Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Ann Arbor Restaurant Week

How about some great dining deals? Ann Arbor is hosting its semi-annual restaurant week now through Friday, January 21. Enjoy Ann Arbor's best restaurants at a fraction of the normal price. $12 for a 3 course lunch (or 2 for $12 at some restaurants) and $25 for a 3 (or more) course dinner (or 2 for $25 at some). Ever wanted to go to the Earle or the Chop House but couldn't afford it? Now's your chance.

Check out the menus at http://annarborrestaurantweek.com/

I had lunch at both Real Seafood and Weber's this weekend and both were wonderful and a great value. If you go to Real Seafood, get the Hot Rocks (spicy flash fried shrimp) for the appetizer and the lemon cream puff for dessert. Weber's has perhaps the best variety of all the restaurants. Ann Arbor Brewing Company also has a great lunch deal for 2 for $12 that includes soup, sandwich and one of their draft beers.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

What's the most wonderful time of the year?!?

90% off at Target starting today

By this time it might be hard to find much left except bows, candy, ornaments, nutcrackers, stockings, ribbon, gift tags, and...oh yes, HIDDEN CLEARANCE. Check the regular aisles, clearance end caps and price checkers throughout the store and you might find some hidden gems like I did.

Here's another suggestion. If you can't find the hidden clearance items, but just the random ornament or stocking, how about putting those items to work next year. Cheap ornaments make attractive and memorable package tie-ons. Stockings make great (and classy) gift bags.

Also, Target and Walmart have 40th anniversary packs of UNO on sale this week for only $1. That's an 80% savings from the normal price.

In other news, how about a free screening of "The Green Hornet." While showings are currently filled up for Novi and Birmingham, there is an opening in Toledo right now for those who live on the south side.

http://www.gofobo.com/screenings/the_green_hornet/678183

If Toledo's too far, try checking the Novi and Birmingham screenings between 3 and 5pm on the day of the screening. Frequently, people will release tickets at the last minute.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year

My New Year's resolution is to update this blog more frequently, i.e. multiple times each week. So let's start with some great current deals.

Target stores in the Detroit metro area marked their Christmas items down to 75% off yesterday, matching Meijer's current 75% discount. Even if you aren't looking for any Christmas items, you should pay attention to the Target Christmas clearance because they mark down everyday commonly used items if they have holiday packaging. For example, last year I scored Reynolds Wrap at 90% off - regular silver aluminum foil but it was wrapped in plastic with a snowflake print. The trick is to find the "Hidden Clearance" items - items with a holiday print in their regular location in the store. The Reynolds Wrap deal isn't available this year, but here are some other items you may find throughout the store - Burt's Bee's Lipbalm in Snowflake cut out packaging, two pack of Bounce paper towels with ornament print, Green and Red colored plastic cups, cake/pie wedge design Kleenex boxes, and Kleenex brand hand towels. In the holiday section, you may find other useful everyday items packaged as gifts in red boxes - these include Ipod accessories, tools, flashlights, computer accessories, throw blankets, white plates, silverware, and small toys. If you want to wait for an extra good bargain, Target will be reducing further to 90% probably by the coming Friday, January 7. But few of the really great finds will be left at 90% off, so buyer beware.

Target additionally has its annual end of year toy clearance going on - current markdowns are 30-50%, but should go up to 50-75% in a couple of weeks. Also, if you're in the market for a top of the line vacuum, Target is currently discounting the Dyson DC17 All Floors model half price to $224.98 - this vacuum is currently sold on Amazon for $423.99. Click the link below to see the specs and reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Dyson-12744-01-DC17-All-Floors/dp/B00253Q6AS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1293918811&sr=8-3

Last but not least, take a moment to Tweet to take advantage of Amazon's deal of the day for $5 in free Video on Demand rentals/downloads. See details here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&ref_=amb_link_354933362_2&docId=1000646031
As an extra bonus, Amazon's Video on Demand deal of the day is a 99 cent rental of "Inception". That way, you can rent two recent releases. Regular rentals cost $3.99. This is great if you want to see some obscure movie that Blockbuster doesn't carry. Amazon's streaming films are terrific - I rented my free movie the other day and it worked great, despite a slow internet connection.