Here are the best Los Angeles deals this week from BargainBabeLA.com.
Disneyland tickets are discounted for SoCal residents who take advantage of the 2fer ticket on sale for a limited time.
If you can’t wait for the baseball season to open, get $11 Dodgers tickets to their spring training.
In Encino, reader Franki recommends the newly opened One Dollar Bookstore.
The Long Beach Aquarium is free for teachers in the month of March. Wahoo!
Sign up to sell your kids gently used clothes, toys, and gear and make some serious cash.
Randy Son of Robert/Flickr
The weekly roundup of Los Angeles deals from BargainBabeLA.com includes:
Got kids? This weekend (Fri-Sun) is the California Kids Consignment sale in Santa Clarita.
Get tickets to a new play called The Rose Bowl Queens that are marked down by 55 percent. For a limited time only.
Steinmart is 20 percent off this weekend only when you donate clothes to the Salvation Army.
The Ponte Family Winery in Temecula is offering big discounts on small weddings. (Shared by oceangreen33)
Through March 14 you can use a coupon to get into the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley for half-price. (Shared by marie)
This week’s winner of the $10 Starbucks card is EvieK, who won by sharing great Los Angeles deals on BargainBabeLA.com. Congrats!
Kids eat free every Wednesday at El Torrito. Luuuv their chips and salsa. (Bargain Babe shared this deal.)
Still hungry? All you can eat BBQ is just $12 Monday and Tuesday at Willy’s Smokehouse. I am so there! (Shared by EvieK)
Dodgers tickets are half off for many of their early season games. Great prices for the Anaheim Angels, too!
Put this one on your calender for next weekend. The United Methodist Church in Northridge is holding a massive yard sale going on March 6.
The DLM clothing warehouse is opening its doors again to the public for a massive sale with prices at 80-90 percent below retail. Last time I blogged about DLM there was a huge response.
Readers shared a ton of Los Angeles deals on BargainBabeLA.com this week – thank you! Each week (generally on Thursday) I highlight the best deals on BargainBabeLA.com and award a $5 Amazon gift card to a notable deal-sharer. This week I upped the ante to a $10 Starbucks card. Next week will be the same prize, so share a deal now!
Congrats to shop4sanity, this weeks’ winner!
Reader dibuccio wrote a down-and-dirty review of the book sale at the Crown Books Liquidation Center in West Hills. “Not a place you want to “hang out” but great prices which is what you are going there for,” the post says. Books start at $1.
Corn dogs are just $1 every Tuesday at Hot Dog on a Stick for the rest of 2010. That’s practically free food!
Going somewhere? Reader shop4sanity spotted this hot deal. Weekend Metrolink rates for families (up to four people) are just $29. That’s 50% off the regular rate!
Reader socialbuy let everyone know that through Saturday you can buy a $25 gift certificate to Rosti’s Tuscon Kitchen in Santa Monica for just $10. Socialbuy is a Groupon rival.
Get a free lesson at the Knit Sewing Club in Culver City, though you pay for the materials (about $10). Thanks for sharing, townluxe.
Get a ferry ride to Catalina and a tour for $89. Not too shabby! Thanks for sharing, shop4sanity.
Reader waochi wants you to get free food! Free pretzel day at Auntie Annie’s is Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010.
This week’s winner of the $5 Amazon.com gift certificate goes to The Unethical Man. Congrats! Each week I award one $5 Amazon gift card to the person who contributes the best deals to BargainBabeLA.com. Sharing a deal takes about 4 minutes, and is as easy as sending an email. There were some really amazing deals with week, including:
Galaxy playoff tickets are 60 percent off, shared by bargainbabe.com. Ohhh, I wonder if Beckham will take his shirt off?
Get 50 percent off ALL food at The Rack in Woodland Hills, shared by Bogopod
Get a free ride on the Gold Line Nov. 15, shared by AdventureGirl
Get a free toothbrush at Rite Aid – but act quick because the deal ends today, shared by The Unethical Man
A year long subscription to Los Angeles magazine is just $5, shared by bargainbabe
Turkeys are $.40 a pound at Walmart, shared by The Unethical Man. No minimum spending like you commonly see at the chain grocers.
Win a free pair of tickets to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for the “India Calling” show on Sunday, Sept 20 by sharing a deal on BargainBabeLA.com OR by leaving a comment on BargainBabe.com no later than 7 a.m. PST Wednesday, September 16, 2009.
Want to know more about the concert? Click here.
