Prudent and Practical

November 3, 2009

How to Get Cheap Tickets in Vegas

Filed under: saving money — Tags: bargains, discounts, eating out, entertainment, food, free, restaurants, review, saving money, travel — K @ 6:50 PM

During my shuttle from the airport to the Las Vegas Hilton, the driver explained how to get cheap tickets if you hadn’t purchased any yet.  I already had two Cirque Mystere tickets, but there were three of us that wanted to go so I checked out Tix 4 Tonight.  Tix 4 Tonight sells discount vouchers usually the day of the show.  The available showings post at 9:30 AM and the store opens at 10:00 AM.  They also offer discounts for local exhibits (Bodies Exhibit at Luxor and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum at The Venetian to name a couple) and discount vouchers for the local restaurants and buffets.

My Experience:

I used (or was with someone who used) the service three times.  The first location I visited was at Hawaiian Marketplace.  After standing in line for 15 minutes, Mom and I made it to a sales rep.  The rep was friendly, helpful, and fast, explaining different exhibits we might be interested in.  We purchased tickets for the Bodies Exhibit and Madame Tussaud’s and the tickets had to be used that evening.  If we didn’t have enough time, we could bring the tickets back and trade them for tomorrow.  We stopped at the Bodies Exhibit first and learned a lesson.  The tickets that you purchase at Tix4Tonight have to be traded in for actual tickets at the event or exhibit.  This meant standing in line another 10 minutes to trade the slips for actual tickets.  Mom was only there for 2-1/2 days – all the waiting was annoying.

Since Darren and I had tickets to Mystere, after lunch the following day we stopped at the Bills Casino location across from our hotel, Bally’s to get a ticket for my mom. (I switched hotels when the rest of the family arrived in town.)  Lesson #2 learned - when you purchase a voucher for a show, you’ve simply bought a seat for that show.  So, you must haul your tush across town and trade that voucher in for a ticket as fast as your legs will carry you – the sooner you do the trade, the better seat you’ll get.  You don’t get an assigned seat until you have an actual ticket from the show’s venue.

For buffets and restaurants, you pay a $2 or $3 service fee per person and they give you a discount pass.  The average buffet we went to was over $18, so a 25% discount per person definitely helps.

There are now 7 locations along the strip:

  1. Fashion Show Mall (strip entrance in front of Neiman Marcus)
  2. Hawaiian Marketplace (along strip in front of Polo Towers)
  3. North Strip (south of Riviera Hotel)
  4. Showcase Mall (south strip near the giant Coke bottle)
  5. Downtown (4 Queens Hotel at the Fremont Street Experience)
  6. Bills Casino (on the corner between Bally’s and the Flamingo)
  7. Casino Royale (across from the Mirage and next to Denny’s)

What I Liked:

  • Discounted tickets – the shows out here are expensive!
  • The employees were efficient
  • You get a $2 fee discount and entrance to the short (VIP) line if you bring your used ticket stubs back the next day
  • Online coupon for a fee discount
  • Many locations

What I Didn’t Like:

  • The long waits in line
  • Running around trading vouchers for tickets

If you’re not pressed for time and don’t mind waiting in lines or taking chances on ticket availability, Tix 4 Tonight may be for you.  If you are staying at a casino-hotel that is the home venue for a show, you may be able to get discounted tickets there.  For example, the Price is Right tickets are $50, but because I was staying at Bally’s (where the show is) I was able to snag tickets for $37.

There are also the freebie attractions at the casino-hotels.

There are a few other attractions that I didn’t list because I didn’t visit them.  You can see them at About.com’s Vegas page.

Have you used Tix 4 Tonight?  What did you think and did you save a lot?  As far as the freebies go I really enjoyed the Bellagio attractions, how about you?

July 7, 2009

Free Organic Baby Layette Giveaway

Filed under: saving money — Tags: free, natural — K @ 1:52 PM

Jessica over at Eco Child’s Play has just listed a a new GIVEAWAY!!!  If you’re interested, you can click here to go sign up!

