Travel cheap. Save money. Have fun.
Club Carlson is out with its summer promo and it’s a twist from the usual offer.
Instead of earning bonus points for stays, Club Carlson is offering an Amazon gift card.
The offer is fairly straight forward. Stay two nights at a Country Inn & Suites hotel in the U.S. or Canada by September 4, 2017, and receive a $30 Amazon gift card.
Remember to stack this promo with points or cash back by booking your stay through a shopping portal or via the Club Carlson app.
The old Carnegie Hall joke is a cliché, but here’s a deal that will get you in to concerts there for as little as $5.
Carnegie Hall has partnered with Masterpass to offer concert-goers a $25 MasterCard eGift card when purchasing a ticket valued at $30 or more.
You need to purchase the tickets online at carneigiehall.org, and checkout with Masterpass.
The offer is good on any “Carnegie Hall Presents” performance ticket of $30 or more. There are lots of concerts to choose from as shown in the listing of upcoming events!
Please note that this offer is limited to one Mastercard eGift card per person, per performance. The deal is good for purchases through June 30, 2017.
Masterpass is a digital wallet that can be used to make purchases online and in-store. You can fund it with a credit or a debit card.
I don’t have any experience with this form of payment. If you do, please share in the comments the pros and cons.
Carnegie Hall offers many other options for discount tickets. There are:
In addition, there are public rush tickets for $10 — even for sold out concerts — and you can often find obstructed view seats for half price.
What’s more, Bank of America cardholders receive ten percent off the full ticket price when using their card and promotional code BAC24503.
According to the USDA, an average family of four spends upwards of $1000 per month on groceries.
What if you could save five percent of that cost?
Better yet, what if you could earn 60,000 frequent flyer miles each year just from your grocery spending?
Since I’ve never seen this mentioned elsewhere, I wanted point out that Staples.com is now selling Safeway gift cards.
If you purchase Safeway gift cards with an small business credit card that pays five times points on office supply store purchases, such as a Chase Ink card, you can accumulate five percent cash back or five times points for travel.
Staples.com sells two types of Safeway gift cards in several denominations up to $200 — emailed cards, and actual plastic gift cards. There is a mailing fee of $2.00 per card for the plastic version.
I have been buying these cards for sometime, and have only encountered two Safeway cashiers that know how to use the emailed version of the gift cards. So if you opt for the paper gift cards, be prepared to endure the wrath of shoppers standing in line behind you!
Did you know about this deal before reading this post?
Twice a year,in June and December, AAA MidAtlantic members can buy Visa gift cards fee free in AAA stores.
The promotion is back this year from November 25 – December 25, 2016. You can purchase these gift cards with a credit card, and can load up to $500 per card. Typically, AAA limits purchases to two cards per member. The cards are issued by MetaBank®, and you can set a pin.
Please note that there is a monthly inactivity fee of $2.95 after 12 consecutive months of inactivity.
Check your calendar. Thanksgiving is just a week away! If you are hosting this year, it is seriously time to start planning your menu!
Thanksgiving is a huge deal in our family. We traditionally have:
As our family celebration has grown to over twenty people (think two turkeys) it is sometimes practical to bring in prepared food. After all, the point of the holiday is to spend time with friends and family, not to be stuck in the kitchen all day.
When Whole Foods Market invited me a few other bloggers to sample their traditional Thanksgiving meal and their Top 10 Holiday Wines, I was intrigued.
Actually, yes!
The turkey was delicious — moist, flavorful, and nicely seasoned. The traditional side dishes complimented the turkey: crisp, vibrant green beans, tart cranberry orange sauce, real mashed potatoes, mushroom stuffing — the works!
In my estimation, the Whole Foods traditional Thanksgiving meal was a good value at $89 for six to eight diners.
Everything tasted homemade, the veggies were fresh, not soggy. This meal was far, far better than the $49 disaster I ordered from Safeway a few years back.
But you can do much better price wise!
