Brokelyn

You can be extreme without being a jerk

Saving $1 here or there was just not enough after I watched the hardcore couponers on TLC’s Extreme Couponing. But the tactics on the show are not realistic, especially here in NY. Many of the supermarkets change the rules in exchange for being promoted on the show. North Carolina chain Lowe’s even publicly regretted participating in the show. So, can you have major savings when going to the “extreme” is not possible? Yes! I got so good at it my friends and family started calling me the “Coupon Queen,” and I will be sharing my tips in my upcoming coupon class Nov. 12 in Windsor Terrace.

What kind of savings are we talking about? My most recent “extreme” trip netted $101 worth of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, makeup and chocolate for just $18.86! I’ll give you a sneak preview of how I do it here. Read the rest of this entry »

Our heads have been spinning from all the deals coming out of the internets these days. With so many sites available, and new ones popping up, you have to wonder: which sites are worth adding into your already full “deals” iPhone folder? Signpost, a new promotional partner of ours, is worth a look, and here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

Deal sites. We love ‘em. Except when we buy the coupons and forget to redeem them (like half of the coupon-buying population, we’re told.)

So when the folks at a groovy new deal site called Tenka told us about their wallet-friendly twist on the usual pay-up-front model, we thought you might like to know more. On Tenka, you don’t have to pay on the front or the back end—most of their deals are totally, completely free.

Tenka, an NYC-based site founded by two ex-Googlers, Nhon Ma & Tim Zhou, specializes in mom-and-pop places that are overlooked by the bigger players in the deal space. It launches in Brooklyn today with a veritable freebie-palooza in Williamsburg: Read the rest of this entry »

FRIDAY
7pm: textile arts center’s kimberly hall discusses the appeal of handmade items, followed by a silent auction for scarves crafted by ‘virgin’ knitters. free wine + cheese! gowanus.

9pm (doors): this month’s dig deeper ‘60s soul party at southpaw features syl johnson (his 1967 ‘different strokes‘ has been sampled by wu-tang clan and others) and the sweet divines. southpaw, $15. Read the rest of this entry »

Do Groupon, ScoutMob, KGB Deals and the other sites still not quite fill your need for group discounts in New York? This week brings the launch a new site of a slightly different tilt: MindBodyGreen focuses on flash sales for healthy, organic, green or otherwise crunchy offerings from spas, restaurants and the like. The introductory offers today include a 10-person Pilates session at Body Tonic in Park Slope and $10 off GustOrganics, the city’s first and only certified organic restaurant (located near Union Square). Co-founder Jason Wachob (a DUMBO resident) says the site will focus on “everything from vegan/organic restaurants, to yoga and Pilates studios, to events and more.”

Get Him to the Greek

Here’s another NYC goodie  from group-coupon site KGB deals. Through Tuesday, Jun. 8, you can buy a $4 ticket  for any AMC movie theater. Little fine print for this one—except for the limit-one-per-customer, possible 3D/IMAX surcharge and black-out in Canada. Still, it’s a nice deal if you need a big-budget breather from the indie mania about to descend on the borough. AMC’s got a pretty good showing around NYC, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding one. Buy the discounted tix here, and do it soon—over 90 percent of them are long-gone.

Occasionally we find a coupon actually worth all the printing, filling-out, even mailing-in hassle. This one: a $20 mail-in rebate from Olay when you spend $50 on any facial moisturizers, facial treatments or cleansers. The downloadable form’s here, along with a few other Olay offers. And while we were on the topic, we decided to peruse other cosmetic brands to see what deals they had too. While nothing else was as sweet as the $20 rebate, freebies and samples did abound. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever been stuck in line at Walgreen’s behind the lady rifling through her purse for that 2-for-1 Purina Cat Chow coupon she clipped from the Sunday circular? And while standing there, did you think,”What a savvy consumer!” Even if you wanted to throttle that penny-pincher, you’ll probably find a Slate article on using coupons for free groceries to be a shopping epiphany.  The author, Alicia Barney, tells of some wondrous coupon feats by some truly thrifty shoppers out there—and she passes along plenty of advice on how to use the internet (and your innate George Costanza-cheapness) to get everything for nothing on your next grocery outing. Read the rest of this entry »

What is this, retailmenot? (No, but y’all know that you should check that and other coupon sites before buying a single thing online, right?) Anyway, we happened to get our hands on a 30 percent off coupon for the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, where they’re going big on the gay military-dictator look for late summer (left). The coupon is good in-store only for four days: Thursday July 30 to Sunday August 2. Five percent of your purchase price to Teach for America, which employs earnest college grads who used to go on to become corporate lawyers and now stay in the classroom because all of a sudden it’s a great gig to have. Here’s the coupon.

We’re all about the little shops here in Brooklyn, but when there’s another place somewhere with really good deals, our readers should know about it—even if it’s in Mumbai. So a few months ago, for an article in one of our favorite magazines, we did a test-shop at MakeYourOwnJeans.com, an online store that creates men’s and women’s made-to-order jeans, based upon your own measurements and design specs. Read the rest of this entry »