Oh jeez. Christmas trees are popping up at Costco and people are already talking about Black Friday, the spending spree that follows Thanksgiving and is the official kick off to the winter shopping season.
DealNews.com shares their predictions for how low prices will go, which you can use as a barometer when you shop. DealNews was 82 percent accurate last year, they say.
Black Friday Predictions for Laptop PCs
- Netbook with 9″ screen, SSD, Linux for $129
- Netbook with 10″ screen, 1GB RAM, hard drive, Windows for $199
- Basic 15″ Intel or AMD Dual Core laptop for $249
- Well-equipped 15.4″ Intel Core 2 Duo Laptop with 4GB RAM for $399
Black Friday Predictions for Blu-ray
- Blu-ray player for $49
- Blu-ray player / movie bundle for $99
- Blu-ray movies you actually want from $5
Black Friday Predictions for LCD & Plasma TVs
- 40″-42″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $449
- 46″-47″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $599
- 46″-47″ 1080p LCD HDTV, 120Hz or 240Hz for $899
- 52″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $999
- 52″ brand-name 1080p LCD HDTV, 120Hz or 240Hz for $1,049
- 50″ 1080p plasma HDTV for $899
Black Friday Predictions for iPods, Macs, hard drives, and LCD monitors
- Free shipping no min at Apple Store online
- The newest Apple product for 10% off
- iMac and MacBook computers for 5% to 10% off
- 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $49
- Name-brand 22″ LCD Monitor for $99
- Name-brand 24″ LCD Monitor for $145
Black Friday Predictions for GPSs, Digital Photo Frames, and HD Camcorders
- Nintendo Wii Game Console for $199
- 8″-9″ digital picture frame for $30
- Basic HD 720p camcorder for $60
- 1080p HD camcorder, 8GB or better for $349
- entry-level GPS units for $49
- entry-level Garmin or TomTom GPS units for $69
- widescreen GPS with Bluetooth, TTS for $95
Here are some of the best deals posted on my new site BargainBabeLA.com.
Get a free flu shot in LA County, shared by RebeccaQuinn. Otherwise Costco is the cheapest, at $20 a shot.
Foster Farms whole chickens are $.59/lb at Ralphs this week, shared by The Unethical Man. (this is as low as whole chickens go!)
Kids eat free at El Torritos on Saturdays, shared by bargainbabe. Yum!
Get a 60-minute shiatsu massage for just $30 in Santa Monica, shared by amygrahek.
About BargainBabeLA.com: this site uses Google maps to show deals in your neighborhood. The cool thing is, everyone can post a deal, including sale details, a location, and a photo! It’s free and takes about 4 minutes. Check it out at BargainBabeLA.com!
Get 30 percent off the list price of any book at Borders through Sept. 14, 2009. Must be a member of their free loyalty program. Print the coupon here for in store shopping. Online use promo code BHB9149B.
The discount also works at Waldenbooks. Maybe there is something you need for back to school? Or are you getting a jumpstart on your Christmas shopping?
AARP members can get 20% off almost anything in the store now through Sept. 13, 2009. Some exclusions. Get the coupon here.
Sadly, BargainBabe.com was not able to cover the nuptials held at the 99 Cent Only stores yesterday in Hollywood, where everything was in nines: 9 couples, ceremony in aisle 9 on 9-9-09, and each couple paid $.99 for the wedding. What a bargain!
An audio slide show from the LA Times gives the best idea of what it was like to be there.
Pictures from LA Weekly show the brides in the soup aisle.
A video from FOX has interviews with two of the couples.
Disclosure: 99 Cents Only was a sponsor at the Frugal Fe$tival.
I have not seen this big of a discount at Restaurant.com for a looooooong time. Get 90 percent off their gift certificates with code NINETY. At full price a $25 cert is $10, so with this coupon code a $25 cert is just $1. Yowza!
Perhaps it is time to stock up for yourself or get a head start on your Christmas shopping? Expires Sept. 13, 2009.
The certificates last for a year, but check the fine print because some have unusual redemption rules.
Get 15 percent off all used books today only at Better World Books, a for-profit organization that collects and sells books online to benefit literacy initiatives in the U.S. and abroad. The sale is in celebration of International Literacy Day. Use code 4Literacy at checkout.