The basic package that feeds six to eight people is on sale at Whole Foods Market for $89 and includes an uncooked oven ready turkey, gravy, traditional sage stuffing, homestyle mashed potatoes, organic cranberry orange relish, and a choice of two vegetables or homestyle casseroles. All this is on sale from the regular price of $119.99.
The small turkey included in the basic package weighs about 13 pounds.
For larger gatherings, a dinner that serves 12-16 costs $169.
You choose the style of turkey from five offerings:
The ready-to-cook turkey is rubbed with herb butter, and rests on a bed of mirepoix. You just need to pop it in the oven.
You can choose two vegetables or casseroles from this list:
Yum!
And for $99, you can get a fully organic turkey dinner with a slightly different selection of sides.
You schedule a time for pickup with your local Whole Foods store — they are even open Thanksgiving morning if that works for you!
Fishing4Deals is all about the deals, so I am going to show you five ways to maximize your savings.
Whole Foods is offering special deals on some other Thanksgiving basics. For instance, you can order two bakery quality pumpkin pies for $15. Fruit pies are $9.99 each. The store is featuring a Cuvee Papale red wine for $10 off.
If you place your dinner order online before November 22, 2016, Whole Foods will email you a coupon for $10 off your next in-store purchase of $75 or more.
Download the Whole Foods app for Apple or Android. If you’re not using the app, you may be missing out on some pretty big discounts.
Every Wednesday, Whole Foods loads new deals that are only available by scanning a barcode on your phone when you check out.
The app also provides weekly coupon specials that are available to all shoppers.
Pick up the weekly flyer of in-store sales and the bimonthly coupon book at the front of the store. You may find some seasonal specials for your Thanksgiving table.
For instance (for my Northern Virginia friends) the Tysons Corner Whole Foods Market is offering 25 percent off a bottle of wine!
Here’s the real deal: I never pay cash or credit at Whole Foods Market.
My trick is to buy Whole Foods gift cards at a discount.
For example, Staples sells Whole Foods gift cards. There is no fee for the purchase of these gift cards in-store. If you pay with a Chase Ink small business credit card, which earns five times points at office supply stores, that effectively amounts to five percent off the cost of groceries at Whole Foods.
Alternately, if you have an American Express card, check your AmexOffers for a deal at Staples. My card has an active offer for a $20 statement credit for a $75 purchase at Staples. Purchases of Whole Foods and many other gift cards are eligible for this offer — which could bring the cost of your turkey dinner down to $69!
You may also be able to find Whole Foods gift cards at a drugstore like Walgreens. The Chase Freedom credit card is offering five times points at drugstores this quarter. If you purchase a Whole Foods gift card at a drugstore and pay with a Freedom card, you will earn five percent cash back.
Williams-Sonoma partnered with Whole Foods Market for the blogger meet up, and they provided two sample table settings to create a festive mood.
The first tablescape was designed for a formal dinner, complete with seasonal china and serving bowls.
The second casual tablescape featured porcelain dishes from William-Sonoma’s economical Provisions line, and modern serving pieces from the Open Kitchen line.
Do these designs give you any ideas for your own celebratory feast?
***
Cousins in New Jersey are hosting Thanksgiving this year, so I won’t be cooking. Where will you be spending the holiday?
Disclosure: I have a partnership with Whole Foods Market and was compensated for my work, but all words and opinions are my own.
Usually I am all about the seafood, but I had to pass along this upcoming deal at Morton’s Steakhouse.
On Friday, August 12, 2016, Morton’s is offering petite filet mignon sandwiches for $1!
The offer is good from opening until 10 p.m. at the bar — no takeout permitted.
The Morton’s website lists all their locations, but recommends calling your local restaurant first to see if they are participating in this special offer.
If you see a beautiful woman wearing a kimono on the streets of Kyoto, chances are they are a tourist, not a Geisha.