I will chose the winner at random Wednesday morning and notify them by email. The winner will pick up their two free tickets at Will Call.
Here are some of the best deals posted on my new site BargainBabeLA.com.
Get a free flu shot in LA County, shared by RebeccaQuinn. Otherwise Costco is the cheapest, at $20 a shot.
Foster Farms whole chickens are $.59/lb at Ralphs this week, shared by The Unethical Man. (this is as low as whole chickens go!)
Kids eat free at El Torritos on Saturdays, shared by bargainbabe. Yum!
Get a 60-minute shiatsu massage for just $30 in Santa Monica, shared by amygrahek.
About BargainBabeLA.com: this site uses Google maps to show deals in your neighborhood. The cool thing is, everyone can post a deal, including sale details, a location, and a photo! It’s free and takes about 4 minutes. Check it out at BargainBabeLA.com!
Sadly, BargainBabe.com was not able to cover the nuptials held at the 99 Cent Only stores yesterday in Hollywood, where everything was in nines: 9 couples, ceremony in aisle 9 on 9-9-09, and each couple paid $.99 for the wedding. What a bargain!
An audio slide show from the LA Times gives the best idea of what it was like to be there.
Pictures from LA Weekly show the brides in the soup aisle.
A video from FOX has interviews with two of the couples.
Disclosure: 99 Cents Only was a sponsor at the Frugal Fe$tival.
I’ve been meaning to write about the 99 Cent Chef for some time, fully expecting his schtick to be similar to Christiane Jory, who wrote the 99 Cents Only Store Cookbook. (Every recipe is made from ingredients sold at the one-price-fits-all store).
But no.
The 99 Cent Chef is a fun, carefree blog about eating, recipes, and food videos in Los Angeles, though out of towners will enjoy the site, too. The author, Billy Vasquez, occasionally shops at the 99 Cents Only Store, with which he is not affiliated.
In one recent post he runs into “Julian Child,” a tall, curly-haired character who claims to be the nephew of Julia Child, at the Hollywood farmer’s market, above. Julian’s high pitched antics makes his video quite entertaining as he delights in finding produce to cook in “lots and lots of butter.”
In another post the 99 Cent Chef writes about his regular $8 barber cut in Glendale (read past the fried chicken part)!
The 99 Cent Chef shared a recipe I made just two days ago -black bean and corn salad. I make it without olive oil. It’s a fantastic snack or side dish or meal!
For those of you who remember the Lincoln Lunches I wrote at the LA Daily News, I am reviving the tradition of regularly reviewing a $5 lunch on BargainBabeLA.com.
The first Lincoln Lunch is a review of Samosa House in Los Angeles. Read it here.
Know where we can find a Lincoln Lunch? Email me.
I said farewell to my spending moratorium a few hours early on Friday, July 31 with $.35 cocktails and free mini-grilled cheese sandwiches at the Edison. It was definitely one of the best happy hours I’ve been to and very schmancy. Short dresses and heels were standard.
Since my July spending moratorium is done, I’ve been spending a LOT. In just four days I’ve racked up a $230. 23 tab for coffee, lunch out, postage, cash, candy, beer, gas, groceries, and tips. But some of my moratorium habits have stuck with me.
- One of the most challenging things about the moratorium was eating on the go. Not being able to buy a quick meal, I started packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which don’t have to be refrigerated for a few hours. This saved me so much money – and time – that I still pack pb & j when I’m going to need a meal on the road.
- Go the distance for free/cheap parking. I popped into a parking garage yesterday and gagged at the rates – $2.50 for 12 minutes. IN. SANE. I drove two blocks and found meters for $1 an hour. It’s almost silly how close free/cheap parking is from overpriced garages. Drive a few blocks towards the outskirts – don’t circle the main drag – and you’ll be surprised at your options. It’s worth the walk.
If you joined me in the moratorium, how did you do?
The Fe$tival this Sunday is creating a lot of buzz!
The LA Times’ The Guide listed us, as did the younger, hipper Metromix. The San Fernando Valley Biz Journal listed the event Monday. Did you see Tuesday’s LA Times? The massive 99 Cent Only Stores ad that ran on the back page of the front section, above, highlighted the Fe$tival. We’ll also be mentioned on their Web site and in an email blast to thousands of loyal shoppers. Check out this week’s edition of The Jewish Journal, which is slated to list the event and mention us in a story about saving money.
It’s going to be warm at the Fe$tival but no worries, the area is totally shaded and we have hundreds of free Otter Pops for you!
