Leap Year Specials

So marketers will use any "special" day to give away items or sell items. There are a lot of deals out there, but some of them are only for people with leap year birthdays or those currently vacationing in the Bahamas, so I will stick with the ones that apply to a broader group of average people.

You can get a free McSkillet Burrito at McDonalds today and tomorrow (but only today for fasting Catholics) with the purchase of a large or medium drink. Apparently, you can get a free 4-piece chicken nuggets after 11 today as well.

If you are traveling, check with your hotel and you may get a deal. Here are a few I saw posted:

From the daily deals blog in the LA Times:

A couple of hotels are offering discounts on bookings that you make on Feb. 29. On that Friday, reserve a $179 room (pre-tax) at the James Chicago for any holiday weekend in 2008, and get a continental breakfast and free room upgrade thrown in.

The Buckingham Hotel in Manhattan is holding a sale between 7 p.m. (EST) Thursday, Feb. 28, and 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29. Under this promo, you can book Friday-to-Monday stays from Feb. 29 to July 7 for as little as $169 per night (pre-tax). Use booking code “LEAP.”

From the NY Times:

Papa John’s will give customers whose birthdays fall on any of the other 365 days of 2008 other special online offers on Friday, like three large pizzas with three toppings, all for $29.29.

There are a lot out there, but these are just a few I found.

According to the Mercury News.com Papa John's is offering three large pizzas for $29.29 on Friday. In our household, we wouldn't eat that much in weeks, but if you're having a party, maybe you would.

BTW, for all you Chipotle fans, Chipotle's free burrito on Leap Year they do every leap year is apparently not happening this year according to their Wikipedia entry. I could not find anything on their (non -searchable, Flash site:( ), but whatever. So sorry to all my friends who are Chipotle fans, especially those working just across the street from one:(.

Thrifty Thursday

As a mom, I am always looking for ways to save money and to help make our money stretch further than it seems to want to. I thought I'd share some of these tips by following the lead of some of my fellow bloggers and create a "regular" feature. I'm not sure how regular it will when the baby is born, but for now and likely a month or two after, I'm going to take a stab at it.

One of my favorite reporters, whom I used to work with, has a great blog that often offers great tips on how to save money and general consumer tips.

In her last two posts and a story she ran last night, she offers tips on when the best time to shop for specific items is to when the best time to get specific services for your house. She also has several sites listed where you can often find great travel ideas. She is based in Minneapolis, MN so some of it is very hyperlocal, but a lot of it can be used across the board.

Since we're new in our neighborhood and haven't put all our prescriptions in a specific pharmacy, I have taken advantage of Target's coupons to receive free gift cards ($10 each) from transferring prescriptions or taking a new prescription to them. I am currently saving them up to use toward Christmas gifts. I have gotten three in the last few weeks and when I checked with my insurance, I was going to pay the same price anyway so why not?

My husband likes to joke about all the frequent buyer clubs I belong to as well. I refuse to pay money for them, so I only belong to the free ones but you can earn a lot of rewards and coupons by consistently using them. We just earned our free turkey for Thanksgiving (although we may have it at another time) by buying all of our groceries at the store we usually buy them at anyway. We also get three or so emails a week with Borders coupons of up to 50 percent off specific items. I get several $10 - $25 coupons at DSW each year including $10 just for having a birthday and we receive free meals at a lot of our favorite restaurants on our birthdays.

These are just a few of the practices my family and I have adopted over the last few years. I'd love to hear from you and hear what works for you.