Wrapping Up 30 Days on a Discount – What’s Next?

My 30 Days of Living on a Discount has come to an end. I’ll recap here the last few days of this project, which ended this past weekend. But I also need your help to decide what to do for my next project! Please weigh in on the poll below, to vote for the project you would find most interesting:

The best thing I did on the weekend, on a discount, was attend the ACL Music Festival. I went to the first one, ten years ago, and have been to about five since. But I haven’t been the past couple of years. A few weeks ago, I saw that KGB Deals was offering 50% off tickets through SuperStar Tickets – and had ACL tickets available in their system. So Keith and I both purchased the deal, and then bought one-day ACL passes for Sunday, September 18. Tickets were $61 plus $15 shipping for a total of $76. We got a $25 discount through the KGB deal, and then an additional $25 rebate through a special trial offer through SuperStar Tickets. Net cost for ACL tickets: $26 including shipping – a savings of 66%!

We had a great time, with a line-up of shows that included The Airborne Toxic Event, Broken Social Scene, Manu Chao, Social Distortion and Arcade Fire to close the show. Best day of the summer!

Outrageous offers – the craziest deals I’ve seen

Today I thought I would share some of the wackiest, funniest and just plain surprising offers that I’ve seen. Since I started my 30 Days of Living on a Discount, I signed up for email notifications and newsletters from all the different coupon and deal companies out there. See the bottom of this post for a complete list of who I’ve been using, and feel free to add others I might not know of in the comments!

In receiving all these various deals in my inbox, I’ve seen some pretty crazy and amusing stuff. Here are a few of my favorite oddities – and if you want to see the wackiest thing I’ve ever done using one of these deals, check the bottom of this post.

Skydiving

Feathery jokers of the Winged Foul Foundation continually flaunt their cloud level view of the world. Just look at those barrel rolls and nosedives! Put the bird’s eye view to shame at Texas Skydiving Center and receive 1 Tandem Jump with Ground School for $179.

Show those birds what flying should really look like… cheeks blown back, arms out… a screaming mouth opened wide… pretty.

From Urban Dealight

Giving Back to Get

Here’s something you might not know – Groupon has their own initiative to support social causes, called the G-Team. I have used Groupon since they were introduced earlier in the year, and have written about the group-deal-buying pioneers many times for my Living on a Discount project. But did you know that Groupon not only helps fund great nonprofit causes, but the whole Groupon idea came from that?

Groupon was born out of a group action and fundraising platform called The Point. As the Groupon community grew, their collective consumer power helped people get great deals and discover fun ways to experience their cities. Through G-Team, Groupon is connecting its users with their communities in meaningful ways. One of my very first Groupon purchases, in fact, was a matched donation to The Miracle Foundation.

Taking Care of Business

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that require upkeep and maintenance, to help our daily routines flow smoothly. This week I had to attend to a few of those things, and was able to incorporate my discount project into it.

Loaner Bike Program at Eco-conscious Friendly's

My car needed to go in and see the doctor...poor thing needed an oil change and was having a problem with the AC (in this heat! Not good). I had purchased a Groupon for an eco-friendly oil change several months ago ($34 for a $75 oil change). Green Earth Oil is a biodegradable, recyclable, environmentally safe oil change, and I went to Friendly’s in East Austin to get it done. Savings: 55%. As an added bonus, Friendly’s checked my AC and rotated my tires for free, and they offer loaner bikes with a map of coffee houses and bike trails in the neighborhood. Since I only live two miles away, I just biked home and worked while they handled my car. (I also had to get my AC repaired at another place – no discount or coupon, I’ll admit. But with temperatures over 100 degrees, I had to get it done!)

There are also the little things like ink for the printer and supplies to keep the work life running smoothly. Hewlett Packard emailed me a 25% off coupon, so I ordered some replacement printer ink cartridges. Not very exciting, but I did save money.

Yoga, Books, Dance and a Weekend Getaway

I’m happy to report that I’m still going strong on my discount-only living for this 30-Day project. Except for the following non-negotiable, fixed expenses I have not paid full price for anything.

• Rent
• Utilities
• Gasoline
• Groceries (although I use coupons on as much as I can, and Keith got a 50% off coupon for Greenling. But if I don’t have a coupon for milk, for example, I’m still going to buy it.)

Chilling at Half Price Books

I haven’t bought anything that I didn’t have some sort of coupon or discount for that gave me at least 30% off. This past week I’ve done some shopping, tried a new yoga studio and enjoyed a great weekend of fun.

Earlier in the week I visited one of my favorite places, Half Price Books. As the name implies, everything is at least half off, and I regularly buy clearance books here for $1. On this visit, I picked up two DVDs for my daughter at $5 each, for a savings of 67-75% (they were retail $15 and $20). I also had a little fun and bought a Liz Lemon t-shirt package from the show 30 Rock, at the Universal online store. I love Tina Fey, and the sale was 31% off. Totally frivolous, but a fun little treat.