sept 26-28 2008

LOTS of clever tricks this past weekend!!

• art after dark. We have a family pass to the honolulu academy of arts ($95/year) which lets us into this $10 per person event every month! (students are only $20/year). This month was "the British are coming," and we enjoyed the music (band playing 60s music and another group performing the bagpipes), the art (of course!), and the bentleys (ok, who is willing to pay a quarter of a million for those things!?). fun times.
• window shopping. it's free air-conditioning! and sometimes, when you're really lucky, you stumble upon some really great sales (not so free...but i used gift cards!).
• Museum day. yes, i'm sorry i didn't update this earlier, but we were able to print out admission cards permitting us to visit the bishop museum and queen emma summer palace for free! fun, educational, interesting events all on one special day! if you missed it, it's something cool to look forward to next september, i suppose!
• hiking. yep, we did the koko head stairs again. hooray!! (i was actually in a LOT better shape this time...not saying much, but still...) it was an intense workout and a fun, FREE way to spend time with a great friend.
• cooking at home. so the $4 bag of whole wheat flour wasn't too fun to buy last weekend, but since then, we've enjoyed some pretty tasty and healthy pizzas! cooking at home is a great way to relieve stress, feel productive, eat healthy, and save money. even if some of the ingredients are pricey, it's good to know that i'm still saving lots of money by making my own food. :)

read read read!

the macy's sale was pretty fantastic. i surprised my bf with a $45-spiffy-dress shirt and bought myself a cute and comfy work dress --- for only $15 TOTAL! such fun!

clever trick of the night: read the newspaper, blogs, etc. i stumbled upon two free movie tickets for a screening tonight at ward theaters -- by reading a local newspaper blog! i've never been so lucky (usually i have to enter a contest to get something for free), but it just made me realize that there are often free, amazing things to do around town and you just gotta know about them to take advantage of the fun. check out the newspaper (island life section, TGIF), the honolulu weekly, midweek, internet, blogs, anything. pick what looks interesting to you, and always remember that the most fun things may -- and often are -- inexpensive or free! :)

Clever tricks, 9/1/08 edition

Welcome to Clever Tricks, where I write all about my clever ways to save money. You might call this "cheap" or even something you think is hurtful or embarrassing. But honestly, it's clever -- so clever, that I wanted to share my tricks with you! Hope you enjoy!

Clever tricks this past weekend:

• went to a club and lounge before they charged cover. they didn't let us in until after the designated time, but enough folks complained that they didn't charge us cover anyway! we enjoyed two clubs for FREE!
  
• visited sunset on the beach -- free, sponsored by tesoro and the city of honolulu. we got to see the world premier of a fun kids show for FREE!
• enjoyed our first blockbuster movie! i signed up for blockbuster using paypal as my primary method of payment, and i received 2 weeks free PLUS will receive $25 credit into my paypal account. signed up for a $12 plan, which is one dvd unlimited plus two store exchanges/month. that means FREE movies for over two months!
  

Clever upcoming tricks:

• visit the macy's one day sale this friday and saturday (not sure why there are TWO days in this ONE day sale, but that's how it always goes). they're offering amazing deals AND if you use the special coupon, you can get an additional $10 off when you buy $25 worth of stuff...pay $15 for $300 worth of stuff!!! you can also apply for a macy's card to get additional discounts!