Sunday, March 27, 2011

Free Restaurant Food

Before you go out to eat this weekend, do yourself a favor and sign up for your favorite restaurant's mailing list.  There is a very good chance the restaurant will send you a coupon for free food.   In March 2011, I joined the mailing list for all the restaurants below.  Within a week,  I received coupons for all the following offers:

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Instant Coupons For Restaurant Food

Everybody knows that it's cheaper to cook at home, but my sink is already full of dishes.  We usually spit meals at restaurants to save on calories and cost, but anymore that just results in bickering- he wants the steak and I want the shrimp.  How can we both have our way without breaking the bank?

It turns out that most chain restaurants will send you a coupon by email if you join their Email Club. I'm working on compiling those deals.  In the meantime, I'm sharing following deals which are instant. 
  • A&W Restaurants Fill out form and receive an instant coupon for $1.00 off original bacon combo. 
  • Big Boy Coupons- $1.00 off dinner entree coupon or Free dinner with purchase of second dinner and 2 drinks coupon.
  • Blimpie "Like" on Facebook and get a coupon for $10 off catering order of $50 or more.
  • Boston Market - Coupon- $1.00 off a $10.00 purchase coupon.
  • Burger Street Coupon- $1.00 off combo meal coupon.
  • Carl's Jr.- Instant Coupon- Free Small beverage with purchase of a hand-breaded chicken tender wrappers coupon
  • Cheeseburger in Paradise - No mailing list, but you can sign up for text messaging to receive a free appetizer.
  • Chevys Fresh Mex - 50% Discount to all military personnel in uniform.
  • Chili's Fill out form and receive an Instant Coupon - Free Chips and Queso
  • Church's Chicken Fill out form and receive instant coupons: $1.00 off any seafood combo or Free 5 bone-in wings with any family meal.
  • East of Chicago Pizza Various pizza coupons.
  • Hardee's Various coupons on the home page (bottom right side of their homepage).
  • KFC Fill out form for various Printable coupons or go on Sunday and get the $10 Sunday Bucket (10 pieces of chicken).
  • Little Caesars No mailing list, but Crazy bread for $1.99 coupon.
  • Long John Silver's Fill out form and receive various instant coupons; there are 9 to choose from including: kids meal for $1.99, Fish or chicken sandwich for $1.49, and $5.49 for any variety platter.
  • Taco John's Fill out form and receive FREE Potato Olés® with Purchase.
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March 21st, 2011 is Free Pancakes Day at Perkins.

Free pancakes Today! On March 21st 2011 visit Perkins for one free short stack of pancakes.
On March 21, participating Perkins restaurants will give away free made-from-scratch buttermilk pancakes to "dine in" customers. In return, guests can consider making a donation to Give Kids The World.   Visit Perkins on March 21st for FREE pancakes
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Timeshare Torture Tours

I really want to go to Universal Studios, but you know I can never pay full price.  I did find the Florida resident three days deal for $99.00, but that still wasn't good enough.  It should have been.  In my quest for cheap park tickets, I stumbled upon a timeshare torture tour.  The pitch went something like this, "Come learn about our lovely vacation homes, and we will give you $100.00 cash just for listening.  $100 for 90 minutes of your time, plus free lunch."  Why not?  The $20 deposit might have been a clue.


Line to pick up $100 "Gift"
 When you are visiting Florida on a budget, a hundred dollars is good chunk of change.  However, I am here to assure you that there are much less painful ways to earn $100.00, donating blood several times in one day comes to mind. 

My tour of Westgate Vacation Villas was scheduled to being at 11:00 am.  I even arrived early at 10:57 am.  The line may have been a preparation for the long lines to come at Universal Studios, as it was obscenely long and slow moving.   It unfortunately though, had no real thrill at the end.  Instead, we were coolly greeted by the gatekeeper who asked us questions to make sure we met the requirements of the tour.

After the line, we were transferred to a holding area, where we waited patiently for our tour guide, Lucas, to arrive.  Lucas informed us that it was now 12:08 pm, and our tour had began.  It was Lucas's turn to see if he could disqualify us from the tour.  Yes, we met the income requirements.   No, we had not done a tour in 6 months, etc. etc.   Lucas said, "I only ask you to be honest at the end of the tour, and give me a yes or a no."  We were good to go.

Anxious for our day to begin, we rushed through the free buffet lunch and took a few bites of the cold hotdog on a stale bun, chili cheese nachos, and macaroni salad.  Lucas, who had his name tattooed in huge letters on both his right arm and his left arm (in case he lost one?) informed us that he was the #3 salesperson in the company, that he currently held a degree, that he would soon be a pharmacist, and that he owned 2 timeshares of his own. 