Organically Grown is giving away a unisex mini wardrobe to one lucky reader!

All of the products from Organically Grown are made with organic cottons. From their website:

According to the Organic Exchange, an estimated 170 million pounds of pesticides, and 25% of the world’s insecticides are used in the production of conventional, non-organic cotton. 7 out of 10 of these pesticides are on the EPA’s “known” list of “likely” or “probable” carcinogens. These chemicals result in work-force illnesses, water contamination, and the devastation of farmland. All of the problems are eliminated though organic farming practices. Organically Grown is proud to be a part of the solution.

Organically Grown is going to give one lucky reader three bibs (pictured above $18 value), an adorable Giraffe Three piece Set ($28 value) and  a World of Friends Blanket ($28 value).

giraffe 3 piece set 240x300 photo Free Organic Baby Layette Giveaway

organic blanket 158x300 photo Free Organic Baby Layette Giveaway

Here’s the link so you can go sign up!

June 26, 2009

How to Make a Free Compost Bin with Pallets

Filed under: Headline — Tags: DIY, free, home improvement, natural, projects — K @ 12:49 PM

3 years ago I tried to build a compost bin out of 4×4′s and 2×4′s – big mistake!  I only made one panel because it ended up being so heavy so I gave up on the idea.  That following year D and I finished installing our 40 foot long retaining wall and we had quite a few pallets sitting in our driveway.  These were something that our hired dump truck would not take away.  About this time we had slowly started thinking more “green”.  I wanted a compost bin now and had talked D into one.

Basically we made two attached topless cubes using 9 pallets.  We had some snow fence, so we stapled that to all pallets to keep the compost better contained, but I have seen some pallet-compost bins without the snow fence and they’re doing just fine. All pallets were screwed together except the front pallets and bottom pallets.  We attached the front pallets with some twine so we can easily pull them off and flip the compost.  We just left the bottom pallets unattached – you may opt to not even have a bottom; we just put them there because we had extra pallets.

Here are a couple of the photos!  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

As requested, here are the tools needed:

  • 9 pallets
  • All weather screws – we used 12
  • Drill
  • Fencing (snow, geogrid) – if using
  • Stapler – to attach fencing if using

Where to find pallets:

  • Big home improvement stores (Lowe’s, Menard’s, Home Depot, etc.)
  • Grocery stores
  • Warehouses
  • Shipping / transporting companies
  • Electronic stores (Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, etc.)
  • Subdivisions/where homes are being built
  • Craigslist
  • Put out a “wanted” listing in your local newspaper
  • The Wooden Pallet Recycling Exchange

Remember to talk to a manager and also find out if you can have them for free.  Some places may charge you for them since it cost them money.

Now that you have your compost bins, what do you do with them?  Read the next article in composting to find out!

June 11, 2009

Get a Free Cell Phone Battery

Filed under: saving money — Tags: bargains, free, sales, save money — K @ 8:54 AM
Various batteries: two 9-volt, two "AAA&q...
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You may have seen the advertisement on tv for US Cellular’s new “battery swap” program.  I saw it and thought that it was too good to be true.  I have had to purchase new batteries a few times in the past for my cell phones and they are not cheap!  All three times they were in the neighborhood of $30 each.

About two weeks ago my battery has been exponentially losing charge.  In fact, yesterday I was able to talk for a whopping four minutes before it died on me – while I was 70 miles away from home.  I knew it was time to put this whole free “battery swap” program to the test.

I walked into the nearest US Cellular store and was helped immediately.  The employee pulled out my battery to test it.  She didn’t even need to!  “Wow! You really do need a new battery!  Here, feel it.”  She put it into my hand and I felt a very convex surface.  She told me that when the cell batteries get old, they start puffing out (think of microwaving a marshmallow – only not as extreme!).  The employee got a a new battery for me and installed it, saying “Here you go, this will be much better!”  Hmm, that’s it?  Yes, that was it!  I was in and out in 5 minutes… with a new battery… for free!