The city of Kyoto, Japan is promoting traditional arts in a variety of ways, including an innovative program to encourage people to dress in kimonos.
The Kyoto Kimono Passport offers discounts or small gifts to people wearing kimonos at dozens of restaurants, shops, and museums.
At certain times of the year, you can even get free bus and subway rides and reduced taxi fares!
If you love to dress up, this may be the deal for you!
Kimonos and the necessary accessories are available to rent at lots of places in Kyoto. For an extra fee, you can get your hair styled.
With the Kimono Passport in hand, if your outfit becomes disheveled, there are a number of places that will help reassemble your kimono free of charge.
A list of all of the discounts available with the Kyoto Kimono Passport is available online. The many dozens of places where small discounts or gifts are offered include:
The small gifts might include something like a free postcard, or a hair ornament to go with your kimono rental, or 100 Yen off a museum admission.
The more valuable savings are probably the restaurant discounts. A huge number of commercial establishments in the Kyoto Station participate in the Passport Program.
Your best bet may be the restaurants in the Isetan department store in the train station, which offer ten percent off to patrons wearing kimonos. The Isetan store has a large variety of restaurants in different price ranges, including nine casual ramen shops.
The easiest place for tourists to pick up the passport booklet is in Kyoto Station at the Tourist Information Center.
Alternately, you can just print out a passport card online.
There is also a smart phone app available in the Japan app store.
This year’s Kyoto Kimono Passport is valid from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016. Some discounts may have a limited validity period, so be sure to check the details of each offer. For instance, the discounts at temples and shrines are only valid during the Autumn months.
One of the best travel deals I’ve ever landed was purchased at a PTA silent auction at my daughter’s elementary school. For something like $20, I picked up a family membership to a Virginia science museum. The membership granted our family free admission to that museum for one year.
But the real deal was the local museum’s affiliation with the Passport Program of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC).
Over 300 science and children’s museums across the country and around the world participate in the ASTC Passport Program.
If you join one museum, your family can get free admission to any of the participating museums!
Among the offerings are gems such as:
I’ll never forget the time we visited my sister in Seattle.
We had ridden the monorail over to Seattle Center. But the sky was overcast — not a good day to go up the Space Needle.
All of a sudden it started pouring. We ducked in to the Pacific Science Center.
Our whole family got in for free, thanks to the ASTC Passport. It turned out to be a fantastic museum and we ended up spending several hours there.
In recent years, silent auctions for charitable causes have gone online. The trick is to find a little known auction where there is less competition.
I stumbled across the annual fundraising auction for the Society of American Travel Writers last week. I thought I was golden. There seemed to be very few active bidders, and the travel prizes were great. I placed a lowball bid for a trip to New Orleans. The package included a stay at a Bed & Breakfast Inn, lunch, and a fat tire bicycle tour. Unfortunately, I was outbid on that prize, but the winner still ended up with a great deal.
Another great annual event is a fundraiser sponsored by Passports with Purpose.
This event is a raffle, rather than a silent auction. All proceeds go to support an international charity. This year the beneficiary is Worldreader.
For a donation of $10, you can win a chance at dozens of great travel prizes — everything from tours to hotel stays to travel gear.
You can check out the prize catalog for the 2015 campaign here. Proceeds will go to buy digital readers for libraries in Kenya. It’s a great cause and an easy way for frequent travelers to give back.
Wow!
Fifteen or twenty percent discounts on iTunes gift cards are commonplace, but it is rare to see a deal for 25 percent off!
Ebay is offering $100 iTunes code for only $75.
The codes will be issued via email delivery.
I am always on the lookout for iTunes discounts so this hot deal caught my attention right away!
The post contains an affiliate link. Thanks if you choose to use it!
Members of AAA regularly get ten percent off the price of Amtrak rail tickets.
Now, Amtrak is running a promotion for AAA members that offers a double discount of 20 percent off!
This deal is good for bookings now though September 30, 2015 for travel between September 1 and October 31, 2015.