Costco California Pizza Kitchen (2x$50) e-Gift Cards for $70 through 12/15

Plan to be doing some mall shopping this holiday season?  Grab electronic gift cards to California Pizza Kitchen from Costco at 30% off!  You get 2 $50 electronic gift cards for just $70.

BJ's Black Friday GIFT CARD Deals

Long-time followers may remember my fondness for scooping up discounted gift cards.  Why?  Because you are starting your transaction already with X% off, then you can layer sales for that store plus possible savings through a shopping portal like Rakuten, ibotta, or Capital One Shopping.

Since the pandemic, I have admittedly been in a rut where I do a lot of shopping through BJ's Wholesale, opting to shop online and pickup in store.  So I just went to check the Black Friday deals and was pleasantly surprised!

Note:  Not a member of BJ's Wholesale?  Join here.

The gift cards below represent a 20% off price, good through 12/2/2024!

• Lowes - 3 pk of $25 - Retail Value $75, BJ's $60 (20% off)
• $75 Top Golf Gift Card - Retail Value $75, BJ's $52.49 (30% off)

• $50 LL Bean Gift Card - Retail Value $50, BJ's $40 (20% off)
• $50 Applebee's Gift Card - Retail Value $50, BJ's $40 (20%off)
• Barnes & Noble $50 Gift Card - Physical - Retail Value $50, BJ's $40 (20%off)

• $10 IHOP Gift Card, 3 pk. - Retail Value $30, BJ's $24 (20%off)
• $25 Regal Entertainment Group Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20% off)
• $25 Ruby Tuesday Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $25 Gap Options Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $25 Panera Bread Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $25 Vudu Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $25 Fandango Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $25 Ace Hardware Gift Card - Retail Value $25, BJ's $20 (20%off)
• $20 Subway Gift Card - Retail Value $20, BJ's $16 (20%off)

Sue's Amazon Favorites of 2024

Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.

If you are not an Amazon fan, I get it... But there is something about the convenience of a few clicks and items arriving 24 hours later or even sooner!  

If you are trying to figure out some gift ideas this coming holiday season or just trying to pick up something different for yourself, I thought I would share a few items that were new for me this year from Amazon.

Kitchen

I admit to having a kitchen gadget addiction.  I am trying to start to get rid of those that I don't use, but here are a few new ones in heavy rotation:

An empty nester's best friend when you are used to cooking for 4 and are down to 2...  Just freeze the extra servings for another day!  I regularly use these silicone freezer trays to save some when I make a big batch of rice in my pressure cooker, so I can make fried rice on my Blackstone when the mood strikes me.  I still have the larger 2 cup trays on my Amazon Wish List.

Speaking of the Blackstone... Through the Blackstone grilling group I am on on Facebook, I learned about a few unknown-to-me sauces/marinades including Bachan's Asian sauces for fried rice (get that at  Costco/BJ's Wholesale at much better pricing than Amazon):

A little pricey, but a simple-yet-unique marinade called Chiavetta's.  Worked well with boneless chicken.  Not sure if I have seen anything like it in the supermarket here, but I may just have missed it.

I *chronically* overcook meat unless probes are involved!  For much less than the price of wireless options, I got a four probe meat thermometer set so that I can have one probe in each end of the roast and then a third in the veggie lasagna for the vegetarian relatives at the holidays!  A small base unit hangs on the handle of your oven door while you can walk around the house with the wireless unit.

Rather than disposable K-cups, we use the reusable K-cup that came with our Keurig.  But getting the grounds out after using it is quite annoying without using these handy filters.  Don't forget that coffee filters and grounds are compostable!

Health & Beauty

OK, this one is more like one of Hubby's favorites, but he's really enjoyed the switch from traditional shampoo to bar soap.  He uses the "Chill Out" scent of Grown Ass Man which is good balance of "mainly" smells without it being too overpowering.  He opts to only use this on his hair and uses other soap on his body.  In our house, Santa includes some personal care items in your stocking, so I've asked Santa to include a bar or two for Hubby's stocking.

