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.