Great Deals in Big D

Lately I've been looking for deals in my quest for New Frugality. Here are a few I've found and are taking advantage of.

Free yoga classes: Lululemon Athletica sponsors free 60-minute yoga classes around town, with teachers from various yoga studios showing their stuff. Lululemon provides space (usually in a mall) and mats (if you need them), you show up. I've been doing this for the past month, and it is great.

• Saturdays, 9 am, Northpark Mall's open space
• Tuesdays, 6 pm, Galleria
• Thursdays, 6 pm, new Whole Foods (only during October!)

This has motivated me to take a weekly class as well as use my own DVDs at home.

Free coffee: Sort of. Starbucks' rewards system rapidly earns you free refills and discounts. You go online and register any or all Starbucks cards, then take said cards into store or online and buy coffee. For each purchase, you earn stars, and when you get 5, you get free refills in stores. It builds from there.

This does necessitate using your Starbucks card in-store to buy coffee, but I had $15 of loaded and unregistered cards in my apartment anyway from another incentive program. That's 7 drinks in-store, which means free refills for each purchased drink and earned stars. It'll add up to free coffee... which is a treat any more. I've stopped "buying out" because $2 was ridiculous for one cup of coffee, when I could buy a bag of ground coffee for $7. I could drop $10 in coffee costs alone, per week... and I drink regular drip stuff!

But I missed those early Saturday mornings at the Starbucks cafe where I got out of the house and wrote, religiously, for 2 hours. Now I can take those back at a reasonable price and 2 (not 1) grande drip!

And free cup o' joe on your birthday!

Note: Starbucks is also running a promotion whereby if you purchase a specially marked 12 oz. bag of coffee in grocery stores, you can redeem said (empty) bag for a tall drink... for free. I have four bags right now in my front seat, ready for redemption! I'm already buying Starbucks only when it is discounted to the same or less than Seattle's Best or other comparable brands (like for $6.99) and then saving the cost of a tall drink, too? That's another $1.75, making the actual $9.99 bag cost essentially $5.24: a nearly 50% savings.

Again, it's a treat.

(Nearly) Free restaurant dinners: OK, this one is a little less "free," but restaurant.com offers online discount certificates to local restaurants. For example, you can buy a $25 certificate for $10, meaning you pay 40% of the "regular" price. Now this is an eat-in/no liquor/add 12% tip deal, so one has to be careful in the restaurant not to go crazy. For 2 people, the savings is only $12.50 each, right?

Last week, I bought a $25/$10 certificate for only $3: meaning I spent $3 for $25 certificate, same rules apply. OK, I saved $7 off the initial cost. If a friend and I go out to this restaurant, spend the $35 required (yeah, a catch, but we do) and use the certificate, we each spend only $6.50 ($10 over $25 and $3 initial cost, split). $35 in this town in the restaurants on the list means 1 drink each (beer or happy hour deal), shared appetizer, individual entrees, and individual coffees.

Granted, we keep the tab running in our heads, don't buy dessert, don't have two drinks, etc.... but if we do, a nice meal can be had for diner costs. And we get to try out new restaurants. This week we ate at Mint, an Asian fusion palce in my neighborhood. Nice atmosphere, great happy hour deals, and goooooood food!