The first 50 people to arrive get free hot pink Fe$tival T-shirts and the raffle drawing starts at 3 p.m. I repeat: every adult gets 10 free raffle tickets to enter whichever raffles they choose (so far we’ve got 27). Arrive at 1 p.m. so you have plenty of time to inspect all the prizes.
Check out the five Starbucks gift bags we’re raffling off!
I was putting up flyers for the Frugal Fe$tival last weekend when I noticed two thrift stores on Sherman Way just west of Owensmouth in Canoga Park had gone out of business. To my shock Out of the Closest was a discount a furniture store and Aaardvarks Odd Ark was dark.
If anything, in a recession thrift stores should be thriving! Are people not even buying used clothes? My goodness.
I looked online to see how thrift stores across the country are faring. Perhaps the two I saw closed were a fluke. I found these headlines:
Billerica consignment stores hit hard by recession (MA, 7/20/09)
Salvation Army store to close (Mt. Vernon, VA) (7/17/09)
Economy closing Noble Road thrift store (Cleveland, OH 7/9/09)
Helping Hands thrift store closes its doors (Wetaskiwin, Canada 7/7/09)
St. Vincent de Paul closing its doors – seeking small headquarters (Sault Ste Marie, MI 6/26/09)
Thrift shops expect increase due to closing of Salvation Army (Norwich, CT 6/25/09)
And that is just going back one month!
I wonder what the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops has to say about this. An April press release begins, “The resale industry is one of the few recession proof segments of retailing…”
Not anymore. The recession has gone on long enough that the wave of consumers who turned to thrift stores to cut their budget a year ago has washed out.
My spending moratorium has elicited some strange behavior from my family and friends. For the first time in my life, my mother encouraged me to drink. Egads!
I was getting ready for happy hour Friday and telling her about my no-spend plan for the bar: eat before I go, order water, hope no one notices.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Order a beer.”
“But Mom, that’s the whole point. I’m not supposed to spend,” I said. “It’s a sacrifice that will make me realize how much of a privilege it is to spend.”
She wasn’t convinced.
I headed over to the bar on my beater bicycle, the one I bought off Craigslist for $50. It is so old and heavy I never worry about someone cutting the lock. At the bar I kept my eyes off the fried calamari my friends had ordered and asked for a water. No one said anything or seemed to care I was “starting with a water.” Struck up a conversation about food blogging, making videos on YouTube and my new site, BargainBabeLA.com.
The waitress came back with the next round of drinks but had forgotten my water. I didn’t say anything. After she came back a second time without my water, a friend reminded her. She brought it promptly.
When it was time to go I said goodbye and grabbed my bag. I was halfway out of the bar when I remembered I had forgotten to tip the waitress, as reader Terry had berated me to do in a comment.
Do you think bars are in business so you can sit there and visit? At least purchase an ice tea, sometime. That table is costing them money and the poor waitress tips. You are not the only one who has it hard but don’t make it harder on others.
Terry was harsh but his/her last sentence rang true. And it goes back to the frugal v. cheap debate. I may chose to live frugally by going on a spending moratorium, but when I force my choices on others I become cheap.
I turned around, pulled out the dollar I had brought just for this purpose, and found the waitress.
“Thank you for bringing the water,” I said.
When she saw the dollar her face turned sad.
“Oh, thank you so much,” she said in a way that I knew meant my single dollar made a difference.
It was the second time I broke the moratorium and I’m glad I did.
I don’t recommend making a regular practice of going to bars and only ordering water, but if you are on a spending moratorium, recently laid-off, or in serious money trouble, it is possible to go to a bar, enjoy your friends and spend next to nothing. If you have a guilty conscience about taking up space, go with hard drinking friends who rack up a booming tab and tip your waitress.
You haven’t checked out my new site? Tsk tsk. It’s SUPER awesome (if you live in LA).
The coolest thing about BargainBabeLA.com is that EVERYONE can share a deal. Here’s what I mean:
The Unethical Man shared a deal to get 5 free listings/mo on eBay.
Amygrahek shared info about a free concert series in Culver City that features Barbara Morrison and The Young Dubliners.
So_Cal_Retail_Slut shared info about free buses to Venice beach, Playa Vista and Marina del Rey that are operating through Sept. 7.
I posted a quick review of a fabulous burrito joint in Long Beach.
Check it out and don’t forget to celebrate the launch of BargainBabeLA.com with me on July 26, 2009 at Frugal Fe$tival! One lucky person will walk away with a $100 cash prize. Not joking.