Ninety minutes had passed since I arrived, but the 90 minute timeshare tour hadn't even begun yet.   The tour does not actually begin until after lunch.   The tour itself was somewhat amusing.  It began with some fast math by Lucas showing greatly exaggerated estimates of my vacation spending over the next 30 years.  Then some glossy charts showing the booming growth of timeshare sales until the year 2007, yet nothing for years 2008-2011.  We were then shown pictures of resorts all over the world, and since everybody wants to go to Disney, we could trade our week and go anywhere in the world.  Last, we were taken by golf cart to see several model units, none of which impressed me in the least. 

We got back to the table around 2:00 pm, and Lucas started the paperwork.  It looked like he was drawing up a contract for me to buy a 2 bedroom unit at the low, low price of $30,000 financed at 17.99 percent plus $800 a year maintenance fee for a property that I would be allowed to visit one week per year.  After seeing the price, and not wanting to waste any more of his time or mine, I politely told Lucas that I wasn't going to buy.  After all, he had just said, "I only ask you to be honest at the end of the tour, and give me a yes or a no."

Lucas wasn't happy with me.  He told me that I wasn't going to get my "gift". 
He said, "You haven't given me anything."  Really?   They'd had me and my $20 deposit captive since 10:57 am- three hours already.  Now he threatens to keep my $20 deposit and my hundred dollar gift?  My husband, keeping his eye on the prize encouraged Lucas to finish writing up his quote.  Lucas, shot me a dirty look, and finished his pitch.  When he was finished, my husband said, "My wife doesn't like it, so we are not going to buy it."

Since Lucas couldn't close the deal, we were introduced to 2 more salesmen.  The first was Lucas's manager, who tried to sweeten the deal by offering other units at lower prices.  The second was another salesman who had a repo unit, we were told practically the same unit, for only $12,000.00.  I said "No" about 30 more times, but it was not until I said, "I don't care how much it costs, I think it's ugly and I don't want it," that they finally gave up at 2:20 pm. 

But we are not done yet.  We still need to pick up our gift.  We are directed to enter another line to pick up our cash.  At 2:42 pm we are finally walking out the door. 

By my calculations, our 90 minute tour was really a 224 minute torture session. They money no longer excited us.  We were emotionally drained.  We popped a few Advil and called it a day.  From now on, I'm sticking to coupons.  You have been warned.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

3 Days at Universal Studios For $99

The gate price at Universal Studios is $82 per ticket, but not for you, because you found this blog. If you are a Florida resident, you can now get three days at Universal Studios Florida and/or Universal's Islands of Adventure for only $99.  You can only visit one park per day for that price.  The tickets have some blackout dates, most notably July 1 - August 13, 2011, but all Floridians know better than to go to an Orlando theme park in the dead of summer.  The tickets are good for 180 days, starting on the 1st day you use your pass.  You can't buy these tickets at the gate, you must buy them online, and you also must be a Florida resident.

http://www.universalorlando.com/Tickets/Florida_Residents/floridaresidents.aspx
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Friday, March 4, 2011

Florida Vacation Auctions- Bidding on Hotels and Attractions

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is, right?  Not so with Florida Vacation Auctions.  I've been using them for almost a year without any problems.  If you bid well, you can get a weekend stay at a really nice hotel for the price of a bucket of chicken. 

Just this past Sunday I won a 2 night stay at a The Coombs Inn, a romantic bed and breakfast in Apalachicola, Florida for $30.00.   Not $30 per night, I paid $30 for two nights, including tax.  My winning bid was actually $105.00, but after they applied my coupon codes and referral credits, the final price was only $30.00.  Even at $105.00, the price is fantastic- remember there is no tax.  Compare that to the walk in rate.  The rooms start at $119.00 per night; then add $21.42 for tax, and the total is $259.42.  I only paid $30.00. 

The Florida Vacation Auction site works a lot like Ebay.  Each week they list about 60 hotels and attractions.  The  opening bid starts at 20% of the offer's retail value.  You must bid in $5.00 increments.  It's a good idea to also enter a maximum bid price.  Be honest with yourself, what do you really want to pay?  Put that as your maximum bid. The bidding ends at 10 PM EST every Sunday night.  If you don't win, you pay nothing. 

The Florida Vacation Auction website gives you an opportunity to view recent bids.  I usually review the recent wins to research what properties are going for.  Some properties consistently have high wins, particularly those offering 3 or 4 night stays and those in the Miami area.   Other auctions consistently have low winning bids. Take for example, the Belleir Village Motel near Clearwater which recently went for  $45.00 for a 3 night stay.  It may not be a luxury hotel, but if you need to stay in Clearwater, you can't beat $45.00.