Oh but I *do* get my shampoo and conditioner from Amazon too!  Like many women of a certain age, I find my hair has gotten much thinner and more limp than in my youth.  While it was not overnight, PURA D'OR has brought volume back to my limp hair.  Definitely recommend if you are struggling!

Clothing

I lived in these Sketchers Pier-Lite Sandals this summer!  Super easy to slide on and off and comfy!  Sketchers seems to have picked up the Easy Spirit slogan philosophy of "Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker!"

Outdoors/Home

What are these gadgets you ask?  We have a long driveway in dark neighborhood.  These lights make our driveway look like an airport landing strip for those coming to visit these dark winter evenings.  They can withstand a car driving over them too!  Lights have about a 2-3 year lifespan before we replace them.  So we are on our third set.

I have to admit, this steam cleaner was a frustrated-with-cleaning impulse buy, but did a solid job cleaning various floors.  I even used the more targeted nozzle to clean the crud around the bathroom sink drains and other odd spaces.

What are you looking for this holiday season?

Sue's Favorite Shopping Portals 2024

Yes, I long ago embraced letting portals/app track my shopping habits in return for a "rebate" of the percentage of my shopping.  A few of my favorites:

                                                  

Rakuten continues to be one of the better known options (formerly known as Ebates).  You can either use their app or shop through your web browser.  Rebates are issued as quarterly deposits via PayPal or similar cash apps.

I have done VERY well with Capital One Shopping lately.  Does the app eerily track what websites I open?  Yes.  Did it reward me with an email link to get 20% cash back shopping online with BJ's Wholesale Club.  Then after using that link, did I get another email with 11% back rather than their standard 1%?  YES.  Ka-ching!  They sent me a 20% link for Hilton earlier this week because I was looking at rooms in case I need to stay over when we pickup Little One from college for Thanksgiving.  The tricky part:  You have to buy gift cards rather than receiving cash, but the gift cards include many common vendors including Amazon.

Don't shop online?  No problem!  

Ibotta has been around for years, letting you take photos of your receipts to get credit for specific items.  Ibotta specifically includes several national liquor brands, so if you are shopping for adult beverages for holiday gifts, don't forget to check.  They have online shopping links similar to Rakuten and Capital One Shopping too!

Fetch Rewards lets you manually take photos of your receipts as well, but even gives you a small credit for receipts that do not have designated items. 

Have a favorite I don't mention?  Share it in the comments!

Note:  This post contains referral links including my Amazon Associates link.

2024 Prime Days - Oct 8th and 9th

 

Links below may be referral links.

So yes, we have learned over the years that Amazon's various promo days tend to just re-hash sales they already had over the last few months.  October Prime Big Deal Days are likely just a method of cleaning out warehouse space in preparation for the upcoming holidays.  

What do I usually look for during promos like this?

1. Gift Cards under Lightning Deals - They do not come out often normally, but there are often restaurant gift cards that are discounted 20% during these sale events.  Of course, as I type this, there are no gift cards but fear not, as Lightning Deals change over the course of the day.

2. Things I regularly buy from Amazon anyway - I have a few obscure items that I wouldn't even know where to find them outside of a larger store front like Amazon.  Like I get little mini filters for our Keurig to make it easier to get the coffee grounds out into the compost bin.  Heck, I pretty much get all my filters including HEPA and refrigerator water filters off Amazon.  

3. Things I fought the urge to impulse buy but left in my "save for later" section of my cart.  I started adding a few items to my "saved" items list that I think my now-officially-adult kids might enjoy.  Like my son now that he's doing his own cooking noted that he enjoys new spices, and I noticed that there is an advent calendar of spices!  Alas, not on sale, so I will continue to stalk.

The important thing - Check a site like camelcamelcamel to see if its really a good deal!

