South Florida on the Cheap » discounts

Summer deals on Miami attractions

Teresa — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:21:57 +0000

It’s the dog days of summer (or, at my house, the cat days), and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau has come up with a major collection of deals for both residents and visitors.

Most of the deals in the 4-4-3 promotion give you four (tickets, nights, meals, etc.) of something for the price of [...]

Free summer fun for kids: books

Teresa — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:46:58 +0000

When I was a kid, I never could get enough books. We didn’t have many at home, but my father took all the kids old enough to read to the library every Saturday. Each of us could check out 10 books, and mine didn’t always last the week. I, of course, grew up to be [...]

Find deals on concert tickets

Teresa — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:51:39 +0000

I still remember my first concert: A friend and I went to see the Carpenters perform in 1970. We weren’t yet old enough to drive, so we had to take our mothers.

I saw a few free concerts in my youth: Harry Chapin, James Taylor. And a few I paid for: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez. As [...]

Clipping coupons may not pay

Teresa — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:51:12 +0000

As a personal finance columnist, I am supposed to advise you to clip coupons to save money. The truth is, it may not be worth your time.

Whether clipping grocery coupons will save you enough to compensate you for the time it takes to organize them depends upon your shopping habits and, even more, on what [...]

Save by buying used electronics

Teresa — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:45:16 +0000

I’m writing this column on a refurbished laptop I bought last year for about $250, a great price at that time. I got it from Dell Financial Services, a department of Dell Computers that leases computers and then sells returned units at a discount.

When I bought the laptop, it was already a couple of years [...]

Deals on entertainment

Teresa — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:43:13 +0000

When I lived in Los Angeles, one of my favorite deals was “public rush,” when all the remaining tickets to theatrical performances were sold 10 minutes before showtime for $10 or $15. Since my days off were Tuesday and Wednesday, I almost always could see the top shows on the cheap.

South Florida has never adopted [...]

Discounts for local residents

Teresa — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:15:31 +0000

We’re all familiar with the discounts we can sometimes get at attractions for being Florida residents.

For instance, Disney World is currently offering a four parks in four days pass for $99, among several deals for Florida residents only.

Occasionally some local attractions offer deals to South Florida residents, such as the current Jungle Island deal that [...]

Ask for a cheaper cellphone plan

Teresa — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:50:25 +0000

If you have an unlimited-talk cellphone plan on Verizon Wireless or AT&T, the company has just cut your monthly bill by $30. Oops, they forgot to tell you.

Both companies have new plans that will give you unlimited talk (on an individual or family plan) for $30 per month less than their previous unlimited plans, but [...]

Save at CVS with the Drugstore Game

Teresa — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:10:09 +0000

There’s a lot of strategic shopping going on these days. But perhaps no shoppers are as strategic as those who play the Drugstore Game.

You may, like me, belong to CVS’ ExtraCare program or Walgreens’ Register Rewards, through which you sometimes receive coupons on your receipts. Occasionally, you may even use one.

But Drugstore Game players are [...]

Watch for cycle of grocery sales

Teresa — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:12:03 +0000

I don’t very often clip coupons, but I’m a dedicated user of the Publix “buy one, get one free” promotions. And nothing annoys me more than stocking up on something only to see it go BOGO the next week.

Then I realized that BOGO promotions, and other supermarket discounts, run in cycles, with certain items going [...]