Saver in the City’s five for Friday
Welcome to the “numbers edition” of Saver in the City’s five for Friday. Have a great weekend!
I once rear-ended a car while driving home from swim practice and I spent the next 30 minutes on the side of the road getting honked at by insensitive a-holes. Although the experience left me scarred (figuratively, not literally), it might have been a little more bearable if I’d had Squakfox’s 14 things to do before and after a car accident.
Laid off and have a little extra time on your hands? Now’s the perfect time to improve your investing skills with one of The Penny Saved’s suggestions of 5 great investment books for these troubled times.
If you’ve ever been fired - which I have although I prefer to say we “parted ways” - you know it’s not exactly one of those pleasant experiences you want to repeat. Avoid the dreaded pink slip with Her Every Cent Counts 10 tips for not getting fired.
Few things stress me out more than clutter. It may be borderline ADD, but I physically can’t go to sleep at night if my room is messy or cluttered. Now at least I can have financial zen with The Dough Roller’s 10 tips to declutter my finances.
Rolling in your tax refund money? Sound Money Matters has 10 ideas to help you spend your tax refund. If you don’t like any of those, you can always send it to me…
April 2009 Net Worth
It may just be a matter of timing since the stock market was up 3.1% last Friday (when I calculated my net worth figures), but things are looking good this month with a net worth increase of 8%!
Assets: $310,587
Cash and Cash Equivalents: $26,583
Invested Assets: $31,004
Use Assets (car, house, furniture, etc.): $253,000
Liabilities: $173,459
Credit Card Balance: $3,718
Home Mortgage: $169,741
APRIL NET WORTH: $137,128
(March Net Worth: $126,195)
Percent Change: +8%
Tax day giveaways and promotions
Filing your taxes is not usually a reason to celebrate, but some companies are at least trying to make this unpleasant annual task a little more palatable. Below are just a few of the Tax promotions you might be able to take advantage of:
HOTELS
BnBFinder.com – At BnBFinder.com you can find many tax specials at the inn. For example, at at Mason Cottage in Cape May, New Jersey, guests can receive 25% off one night before April 15th with a minimum of a three night stay.
Or at Inn at Riverbend in Pearisburg, VA, guests can check in on April 15 and stay 2 nights and receive a refund of $100 for the total stay.
Visit BnBFinder to search all properties participating in the Tax Day specials.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants – Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is offering a national “Sweet Tax Relief” package, available at most Kimpton hotels for the entire month of April. As part of the package, guests enjoy:
*Deluxe overnight accommodations
*Kimpton will pay your room tax
*Kimpton will pay the tax on a meal at one of the locally flavored, chef-driven restaurants, located adjacent to most hotels*
*Sweet rewards with treats such as “Payday,” “100 Grand” and “Sugar Daddy” candy bars
*Late check out, when available, so you can enjoy your tax-free accommodations to their fullest
Package rates start at $99/night, although rates vary by hotel and city. Reservations may be made online by entering “PTAX” in the rate code box, or by calling 1-800-KIMPTON and requesting the “Sweet Tax Relief” package.
SPAS
Aji Spa at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa – According to the resort, Aji Spa at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort has the economic antidote for your tax season blues. Book a 50-minute Aji Massage and receive a complimentary upgrade to an 80-minute treatment. This offer is available April 1-30, 2009, Monday through Thursday only. Please mention promotional code “RELIEF” at the time of booking to receive the upgrade.
The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Austin – Here’s a tax “break” everyone can take advantage of: 25% off massages, facials, body treatments and nail services in The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Austin. Available April 13-17, 2009, The Spa’s Tax Break special is not valid on product or gift card purchases and may not be combined with any other promotion, coupon or discount. For more details or to make an appointment, call 512-685-8160.
FOOD
Cinnabon – Participating U.S. mall-based Cinnabon bakeries will be giving away free Classic Bites on April 15 from 5 to 8pm.*
* While supplies last. Limit one offer per guest during the day of the promotion. Counts vary by store. Valid only at participating U.S. mall-based bakeries. Not valid at airports or travel plazas. No purchase necessary. No cash value.
Taco Del Mar – Receive a free taco on April 15, 2009. To receive your coupon by email, visit this website.
Maggie Moo’s – Calling it an “e-CONE-omic” (groan) incentive, this ice cream chain plans to dole out free single scoops nationwide on April 15, 2009.