Used titles include The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet for $7, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for $4.50 and Green Eggs and Ham for $4. Check out their bargain bin, where 5 used books are $15.
Find popular books by looking at Oprah’s book club, Amazon best sellers, and bargain best sellers. Perhaps you will find some early Christmas presents!
Better World Books conducts book drives on 1,800 college campuses and collects discards from more than 1,800 libraries. The company has raised $7 million for its non-profit literacy, library and college partners, donated over 1.3 million college textbooks and diverted more than 25 million pounds of books from landfills, according to a press release. Read more about Better World Books.
WebbyPlanet.com makes discount shopping easy, with 100,000 coupon codes for over 15,000 stores, including Amazon, Dell, and Target.
You can search for coupons by category, new retailers added, about to expire, most popular, recently added, or in their special back to school section. You can also search for free coupons through their online discount shopping directory. Discover how much you can save on products!
When I checked the site I saw coupons for 20 percent off at the sporting goods store EastBay, 30 percent off at eDressMe, and 10 percent off at Barnes & Noble. There were also Dell coupons for 15 to 25 percent off laptops and other computers.
Since Webby Planet launched in 2006, it has helped more than 1 million shoppers save money through its online coupons. You could be the next one!
This is paid content. Interested in buying a sponsored post? Read my Advertise page.
Have you ever heard of something like this? EventLeftovers.com is a cool new site that lets you buy and sell new and gently used party supplies. It is for event professionals, brides, or anyone throwing a big party.
It is free to buy and list items. When something sells, Event Leftovers takes 4.5 percent of the sale price.
Event Leftovers is still building their party goods inventory but have items in these categories: decor, florals, catering supplies, paper goods, and beauty & fashion. A few more categories are empty so get listing!
Learn more about how the site works.
One last tidbit – the site was started by a BargainBabe.com reader!
This is a guest post that originally appeared on Common Sense Money.
I have mentioned Swagbucks a few of times here on this blog. But for those of you who are new, this is the skinny on Swagbucks:
Swagbucks is a search and win search engine. You earn Swagbucks when you search the web through them. I will be honest and admit that I am huge Google search user. I use it several times a day. At first I was a bit skeptical about Swagbucks. However, that soon changed when I found out that Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask.com. So far I have been satisfied with my search results and have even compared search results side by side and they are very similar. Then I was afraid about the change, after all, typing Google.com on my browser bar was a habit for me. But I don’t even have to worry about that anymore thanks to the search toolbar Swagbucks has for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera. Searching and earning Swagbucks while I do that has never been so easy.
I use Swagbucks every single day! I am accumulating any Swagbucks I earn to help buy gifts for this Holiday season and lower how much cash I spend. I regularly use the search bar I downloaded for Firefox, the browser I regularly use, and it makes it so much easier. Swagbucks is introducing THREE new features:
1) BRAND NEW Swag Bucks toolbar: the new toolbar will be released on Sept 1st and is compatible with IE, Firefox and Safari. Members will be able to log into to their account through the new toolbar in addition to being able to track their points through the toolbar. Additionally, in September, EVERY SINGLE DAY, we will release a special “Swag Code” through the toolbar. The only way to get the code is by having the toolbar installed. By the end of the month, those that have installed the toolbar should be able to rack up 30 FREE SWAG BUCKS!
2) SWAGGO! - Swaggo is Swagbucks’ answer to BINGO! During the month of September when you order selected prizes through the Swag Store you will be sent a special SWAGGO piece. If you collect all the pieces in a row, you will let us know and will be awarded 1000 Swag Bucks! This is a fun promotion that will only be held from Sept 1st – Sept 31st. We will have a complete list of prizes that will award Swaggo pieces by the end of this week.
3) A new “Back to School” section in the Swag Store: This section will feature everything your child may need as they get ready for the new school year. The “Back to School” section will feature an assortment of items for elementary schoolers up to high schoolers!
If you are already a Swagbucks member, download the new toolbar right here. I am excited about the 30 Swagbuck codes as just 45 Swagbucks get you a $5 Amazon Gift Card. I love those!
If you are not a Swagbucks member I have an exclusive offer for you: This week and through Sept. 10 you can become a Swagbucks member and earn up to five Swagbucks right off the bat. All you need to do is use the code swagsense (case sensitive) when you register. In addition to earning three Swagbucks for becoming a new member you will earn an additional two Swagbucks because you used my special code. Go here to become a new member.
