Cash In On OpenTable.com: Tip-of-the-Day #219


RESERVE RESTAURANTS ONLINE, THEN WATCH YOUR POINTS (AND DOLLARS) ADD UP!

If you're not reserving your restaurant reservations through OpenTable.com, you're missing out on an opportunity to make some cold hard cash. Really. Not only is the service incredibly time-saving and easy (no phoning the restaurant or waiting in long lines to get your name on a list), but you get 'points' for every reservation you make, and those points add up to real dollars that you get back to spend on dining out!

I just cashed out 5,000 points and within a week received a $50 dining check in the mail that can be used at ANY OpenTable restaurant (that's just about every restaurant in the city of San Francisco). The best part is how quickly those points add up. Each reservation brings points - some as 'few' as 100, others as many as 1,000! Make just five (5) 1,000 point reservations and that's $50 right there!

Signing up is free and there's nothing but upside.

Note: Don't forget to use your dining check within six months after requesting it. It will expire.

Start saving up for your next great meal!

Sell Back Your Wine: Tip-of-the-Day #218


K&L MERCHANTS WANTS YOUR WINE!

I just received an email from one of my favorite wine shops in San Francisco, K&L Wine Merchants (also found online at KLWines.com). Knowing that their loyal constituency of grape enthusiasts often collect more bottles than originally planned, they are offering to BUY BACK 'well stored' wine - no questions asked. Interesting idea.

It is true that sometimes our taste changes and we end up with mature wine in a style that is no longer our favorite. And, sometimes bottles that were purchased long ago become so valuable that drinking them doesn't sound fun anymore. (That never happens to me). I will say that it is possible to run out of storage space (I've started stacking up boxes in my garage, marking them with 'drink by' dates).

Well, K&L would like to make people fair offers on the unwanted bottles, whatever the reason.

They are promising to pay immediately, and by check. If I had anything I felt like parting with, this would motivate me to do it. After all, that's just more cash for Christmas.

Write to: library@klwines.com if interested. Good luck!

Always File Expense Reports: Tip-of-the-Day #217


SMALL EXPENSES ADD UP!

I know some people who "don't bother" to submit an expense report after a business trip. They'll say things like "I'm too busy" or "I didn't spend enough to warrant submitting a report"... To that I have two things to say:

1. Are you ever too busy to get YOUR money back? If you are, consider hiring someone to submit your expense report on your behalf and pay them a percentage of whatever you're due back.

2. Even if you didn't spend "enough" to bother submitting a report this time - all those small trips will add up! A taxi ride here, a breakfast there - before you know it, you're overlooking hundreds of dollars that are rightfully yours!

I may be one of those people that "get on AP's nerves" because I'm so consistent about submitting my expense reports and babysitting them until the check is in my mailbox. But I'll tell you what, that money goes into my savings account where it grows and becomes a nice chunk of change. With the holidays around the corner, that's nothing to sneeze at!

Smart women don't ever "give" money away.

Repair Your Broken Lipstick: Tip-of-the-Day #216


REPAIR YOUR BROKEN LIPSTICK OR MAKE A NEW BALM FROM IT!

In these first days of fall - or rather San Francisco's first days of summer - I'm finding my lipsticks are all taking the heat (pun intended). Two of my BRAND NEW sticks melted and broke off at the base before I even had a chance to abuse them. So, I did some research and found out I have several choices with respect to what I can do with them now.

1. Throw them out. Uh, no! Smart women don't throw out perfectly good (albeit melted) makeup.

2. Take the broken piece of lipstick, and with a lighted match, carefully melt the base of the broken piece as well as the remaining lipstick still in the tube. Put them together and make sure it's standing upright. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and voila! Lipstick should be good as gold.

3. Take your lipstick out of the tube and microwave it for 30 seconds in a microwaveable container. Then transfer the melted contents to a small receptacle, like those sample sized containers that Kiehl's and other cosmetics companies dole out. Refrigerate and use it as if it were a lip balm. (Keep Kleenex on you to wipe the color from your finger when you're done applying).

Don't despair! Even lipstick can come around again for a fair shake.

S.F. Cultural Coupon Code: Tip-of-the-Day #215


ENJOY THE DE YOUNG MUSEUM FOR 20% LESS THIS SUMMER!

Enjoy a day at San Francisco's de Young Museum for 20% off! Peet's Coffee is enabling you to soak up more than caffeine this summer - take in some art at one of SF's most beautiful museums. Just go to deyoungmuseum.org, buy tickets online, and enter coupon ID: MPEETS.

Right now at the de Young you can view "Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay", running through September 6, 2010.

Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay presents nearly 100 magnificent works by the famous masters who called France their home during the mid- to late-19th century and from whose midst arose one of the most original and recognizable of all artistic styles, Impressionism. The exhibition begins with paintings by the great academic artist Bouguereau and the arch-Realist Courbet, and includes American expatriate Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black, known to many as “Whistler’s Mother.” Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Sisley are showcased with works dating from the 1860s through 1880s, along with a selection of Degas’ paintings that depict images of the ballet, the racetrack, and life in the Belle Époque.