What I am currently kicking myself for buying in the last few weeks because they are on sale today?  We have a long driveway and since discovering the individual solar lights that lie on the driveway it had been a game changer.  Yes, our driveway looks like an airport runway at night!  The solar batteries do deteriorate after a few years so we needed a replacement set.  The brand I normally buy (Jackyled) is actually on sale for 25% today.

What are you stalking on Amazon right now?

Sue the Bargain Hunter: Return of the Bargains

Disclaimer:  Post contains referral links.

It is hard to believe it has now been 20 years since I officially got the title "Mom"!  The budget ran leaner in those early days, and thus the reason for Sue the Bargain Hunter emerged. 

Currently, while I take a break from my professional career, I find myself listening to budget/financial blogs like those from Ramsey, Suze Orman, etc.  Even if you are financially stable, it cannot hurt to pause and pause to check if you are using your resources wisely!  

My shopping habits these days?

I have spent a lot of time (and money) in BJs/Costco the last few years - I am lazy and shop in bulk, but generally try to time my purchasing so that I only buy certain items if there is a coupon.  But now that I am an "empty nester", that bulk shopping is just too much and going to waste.  So I need to go back to shopping the traditional grocery store like ShopRite and Weis.  Bloggers like Living Rich with Coupons continue to be the experts in the local shopping game, so I would continue to defer to them in all those coupon matchups.  And yes, a whole lot of Amazon (referral) continues to be very good at delivery to my house and my Amazon Associates account is still active for when I want to share items I like at Amazon with friends...

But I still continue to use a few saving apps too!

Rakuten  (referral) - Yes, I have given up my privacy to have my shopping stalked!  Just make sure you turn off notifications if they disrupt you and remember to log into the app before you start shopping on your phone!

Fetch  (referral) - Fetch processes both your paper receipts and your electronic receipts received via email, giving you credit on top of sales prices when you buy their target items.  I even recently got bigger bonuses recently after buying something from Dick's Sporting Goods since Dick's shipped via DoorDash (so I was able to combine Rakuten and Fetch!).  I just cashed in my first Amazon gift card.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.

Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Part 2: FOOD

"I'm hunnnngry Mommy....."

We didn't eat lunch before we got in line to embark, so our first stop after going to our room was to go in search of food.  Like most cruises, "basic" buffet food and some specialty restaurants are included in the price of your cruise, with some of the nicer restaurants incurring an upcharge.  With Big One's egg allergy still a factor for less cooked eggs (i.e. no mayonaise or other egg-containing sauces, egg pastas, and no little egg bits in fried rice), we opted to spend most of our time at buffets, so my info about the specialty restaurants is limited.  But hey, this is also Sue the Bargain Hunter, so why would I spend extra on food anyway, right?

So Day 1, after briefly wandering aimlessly, we found one of the restaurants that is buffet during the day and nice restaurant at night (Moderno, Deck 8 Aft if I remember right).  The buffet was "meh", but was enough to tide us over until we wandered the ship more and found additional options.  We discovered the Uptown Bar & Grill (Deck 15 Forward) - Think nice, big Five Guys type burgers, but with different options.  Here's a photo of my burger from the last afternoon of the cruise - same burger I got the first day.  Turkey burger with mozzarella cheese on the Italian roll.  Mmmm.... burger...

Just beyond Uptown Grill is the Garden Cafe, a.k.a. the mega buffet.  Honestly, we ate most of our meals there just because there was something for everyone and convenient - just five floors up from our room.  Little One pretty much lived on cantaloupe and soft-serve ice cream for the week.  Big One tried just about one of everything protein or carb (other than eggs and things containing mayo or custard of course).  Hubby hit the omelette station nearly every morning.  

 The beauty of the buffet is that if you don't like something, just grab a new plate and try something else. The buffet is a giant square with the central kitchen in the center.  Some stations are repeated on multiple sides like the "grill" section (where you can pretty much always find burger, hot dogs, and fries at any lunch or dinner), but there are more specialized sections where there was one corner where the food tended to be more Indian/Middle Eastern vs. the Asian section and of course the carving station at dinner time.  Alas, I only discovered the last day that if I didn't want to stand in the omelette station line, that there was a separate spot that had pre-made omelettes (e.g. I got a Denver omelette that morning).