There are, however, a few things you need to watch out for. First, beware of cleaning and resort fees.  Not all hotels have extra fees, but some do, and they can be steep.   For example, American Vacation Homes in Orlando has an $82.00 cleaning fee.  That isn't too terrible for a  3 bedroom home with pool, but when you are on a budget, you don't want any unexpected charges.  These extra charges are not unique to Florida Vacation Auction, but a trend by the hotel market itself.  Extra fees are disclosed on the auction page, just be sure to review the details of the auction.

Second, make sure the hotel will be available when you need it.  All hotels on Florida Vacation Auction have a limited date range in which they can be redeemed. The  date range is usually about 3 months.  There are also blackout dates.  Make sure the date restrictions do not conflict with your travel plans.  If you need your room on a certain date, be sure to call the hotel you plan to bid on ahead of time to make sure there will not be a problem.  It's not a deal if you can't use it.

If the hotels do not seem like a good option for you, consider bidding on the attraction tickets which start as low as $5.00.  Attraction tickets include: Jungle Queen Riverboat, Naples Princess Cruises, Lion Country Safari, Old Town Trolley Tours, Gatorland, and ZooMiami. You are bidding on a voucher for 4 tickets, and winning bids for attractions typically go for less than the cost of 2 tickets.

Save Even More:
Use the coupon code DunhillFebruary and get $20.00 off your win. The credit  is good until 3/7/2011. 



http://www.floridavacationauction.com/
How the bidding process works
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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Florida Strawberry Festival Discounts

Strawberry Festival 2011
The Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL runs from March 3 through  March 13th, but whatever you do, don't pay full price.  At the gates admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6-12.   Children 5 and under are free with a paid adult.

If you have kids, go on Saturday, March 5th when it is free for children through high school age. Buy adult tickets in advance at Sweetbay Supermarket for $8.00.  Save your extra money and indulge in one of their famous strawberry shortcakes which are plenty big enough to spilt.

Your discount admission gets you more than just fair food, games, vendors, and rides.  It also includes free entertainment.  If the bands and entertainers don't delight you, the pig racing and lumberjack show surely will. 

Strawberry Shortcake
The 10 day weather outlook in Plant City, Florida looks perfect with most days right around 80 degrees.  The outlook for Saturday when kids go free is 84 and partly cloudy. 

Carpool if possible because there are fees for parking.  Parking fees range from about $5 to $10, so take an extra few minutes and scope out one of the cheaper lots. 

Strawberry Festival Location:
303 N. Lemon St
Plant City, FL, 33563

Strawberry Festival Special Discount Days
Strawberry Festival Web Site
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

November 2011 Free and Cheap Things to Do in Florida - Free Museums

On November 5th and 6th admission to many museums and zoos around the country will be free if you show your Bank of America card.   If you miss it this time, you can catch it again soon.  It's the first weekend of every month in 2011.  Below is a list of the participating Florida locations and their customary adult admission fees.  Admission is only free for card holders.

Museums In Florida Participating in Museums on Us
International Game Fish Association Museum,  Dania Beach, FL  ($8)
Young At Art Children's Museum, Davie, Florida ($8)
Museum Of Discovery and Science, Fort Lauderdale, FL ($11)
Museum of Art,  Fort Lauderdale, FL ($20)
Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, FL ($10)
 Museum of Contemporary Art,  Jacksonville, Fl ($8)
Miami Art Museum, Miami, Fl ($8)
Miami Children's Museum, Miami, FL ($15)
Miami Science Museum, Miami, FL  ($14.95)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL ($5)
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL ($8)
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL ($8)
The Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL ($4)
Orange County Regional History Center , Orlando, FL
Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, FL  ($14)
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL  ($17)
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL ($10)
South Florida Science Museum, West Palm Beach, FL ($11.95)

http://museums.bankofamerica.com/
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Florida on a Budget

My husband and I live in Florida.  We love to travel, and since Florida is the place people come to visit, we usually do it in our own backyard.  We usually do one or two weekend trips per month.  Friends and family always say, "I don't know how you do it.  You must spend every penny you have on vacations."  Nope, I do it by being cheap and by researching good deals. 

Almost as fun as the travel itself is finding good deals.  I'm addicted to finding discounts and bargains.  My Aunt Rose says I have a knack for traveling cheap, and she suggested that I become a travel agent.  I decided that maybe she is right, that I should take my talents to the street, so I decided to start this blog.
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