Enjoy, and with all the freebies and deals, don’t forget to file your taxes by 11:59pm on April 15!
Filed under Deals | Comment (0)More dating adventures for your amusement
And no, this is not a joke.
This actually happened about three weeks ago but I waited to post it because, well, I’m paranoid that my very public venting about various dating misadventures will one day make it back to the involved parties. Yes this blog is anonymous, but some of the stories are quite distinctive and memorable…in a not-so-wonderful way.
Case in point: I recently went on a date with a fireman who seemed like a great guy. Besides saving people’s lives for a living (that should be enough, right?), he said he was a Christian and he’d been on several mission trips to South Africa. I mean, this guy seemed like a shoe-in for sainthood.
He’d texted me the day before saying he’d brushed against some poison oak in his backyard and that his arm and above his eye were somewhat red, but that he still wanted to meet me. I thought it was kind-of cute that he seemed a little nervous about it.
So we’re on the date and things are going okay when he brings up the poison oak. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad and I joked about him rolling around in the poison oak just to get a little sympathy out of me. Here’s where the conversation took a turn for the worst:
FIREMAN: So you wouldn’t roll around with me in poison oak? [said completely with a straight face]
ME: Um, well, I’m not really into that whole pain thing…
[trying to gauge if he’s serious, or just really bad at joking around]
Usually I’m a pretty good judge of someone’s sense of humor but there was no twinkle in the eye, no twitch of the lip, nothing. He was starting to make me uncomfortable and I thought my comment and nervous laugh were ample clue to let the subject drop.
But no, he persisted.
FIREMAN: Really? You don’t think that’s a little sexy to just go at it in the bushes?
ME: Um…
FIREMAN: So, are you more a missionary-style kind of girl then?
And….date over. Can any male out there tell me why a guy would think that was appropriate conversation for a first date?!?
I can say with certainty I hadn’t made any sexual innuendos or suggestions, or pulled my shirt down or done anything else that would have given him the impression I was interested in talking about sex. I don’t consider myself a prude, but talking to a stranger about my sexual preferences on a first date is not my idea of okay.
Lesson learned? Don’t go on a date with a guy that tells you he has a rash.
Filed under Dating | Comments (4)Free movie rental from redbox
I always thought it was weird when I’d see people at those redbox movie rental kiosks in front of Walgreens or McDonalds. For whatever reason, picking a movie from a vending machine-like contraption seemed odd. Maybe I’d just been conditioned by Blockbuster to think renting a movie had to involve walking down endless aisles and ogling check-out displays filled with candy and popcorn.
But after my first redbox rental experience, I can honestly say I won’t ever miss the brick-and-mortar rental store again (okay, maybe I’ll miss the candy and popcorn).
I decided to try out redbox when I found a free rental coupon code on Monday via another blog I read. The entire experience was super-easy and although I ended up hating the movie and feeling like I’d wasted two hours of my life, that didn’t dampen my newfound affection for redbox.
[For the curious, the movie was Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway. I should have known when it was nominated for an Oscar that it would be one of those artsy movies not typically enjoyed by the general public.]
Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things about redbox:
1) It’s convenient – there are more than 12,000 redbox locations, including one literally right down the street at my local Walgreens.
2) It’s easy – I was able to search online for available inventory at my selected redbox location so the rental process literally took less than 2 minutes. You can even reserve titles online.
3) It’s current – Most of the movies have just been released so unlike some discount movie rental companies, you’re not limited to the “unwanted” movies that have been out for weeks.
4) It’s cheap – as mentioned above, my rental was free thanks to a coupon code, but even if you don’t have one of these the total cost is $1 per night – with generous terms that allow you to return the DVD by 9pm the next night. That said, there seem to be an inordinate amount of free coupon code days (for example, today’s is MMM325) so do a search online and you might get lucky.
5) They have a blog – gotta love a company that embraces social media. Also, this is where they’re rumored to post a free coupon code every Wednesday.
6) It makes random acts of kindness easy to do – After renting my free movie on Monday, I turned around and a woman was just walking up to rent her own movie. Don’t hate me redbox, but I handed her my Post-it note with the coupon code and made her day.
So why not try it out tonight for free? I promise you’ll never think those people are weird again…at least not related to their movie rental preferences.
Filed under Deals, Saving Ideas | Comment (0)