Thanks, Mercedes!
A friend tipped me off to StudentBuyingGuide.com, a cool site that is devoted to helping students save money through retailer discount programs. Here are a few of the discounts I saw on the site.
If you just graduated, you can get 10,000 miles free on United. Flash your student ID at Pier 1 Imports and get 15 percent off. Buying a new computer? Get a coupon for $250-$500 off an HP laptop.
The site also explains how to get a 6 percent discount at Target online (holy cow!) using Edhance, a new site that is like eBates for college students. Edhance verifies you are a student (you’ll need an email that ends in .edu and be taking classes) before crediting discounts back to your credit card. Edhance has discount deals with Barnes & Noble, Target, Apple, Toshiba and others.
Between these two sites, students and their families can save a lot of money.
Thanks Ellyn!
You may have heard about the Los Angeles wildfires, which, at 122,000 acres, is the largest ever in LA County since 1897, according to KPCC radio host Larry Mantle. This video compresses the smoke clouds that have been mushrooming over Los Angeles into a few minutes.
Thanks, Amy!
We collected dozens of used cell phones, printer cartridges, and other gadgets at the Frugal Fe$tival in July. I turned those into Planet Green, which gave us a check for $13.34.
All the money we earned was donated to the LA Food Bank. If $13.34 sounds like a tiny amount, remember our items earned us between $.10 to $2.41 each. If you are interested in raising money for a school or charity, check out Planet Green’s explainer page.
Thank you for attending the Fe$tival and for contributing!
I’ve been meaning to write about the 99 Cent Chef for some time, fully expecting his schtick to be similar to Christiane Jory, who wrote the 99 Cents Only Store Cookbook. (Every recipe is made from ingredients sold at the one-price-fits-all store).
But no.
The 99 Cent Chef is a fun, carefree blog about eating, recipes, and food videos in Los Angeles, though out of towners will enjoy the site, too. The author, Billy Vasquez, occasionally shops at the 99 Cents Only Store, with which he is not affiliated.
In one recent post he runs into “Julian Child,” a tall, curly-haired character who claims to be the nephew of Julia Child, at the Hollywood farmer’s market, above. Julian’s high pitched antics makes his video quite entertaining as he delights in finding produce to cook in “lots and lots of butter.”
In another post the 99 Cent Chef writes about his regular $8 barber cut in Glendale (read past the fried chicken part)!
The 99 Cent Chef shared a recipe I made just two days ago -black bean and corn salad. I make it without olive oil. It’s a fantastic snack or side dish or meal!
Liz at Silver Charm Events shares these fab wedding discounts!
Welcome to the newest pre-owned wedding/bridesmaid/party dress website, The Gown Swap. Pick your designer, your size, and your style/cut.
Save 10% on Clearance Items at Wedding Outlet: Pretty much everything you could ever want or need wedding accessory-wise. I’m crushing on this Butterscotch Colored Ring Pillow.
We Interrupt This Post for Something Really Cool: Wanna know what the weather during your wedding is going to be like? Well, Weather.com can help you with that. Just put in the date, location, and time of day. Great for outdoor events. With my couples, it looks like it’ll be 75 degrees at Minnie and Donald’s wedding in October at Griffith Park, and 90 degrees during Ellen and Patrick’s ceremony in Malibu next June.
FREE! The Budget Savvy Bride Wedding Invitation Download shows you how to do a three-layered version of the invite, but this would be gorgeous on it’s own.
Contests:
David’s Bridal – Win a Wedding Dress and Five Bridesmaid Dresses. They’re picking one winner a month, so hurry to get into September’s drawing.
The Plus Size Bride Wedding Stationery Contest – 150 save the dates, 150 invitations, 150 thank you cards, courtesy of Vista Prints. Contest ends today, Aug. 27, 2009 with the winner announced on Friday.
Fit to Be Brides Bride Challenge: BWell Fitness looking for Three Brides who are willing to devote the next 12 weeks to their new wedding fitness program. Forget losing weight for your wedding – how about just learning how to have a healthier lifestyle? Contest ends Friday, Aug. 28, 2009.
WalletPop has a fun video testing which dish washing method uses the least amount of water. The tester cleans dishes in a soapy basin, in a sink with running water, and in her dishwasher. The results surprised me!
Thanks, Scott!
