Daily Archives: February 9, 2010

Valentine’s Day Deals

February 9, 2010
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I was supposed to do a frugal Valentine’s Day ideas segment for “The 10! Show” tomorrow, based on the latest National Retail Federation research that said that Valentine’s Day spending would be down this year. That is, while loved ones would still be buying each other gifts, they would be spending less overall and choosing practical, affordable gifts over the extravagant ones.

According to this NRF research, instead of jewelry and dinners out, these gifts are going to top frugal Valentine’s Day lists this year:

  • sweaters, winter accessories and other clothing options
  • greeting cards
  • candy
  • flowers

Additionally, most people were going to be doing their shopping in discount stores instead of traditional department stores.

Based on all of this, I’d been gathering information and product samples from PR agencies and companies that have deals worth mentioning. Unfortunately, the incoming Nor’easter here in the Mid-Atlantic, during which we’re supposed to get up to two feet of snow, will make it impossible for me to safely get to the NBC10 studios in time. So my segment is canceled, and I will be return all the product that I can return to the companies that sent it to me for free.

In the meantime I was thinking: what am I going to do with all my great ideas? Blog about them, of course.

So for the next few days, I’m going to do a short blog posting on some of the items I would have talked about on camera but which I think the Suddenly Frugal readers will want to know about, too.

First up: affordable flowers!

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National Bagel Day Freebie

February 9, 2010
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To celebrate National Bagel Day, which is today, February 9, all fans of the Einstein Bros. Facebook page will have the opportunity to download a digital coupon for a free Einstein’s bagel with the purchase of a bagel. Coupons will be available to existing and new fans on February 9, 2010 only and are valid through February 16. Offer continues while supplies last and is valid only at participating Einstein Bros. Bagels locations.

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Cooking Without a Kitchen: My Trifecta (Not Trifle)

February 9, 2010
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For last night’s dinner I managed to have a trifecta of non-kitchen appliance use. Here’s what I did:

  • Cooked pork in the Crock-Pot. (It’s the salad-dressing recipe, which my husband announced he no longer likes. Great.)
  • Steamed broccoli in the rice cooker (yet another misnomer)
  • Baked potatoes on the grill

The only problem with this scenario? Our grill quite literally went down in flames last night. How do you know your grill is done for? When there are flames shooting out the back and the bottom falls out–still flaming. Thankfully we got 12 inches of snow this weekend so the fire got doused on contact. Unfortunately, the flames were also shooting around inside the grill, leaving us with potatoes that were quite toasty and burned–but still somewhat yummy.

I’ve got meatballs in the freezer that I think I’ll cook, with pasta, in the rice cooker for tomorrow’s dinner. With my grill out of commission, I have one less option for cooking meat.

This whole “cooking without a kitchen” has been an interesting experiment in being frugal–and not taking the easy way out and getting take out–but I must admit that the novelty has officially worn off.

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