And yes, as noted, Little One was hooked on the soft serve ice cream machines.  They are both located at the end of the buffet closest to the mid-ship exit that heads toward the pools.  Yes, there's a real ice cream section to the buffet as well, but the kids LOVE getting to make their own soft serve cones.

So we didn't eat EVERY meal at the buffet.  Other places we tried:

• O'Sheehan's is the "pub" - Their bar overlooks the Atrium area where a lot of activities take place so you can drink/eat and be entertained.  Since we ate two meals the afternoon of the first day, we thought we'd just get appetizers at O'Sheehan's as "dinner".  Keep in mind the appetizers you order are single person size, not table size, so the "nachos" were a one person supply.  They also came with the sour cream already poured on them (*Yuck* IMO).  We did go back for lunch later in the week and tried the burgers and fried fish though, and were happier with our choices for lunch.  The fried fish was a thicker cut of proper fish (like you could see the layers separated vs. minced fish of Gorton's).  If you want a view of the activities in the Atrium, plan to come at least 15-30 minutes before the event to grab a chair that directly overlooks if it's a busy cruise week.  We also thought we'd try eating breakfast there one morning, but the fixed breakfast menu was pretty much all egg, no pancakes/waffles.  (Uptown Grill had a small breakfast menu as well that was also very egg-heavy)

• Taste, Savor, and The Manhattan Room are the complementary (no upcharge) nicer restaurants, and all have the same menu.  We ended up in The Manhattan Room the one night, which differs from Taste and Savor because it has a giant window for an ocean view, and they have a band with dancing after 7:30.  The kids opted to try "grown up" food rather than eat off the kids menu.  Big One has developed a fondness for red meat, and enjoyed his NY strip (although he did snap at me to stop trying to cut his meat for him after he was complaining about grizzle).  Little One tried the rotisserie chicken, but was frustrated that it came slathered in gravy.  For those seeking healthy kid options, they do give the kids the option of a fruit plate as their appetizer or dessert.  For myself, I forget my appetizer but I got the shrimp fried rice which was good.  Yeah, we didn't go back for "fancy" food though because it just wasn't fun with my kids.

• Alas, we never made it to Shanghai's Noodle Bar - While also complementary, it's was only open for dinner and had an hour wait the night we tried to go.  We promised the kids we'd try to find something similar near home.

• While we didn't go because, well, we were being frugal, my sister-in-law and her husband who previously traveled on the Breakaway thought it was worth it to do the upcharge for Cagney's Steakhouse, which they described as being Ruth Chris-esque.

• We did decide to take the kids to the Cirque Dreams & Jungle Fantasy dinner show.  I'll comment on the entertainment portion separately, but the food, while limited menu, was good.  The only entree choice except for asking for the kids' menu was a beef tenderloin (filet mignon) with shrimp billed as "surf and turf" with a mozzerella / tomato / prosciutto plate as an appetizer and selection of mini desserts.  Big One was happy but Little One again wanted to head up to the buffet for a snack after dinner (She again didn't want to eat off the "kids" menu, so I give her credit for trying it!)

Outside of the Breakaway, one meal we ate on our excursion was lunch at the Blue Lagoon Island Beach.  Our excursion price included our lunch:

While not the burger from Uptown Grill, not a bad burger.  You had your choice of beef or chicken burger or I think a veggie burger, fried plantain, French fries, beans & rice, plus grabbing fruit / salad and a single cup of drink.  Plenty to eat and it hit the spot after some beach frolicking, but I'll spend more time talking about Blue Lagoon later.

So in summary, we all came back a little rounder, even with all the stair climbing we did all day on the cruise, because of all the tasty options!