Costco has gift card packages for certain restaurants where they sell 2 x $50 gift cards for $79.99. So you're getting $100 worth of dining for about $80. That is 20% off on the cost of the gift cards. I actually mentioned this one in passing a while ago in my post Saving at Restaurants #3 - using gift cards but its a good money saver that I wanted to elaborate on.
On the Costco website right now they have gift card offers for these restaurants:
McCormick and Schmicks - includes a cookbook, they have locations across the country
Brooks Steakhouse - In Denver.
Rosemary's Restaurant - Las Vegas
Delmonicos - New York, NY
I've seen other restaurants gift cards plus some local theme park gift cards sold at my local Costco off and on in the past. Their inventory varies as usual for Costco. So you might check out what they have in stock at your location.
All of these restaurants appear to be high end restaurants. So you should be aware of the total costs of dining at the restaurant before you get a gift card. In other words, don't spend too much just cause its 20% off. But if you're looking to save a few bucks for a nice dinner out then this is an easy way to get $10 off a night out a couple times.
They could also make a good gift for someone you know who would like a nice dinner out.
The Costco website also have some items for travel:
Go San Diego card for 3 days of park admissions for $130 for adults or $100 for children 3-12.
Bed and Breakfast $100 for $80 - good for stays at over 4,000 B&B's in the US & Canada
Plus they have discount iTunes cards as well. $50 iTunes cards for $47.
So, check your local Costco and/ or visit the Costco.com website to look for some good deals on discount price gift cards.
For more on saving money at restaurants see my older posts:
October 18, 2008
Save 20% on gift cards at Costco
October 17, 2008
Best of Blog posts for the week of October 17th
In Investing in a Bear Market at Get Rich Slowly, JD talks about investing in the current market. He suggests you test your risk tolerance and gives a links to calculators : MSN Money risk tolerance quiz and Kiplinger: Test your risk tolerance. JD also recommends that you set investment goals and diversify. Its actually all good advice in general and not just a bear market.
Bargaineering has the article Best International Credit Card where he lists the different fees that some credit cards will charge when using them over seas. The fee rates range from 0% up to 8% so it can make a big difference in travel spending.
Fivecentnickel points out that you can now Track Your Finances Free With Quicken Online Used to be that Quicken Online was $2.99 a month but they are now offering it as a free service.
My Money Blog has a great post discussing long term stock returns in : What Is The Source Of Long-Term Stock Market Returns? (or… Do Stocks Really Always Go Up?)
fivecentnickel also has a post on How to Calculate Tax Equivalent Yield where he shows you how to figure out how a tax exempt investment equates to a taxable investment.
My Money Blog as a post about a coupon for Free Tall Cappuccino + 15% Off at Barnes & Noble
October 16, 2008
Coupon for FREE tall cappuccino at Barnes & Noble Starbucks
Over on My Money Blog I found this post that pointed to a coupon for a free tall cappuccino. The coupon is for the Barnes & Nobles Starbucks specifically and not valid at college bookstore locations.
The coupon is good for a FREE cappuccino, latte, espresso, coffee or hot tea. It expires 10/31/08.
70% of metro markets have seen home prices increase over 20% in the past 5 years
The article Home Prices By Metro Area lists 292 individual metropolitan areas and it gives the change in home values for the past quarter, 1 year and 5 year periods. The article was from August so its a little old now but its not too far out of date.
For the past 5 years:
72% of home markets saw home values increase over 20%.
41% of markets had increases over 35%.
Only 5 cities had decreases in value and all 5 of them are in Michigan.
The average increase for the 292 markets was 32.9%
The highest increase was 83.5% in Honolulu and the biggest decrease was -11% for Detroit.
Other interesting points :
The 10 cities with the largest 1 year declines all have 5 year increases of at least 8%. And half of them have 5 year increases over 30%. For example the Riverside California market dropped 22.9% in the 1 year period but was still up 47% for the 5 year period.
As a generalization the areas with the biggest 1 year decreases also have large 5 year increases. California, Florida and Nevada have had large boom and bust cycles.
Michigan and Ohio have had some of the worst markets in both the 1 and 5 year periods. There are 22 cities with decreases in the past year and less than 10% increase in 5 years. Of those 22 total there are 12 cities in Michigan and 5 in Ohio.
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