As I stated before, this is only through US Cellular.  You must have an active plan and eligible phone with them in order to do the battery swap.  I purchased my phone and plan in a completely different city (2 hour drive) from where I got my battery swap – you don’t have to do that swap at your “home” location.  You can find more information at US Cellular’s battery swap information page.  You can also use their location finder to see which stores currently do the battery swap.

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April 29, 2009

What am I going to do with that junk? Reduce Reuse Recycle!

Filed under: General — Tags: bargains, cleaning, DIY, free, home, manage — K @ 1:00 AM
==Summary==Universal recycling symbol outli...
Image via Wikipedia

Spring is HERE and with that, the inevitable spring cleaning.  Before you throw everything away, remember this: each day Americans alone produce about 4.6 pounds of waste per day.  While you may know what to do with certain items – items with the recyclable symbol can go to the recycle bin and spare items can go to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

Reduce

One important way to reduce is to stop drinking bottled water!  Most bottled water containers end up in the landfill even though they can be recycled.  They also take quite a few resources to create and research has shown that many companies falsely state their water is “pure” – meaning you can get comparable water from your kitchen sink.  Invest in a BPA free water bottle or metal bottle and a water filter attachment for your sink.  Many fridges now come with water filters already built in.  This not only helps ease the environmental impact, but also the financial impact on you.  For more ways to recycle based on the different rooms in your home, check out Reduce.Org.

Another big thing is to stop using plastic bags when you get groceries.  You can purchase the cheap reusable bags or reuse the plastic bags you already have at home.  You may also be able to find alternatives at Goodwill, Salvation Army, garage sales, or consignment shops.  I’m more interested in this option – many of the cheap reusable bags are “Made in China” which kind of defeats the purpose.  If you’re decent with a sewing machine, you can sew your own.

Reuse

I like to reuse stuff because I like to come up with new ways to use it.  Towels you’re not using could be turned into a beach bag and clean jars (think peanut butter and jelly, pill canisters) can be made into small item storage.  In fact, I reused my parents living room set – they didn’t have room for it and I had a new apartment, so I used them.  The set they purchased to replace the previous is now ours too.  Now that D and I have a house, one set is downstairs and one set is upstairs – it worked out great for everyone.

Gallon milk containers are reused during Christmas-time around here.  A string of C9 bulbs are placed on the perimeter of the lawn and driveway.  Holes are cut in the bottom of the containers and placed over the lights for a cool glowing effect similar to luminaries. This is a popular and cheap thing to do, especially if you drink a lot of milk!

My favorite is composting!  There are a couple different ways to do this.  Traditional compost can be created by throwing in leaves, grass clippings, fresh produce scraps, and napkins.  The bin can be created easily by screwing together a few spare pallets or you can use a spare garbage can.  Vermicompost is composting with worms.  You can either buy a specialized worm bin or create your own from a common closet storage bin.  The worm colony can eat up to two pounds of scraps (fresh produce, but no citrus, and paper) per day!  Plus compost and worm “castings” (aka: poo) are fantastic for your yard and gardening needs.

Recycle

Ok, we all pretty much know about recycling, but what about big items?  If you have mattresses or carpet in very good condition, you could donate to Habitat for Humanity.  Other options would be to list the items on Freecycle or Craigslist.

If you have “technotrash” such as computer-related items, cell phones, rechargeable batteries, and printer cartridges, go to GreenDisk to find out where you can recycle them safely.

To get rid of hazardous waste or recycling, visit Earth 911 for the place nearest to you that can help out.

Resources (hm, a 4th “R”)

A couple of my favorite places to visit for RRR help are the MN Pollution Control Agency and IdealBite.  IdealBite has an option to sign up for a daily tip – it’s a short and sweet email I enjoy every morning.  Sam Champion’s Just One Thing on the Good Morning America website has many ideas for reducing, reusing, and recycling.

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