading to the store. If you have used the Couponizer, please let everyone know if it is worth the $15.
Related:
Ben & Jerry’s is selling scoops of Blond Maple for $1 today in honor of Olympic Hannah Teter. (A different flavor is pictured at right.)
Through March 8, 2010 get 30 percent off at Borders with this coupon.
Snag a free $10 gift card to Bahama Breeze, a restaurant located in 12 states.
The magazine subscription sale at Amazon has a bunch of year-long subscriptions for $7, including Good Housekeeping, Nylon, Popular Mechanics, Smart Money, and Town & Country. There are also some great magazines for $10, like Seventeen and Entertainment Weekly.
Spring fashions are 20 percent off at Old Navy online through March 4, 2010. Get the coupon code.
Get a free Uni-Ball pen when you share a little info about yourself.
Check out all the deals on my WalletPop blog.
