<p>I won’t set foot in Rite Aid. I agree filthy. According to my husband Rite Aid does have the best beer prices.</p>
<p>Got $60/night at a Westin Hotel from priceline.</p>
<p>Fiesta table runner for a gift–originally $25 + tax and shipping at Kohl’s, it’s one it’s way to my house for $11.41 total. I love the retailmenot site for extra coupon codes–I got an additional 30% off the sale price and free shipping. Lots of Fiesta ware on sale if anyone needs it.</p>
<p>Graduation dates are out for son’s next May. Other parents from his sport, and from the club he belongs to are all staying at one specific hotel. They pre-arranged a negotiated lower per night rate of $249.00 + tax. Sooooooooooooo, this blue-light, thrift store shopper started to panic. Really panic. </p>
<p>Son said don’t worry, we’ll just stay somewhere else, more affordable, no problem.</p>
<p>Well 7 years of being a hotwire customer did not let me down. Checked 2-3 times a day and after 2 months of checking, up popped what I thought to be maybe, just maybe this hotel for the exact days we needed.</p>
<p>And, IT WAS THE EXACT HOTEL! $52 per night! Done!</p>
<p>Room sleeps 6 with breakfast each morning and a pool!!!</p>
<p>We are paying for the whole stay for less than 1 night. Actually son is paying for most of it from his part-time job. And we are staying with all his friends and buddies and their families. He was sooooo excited.</p>
<p>And I am not stressing for the next 10 months.</p>
<p>I typically do not purchase from hotwire until right before we need it, but the price is just a little higher by a few dollars than what is typical for a Hyatt from hotwire. And in some cases it is lower.</p>
<p>A lower star ranking hotel was $258 per night, and that was reasonable compared to a smaller Inn in the same locale for $530 a night. (graduation week and Reunions week)</p>
<p>Since this is son’s last year I wanted it to be special for graduation and didn’t want to let him down by not attending.</p>
<p>So Happy with this good deal!!!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Kat, you just may be today’s grand prize winner (80% off vs Mom2M’s 50%, which is none too shabby either). Please post a tutorial on how you scored this for the uninitiated like myself. What did you enter when you checked twice a day (besides the city and state)? Did you have to place a bid or did hotwire name the $52 price? Do tell.</p>
<p>No bidding on hotwire. Just enter the dates, the city and state, and the number of adults and children. Also allow all star ratings.</p>
<p>I always enter 2 adults and 2 children in order to request 2 beds vs. 1 bed. Conversely, priceline does not have this option. They only guarantee 1 bed.</p>
<p>I cross-reference my choices for star ratings by using betterbidding.com to ascertain which hotel it MIGHT be. In 7 years have been off once or twice. </p>
<p>Hotwire can change their options daily if not hourly. The hotels are distinguished by their amenities and the exact order in which they are listed, whether they are a best value or guaranteed low price. All these provide clues as to which hotel it can be.</p>
<p>Since we have visiting to son’s school for 3 years now I am pretty familiar with the various hotels. So based on the star rating, the listed amenities, and other clues I was pretty sure I had the right hotel. I just had to wait for the right one to pop up.</p>
<p>Hotwire only offers one hotel per star rating (per specific zone). Once a specific 3 star has been purchased another will appear. Sometimes the same one and sometimes not. Again only 1 of each type (1<em>, 2.5</em>, 3 blah blah) can appear at a time.</p>
<p>For 2 months another appeared and I was waiting until the specific one I wanted would be offered. It did and I was thrilled. The $249 that was offered to the parents was a DISCOUNTED rate from the $325+ the hotel usually charges. </p>
<p>If you use betterbidding.com, use the forums section under the particular state you will be visiting and click on the pinned Hotwire hotel list. Similar list exists for Priceline.</p>
<p>You can also ask the moderator for help identifying the hotels that are available. Never hurts to ask!</p>
<p>Hotwire names the price, Priceline can name the price but the lower prices appear for bidding.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>My good buy of today:
At our library’s gift shop “used book sale” - a copy of the Fiske 2009 Guide To Colleges for $2.50. Geez, 2009 still seems pretty new to me!</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Jos. A Banks is having their super clearance sale…I bought dress pants for DH for $34 instead of $165. Dress shirts, ties also on sale–I’m not sure of the price as DH doesn’t particularly like thier shirts—but he really likes the ones from Costco.</p>
<p>bought a new thinline bathroom scale at b, b, and beyond. regular price $49.00…clearanced priced at $29.99 AND i used my $5.00 b,b, and beyond coupon…so before tax, paid $24.99…woo hoo!</p>
<p>love the scale ! uses .2 pound increments :)</p>
<p>Wait…! We don’t want to see "in"crements (increase) We only want to see "de"crements!!! :)</p>
<p>Good buy!</p>
<p>Every time I go to Costco, it is very good buy for everything and very good quality. Yesterday cashier has sent somebody to pick a second loaf of bread for me because price for 2 was the same as for one, which she has pointed out to me without me mentionning anything about it. How many places will do that?</p>
<p>abasket,
the point is if you go down .2, you will not see it on “regular” scale, it will still show the same weight. I love my scale with decimals, opens up new horizons in daily routine.</p>
<p>Yes, I understood that - just in MY house at least, when I’m thinking “weight” - I’m thinking DEcrease in INcrease!</p>
<p>condor-
When an item is that close to $30 , BB&B will let you use the $10 off coupon. You can also use the 20% off- tho $10 is obviously better.</p>
<p>Rumor has it they may stop accepting expired coupons- so use the old nes up!</p>
<p>OK…went to Jos A Bank store…hmmm dress shirts 1/2 price were $40…sorry, that’s not a “good buy of the day”.</p>
<p>So…off I went to Kohls with a 30% off coupon AND a $5 off coupon. Bought DH four new dress shirts (two Ralph Lauren, one Arrow, and one Apt9)…total out the door with tax…$52. I thought that sure beat Jos A Bank.</p>
<p>Replaced one of our MR-16 (halogen) 50W bulbs with this horrendously expensive bulb: [Synergy</a> LED MR16 - LED - General Lighting - USHIO](<a href=“http://www.ushio.com/products/generallighting/led-synergy.htm]Synergy”>http://www.ushio.com/products/generallighting/led-synergy.htm)</p>
<p>Bulb costs $60 (instead of $12 for the 50W bulb) but has a life expectancy of 50,000 hours (vs 3500) and uses FOUR (4) watts to produce the same light. Expected savings over the bulb life: $60. And that’s not counting the money saved by not getting on the ladder ten times to replace the flipping bulbs in the ceiling.</p>
<p>our store already will not accept the expired coupons :(</p>
<p>Our BB and B told me that they will continue to accept expired coupons that are received in the MAIL but NOT those printed from online sources or from the newspaper.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip on Kohl’s for dress shirts, I’ll check there for DH…much better than Jos A Banks! I mostly buy pants at Banks–DH needs a 31 waist and unhemmed so the tailor can make them long enough. $34 and the right size is hard to beat, but the shirts do seem pricy.</p>
<p>I have used expired BB&B coupons (from the mail) with no problem (it had expired a couple days before). A friend was buying a bunch of towels (water polo team gift) and they told her to bring in any coupons she could gather up and they would honor them. She was very thankful for their help!</p>