Cheap Laughs: Baby Bulldog Meets Beach, Threatens to Cut It

Get the Code, Save a Load

At left: Wedding Season is Coming.... 

Image via alibaba.com

So, here's the thing: I love my friends. I live for my friends. My friends get engaged, I rejoice. My friends register for blingy bowls and chintzy china, I recoil. But I do not retreat. 

Here's why: 9 times out of 10, you can purchase the glitzy glassware of your friends' dreams for way less than is listed on their registry. 

Here's how: retailmenot.com . The site compiles a list of discount codes and coupons (many of which only get sent to frequent shoppers or special customer groups), which you can then use at checkout to get a--sometimes drastically--reduced price. 

The codes don't always work, but when they do it's pretty exciting. (I've been known to squeal.) And the site is not just limited to registry-type stores. I've used it to get a discount on a Hertz car rental as well as to get 15% off my last online clothing purchase. 

So anytime you are buying from the web, hit up retailmenot.com and see if you can't catch a break. After all, couldn't you use one right about now? 

[Editor's Note: If reatilmenot.com doesn't have what you are looking for, you can always try googling the store name + "discount code." It's worth a shot!]

Haute Cuisine Faces Cold Reality

Gourmet's latest issue features a ham sandwich on its cover. Image via gourmet.com

Following the news that NYC's Restaurant Week has been extended yet again, comes this from The New York Times: 

"After covering eating trends that have included haute pub food, exotic fruits like yuzu, and restaurants that dehydrated, foamed and froze everything from meat to dessert, upscale food magazines are writing about an even more unexpected topic: cheap home eating." 

 

Read the rest of the article here. 

Watch and Earn, Revisited

Image via alliesanswers.com

A couple days ago, I wrote about a friend who managed to get her cable bill reduced drastically. Another of our friends just pulled off the same feat with Time Warner, which is my cable provider too. So I decided it was my turn. 

I called up the company, and told them that I needed to reduce my bill, which runs me about $140 a month. The first woman said she could reduce my bill to $99.95 if I locked into a contract with them for the next two years. I almost took it, but am glad I didn't.

The reason? She was only reducing the cost of my service (which is  $106) and not the cost of all my add-ons. Time Warner charges extra for wireless and DVR service,  as well as extra for every cable box, remote control, and internet converter that you have in your home. My extras came to a little over $30, so her offer was only going to get my actual bill to $133-ish. After doing the math, I asked to be transferred to a retention specialist. She said OK and promptly hung up on me. 

I called back and got transferred to a retention specialist named Craig. (That is, after I spent another 20 minutes on hold, listening to scratchy piano music.) Craig couldn't do much for me either, he explained.  I explained that I didn't think I could stay a Time Warner customer, then, especially since I could switch to RCN for much lower. He gave me a quote of $110 for the next year--all in--and I took it. 

My friend and fellow Time Warner Cable customer had gotten her service down to $99. But I have an extra cable box in the house, so I figured this was the equivalent deal. At any rate, it's less than what I was paying, so I guess I'm happy with it. 

Another thing: the first agent told me that prices for cable will go up industry-wide in April, so locking into a contract now is probably a good idea. If she's to be believed, even people happy with their service might try locking into their current prices now. 

If anyone else has had better success at this, I'd love to hear from you!

Wholly Popular Foods

The class below has sold out! You can sign up for the wait list here. I'm also told that this is a recurring class at the culinary center, so there'll be other opportunities to take it. 

Wholly Cheap Foods

Image via wholefoodsmarket.com

For Christmas, my boyfriend enrolled me in a knife skills class at the Whole Foods Bowery Culinary Center on Houston Street. It was awesome: we learned to chop, dice, and julienne just about any old thing and in the end we got to eat the fruits of our labors. I walked out of the class feeling like a samurai swordswoman. Seriously, don't mess with me: I'll cut a bitch.

Since then I've been monitoring Whole Food's class calendar closely, and was pleased to see that in addition to some of their hands-on classes, they offer some lectures and demonstrations...for free. 

One in particular caught my eye (and the eye of my helpful friend Nina--Thanks Neens!): 

Tuesday, April 7th

Small Budget, Big Flavor

7:00pm-7:45pm FREE! Demonstration and Tasting

Welcome bargain hunters! Join us in the Culinary Center as we demonstrate meals that steal hearts and bulk out budgets. Learn money-saving quick tips to cook for one, two, four and beyond. Walk away with our in-store brochure, chef's tips, cooking methods, recipes and coupons.

Instructors: Wai Chu, Culinary Center Educator and Christine Lett, Whole Foods Market Demo Coordinator

Check out the other classes offered by the Bowery Culinary Center here. Non-NYers can go to the Whole Foods website to find a Culinary Center location near them. 

I LOVE DRUGS (TORES)

Image via duanereade.com

On sale this week at Duane Reade: 

Vitamin Water, 5 for $5

Select Windex and Fantastic Cleaning products, 2 for $6

12-packs of Budweiser/Miller Light/Coors Light, $10.99

and: 

Time to throw that old wand out: Buy  select brands of mascara, get 25 extra bonus points!

For details and more sales, click here.