Enjoy!

Spend Less Filing Your Taxes: Tip-of-the-Day #214


SAVE 25% OR MORE FILING TAXES THIS YEAR

If you're like me, you detest ponying up the $60 (or so) it costs to file your federal and state taxes each year. I use TurboTax because it makes the process of filing much easier and literally guides me through the various steps, even the tougher stuff like itemized deductions. But, before I begin, I ALWAYS perform a search online for deals on TurboTax. I'll use search terms like "TurboTax + discount code" or "TurboTax + exclusive offer". More often than not I'll pull up a laundry list of financial institutions or insurance companies offering special TurboTax deals to "their" customers, only you don't even have to be a customer to exercise the offer!

This year I vacillated between a Wells Fargo promo in which the federal filing was reduced significantly but the state was regular price, and an offer from State Farm whereby the federal wasn't AS discounted as the Wells offer, however the state was discounted, and so the total out of pocket was lower. In fact, I even found out that if you happen to be a State Farm banking customer (who knew they had a bank??) you could file for FREE! Alas, I am not.

All by way of saying, before filing your taxes this year and paying $60 more dollars to take care of this nasty chore, search out the deals. You may find something even better than I did as April 15 draws nearer and the deals get sweeter. Good luck!

Yelp Your Way to Results: Tip-of-the-Day #213


GOOD, BAD, OR UGLY FEEDBACK CAN ALL REAP REWARDS

Posting your feedback about local businesses on sites like Yelp!, OpenTable, Facebook and Twitter can prove rewarding. I tend to voice my opinion as often as possible; praising where praise is due, and squawking when displeased with a service or situation. What I didn't know is that businesses are actually monitoring the feedback in these forums and will contact customers when appropriate. Why? Because businesses have recognized a shift in the way that consumers "shop". We listen to our peers more than Zagat reviews or advertisements in local papers. It's incredibly important to businesses today to keep their flow of feedback positive to ensure future business and they can only do that if customers are happy.

Last week I posted a somewhat unfavorable review of a spa I'd visited and within two days I'd been contacted by the director of spa services, asking me to give them another chance and persuading me to do so with free massage services. I was impressed! And, it isn't just bad press that gets businesses jumping. I wrote a positive review of a jewelry store several months back and was rewarded with a coupon for dollars off my next purchase!

The next time you have something to talk about, do it! You'll feel good getting your opinions posted and you just may enjoy the rewards of your unbridaled (and invaluable) feedback.

Cosmetic Dentistry Dos: Tip-of-the-Day #212


TEETH NEED SOME WORK? SKIP CAPS, TRY BONDING.

About five years ago I was ready to address the spaces between my front teeth that had slowly reemerged after years of braces as a youth. According to my dentist, my "tongue thrust" (not hot, but something I do with my tongue and my teeth while I sleep) was the culprit for the wandering teeth. I explored my options and quickly learned that most were VERY expensive. Cosmetic dentistry is generally not covered by insurance and the out of pocket is a killer. And so, I went the route of the "quick fix" and opted for bonding. Bonding is a technique used to fix broken teeth, discolored teeth, spaces between teeth, etc. The only hitch is that it is temporary. Well, temporary means different things for different people. Jump ahead five years, and my bonding is still in place. Better yet, my insurance covered the cost of the bonding as a preventive measure to avoid tooth decay (more cavities can occur when there is space between teeth because there are more areas of a tooth exposed). Just sayin, before laying down the big bucks for a big tooth job, consider a "temporary" fix first and you just might be surprised by the results.

Cash in on Crab Feeds: Tip-of-the-Day #211


CRAB FEEDS ARE DESIGNED FOR ONE THING: MONEY MAKING

Well into crab season now, you may be considering attending a local "crab feed." These are generally designed with the intent to "lure" as many attendees as possible (at anywhere from $30 to $50 a head) with the promise of "all you can eat" crab. The general goal on the part of the host is to fill people up on bread and pasta so that by the time the crab appears, everyone is too full to indulge in the one costly item on the menu!

Crab lovers listen up. To get the most out of any crab feed this crab season, stick to the following tips:

1. Don't eat any bread - even if it's coated in butter and garlic and you're REALLY hungry.
2. Skip the pasta course (again, even if it smells really good and you've been fasting all day in anticipation of this meal).
3. Ask the food server to bring the crab out early. Most crab feeds are "all you can eat" so get your bib on and start eating!
4. Don't drink too much alcohol too fast - you'll get too drunk to eat the costly, tender meat of the sea...

Stick to these simple rules and you'll definitely get the most bang for your buck at your next crab buffet! Ole!