For those of you who eat out often, or would like to eat out more but worry about money Restaurants.com has a screaming deal for you right now. For every $25 gift card you buy they are charging $2.o0. That’s right TWO DOLLARS for $25 worth of appetizers, entres, drinks and desserts.

What’s the catch? It’s the as everything else on Restaurant.com

1) Your bill has to be over a certain dollar amount. It’s usally a $35.00 minimum tab for a $25 gift certificate although I’ve seen that $35 minimum go up for nicer restaurants.

2) There is also a required minimum 18% tip on the entire bill amount before the gift certificate. So you can’t buy $35 worth of food, use a $25 gift certificate and tip on the $10 you paid out of pocket. That is more then fair since the waitstaff need to earn a living too!

3) You cannot combine gift certificates. For example you can’t hand in $100 worth of gift certificates to pay for your tab. There is a minimum order for every denomination of gift certificate and you cannot use more then one certificate per day.

4) (Please note I’ve never tested this part) You can only use one gift certificate at a time per group. So if you and your friend go to lunch together you can’t both use gift certificates at the same table. If you have a big group with several tables you can’t use a gift certificate per table.

5) You need to make sure the order limits work for you. Some restaurants exclude gift certificate use on alcohol purchases, for example, although in my experience most don’t. Read the fine print.

6) They could have blackout days. My local House of Blues has something called “Gospel Sundays” which is a very popular day. You cannot use your gift certificate on a Gospel Sunday.

These are the rules as I have applied and understood them. Always read fine print for yourself of course because things can change but I’ve purchased and used several of these and I’ve never had a problem.

WAIT there is a BONUS!
Remember how I talked about how I love MrRebates.com? (If you missed it click HERE) If you go through that site you can get a percentage cash back on your order.

For Example:

I’m a Disneyland Annual Passholder so imagine my excitement when I discovered the House of Blues in Downtown Disney is a listed resturant. I purchased 4 different $25 gift certificates for the House of Blues at $2 a piece but I didn’t just go to the website and order. I went through MrRebates.com and received a percentage back on my total order.

My Order

4 ($25 Gift Certificates) for $2 each- totaling $8.00 (Use the code: FUN)

20% MrRebates cash rebate- totaling $2.00

Total price I will have paid once I recieve my quarterly rebate?

$6 for $100 worth of restaurant certificates.

Yes I could give you links to Restaurant.com and all that with my referral link from MrRebates but I’d really prefer that you register with them yourselves and start saving.

Originally $19.99 Currently on sale for $1.43 at Amazon. Even with $5 shipping you’re saving over 60%!

Check it out

http://www.amazon.com/Tooth-Tunes-Junior-Jungle-Book/dp/B001CF9FEO/ref=sr_1_56?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1262761492&sr=1-56

Buy the 

V Tech – Whiz Kid CD- Spider-Man & Friends

Originally $19.99 for $1.84 on Amazon. Shipping is $1.99 so you get it all for $4.00. You can use it on any PC so it would be a great gift for a child’s birthday as well!

Product Features
40 activities and games
3 modes of play per activity page
Teaches: Letters, Numbers, Colors, Animals, Nature, Counting, Matching
Comes with a CDRom and cartridge for learning on the go or on the PC
Recommended for children between ages 3 and 5

http://www.amazon.com/Tech-Whiz-Kid-Spider-Man-Friends/dp/B000NOZ3QY/ref=sr_1_72?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1262761043&sr=1-72

You can also purchase

V Tech – V.Smile Smart Book-Toy Story 2

for $4.00 (again originally $19.99)

http://www.amazon.com/Tech-V-Smile-Smart-Book-Toy-Story/dp/B000NOXGTU/ref=sr_1_117?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1262761347&sr=1-117

http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Finding-Nemo-Buscando/dp/B00029X8W6/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1262760831&sr=1-17

Even with the $5.00 shipping you’re still paying less then half price!

Try this one for awesome coupon codes: RetailMeNot

ChildrensPlace.com just did an additional 40% off mark down on Spring Sale Items. PLUS shipping is a flat $5 on all orders. PLUS use coupon code SA249 at checkout to save 15% off your total order. Expires: 05/10/2009. If your kids are invited to any summer or family birthdays now is a good time to stock up on potential gifts! 

I MADE IT! I’ll be honest and say I kind of did this as a joke (what kind of person sits there and grates soap in this day and age? apparently the smart people). I have a lot of laundry fragrance allergies and lived in perpetual fear that Tide is going to discontinue their original scent. I liked the smell of all three ingredients. And yes, I sniffed them at my Albertson’s grocery store before i bought them and they smelled fine.  

The big pain is grating the soap. (I should mention that a normal otherwise sane person might have just thrown everything into a food processor to grate. I preferred to remain true to my roots as an frontierswoman…that and I don’t have a food processor). I’m a multi-tasker by nature so I spread out a beat up looking 2 gallon ziplock bag I was getting ready to throw away on my lap as a sort of plastic tray. It took me 20 minutes to grate two bars on an old grater while watching the news. I felt kind of silly but kept at it anyway.

I used 1/2  bar of Fels instead of 2/3 so I got two uses out of one bar. It still worked great even with cold water. I now have enough powder for 128 loads of laundry detergent. And yes, I only use one tablespoon of detergent per load. It worked! of couse I am a relatively clean female adult so if you have little boys who love mud and grass you’ll have to adjust this to your liking.

If I use all the borax/washing soda/fels napatha correctly measured it costs me $0.92 for 32 loads of laundry. That comes out to roughly $0.02 a load. And I didn’t even shop around and price check my ingredients I just bought them from the local store. How crazy is that?

I definitely wouldn’t do this all the time but I certainly don’t have any problem grating soap a couple times a year. At the moment I have a large stockpile of Tide though so it’s going to be a LONG while before I need anything else. Still, it’s good to know!

Any other homemade recipes you have heard of or recommend?

The best part is? It’s not a liquid laundry detergent so it doesn’t take much storage space.  It makes a nice powder if you grate the soap really fine. Jen washed 5 loads with it (in cold water, no less!) and it worked great! She stores 32 loads worth at a time in a small Folgers jar that I’ve been recycling for years

Here’s the recipe , the original source of which has been unfortuantely lost. (I love the way the cost is broken down):

Powdered Laundry detergent
Ingredients:

• 2/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap (equivalent of 1 cup grated)
• ½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax
• ½ Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.
• Container large enough to hold 2 cups of laundry detergent

Directions:
Grate the Fels Naptha soap with a grater or use a food processor. Approximately 2/3 of a bar of soap will make 1 cup of grated soap.
Add the ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup of washing soda to the grated soap.
Shake and/or mix well

Use:
One tablespoon of detergent is sufficient per load of wash. If you have a high-efficiency machine, you might want to experiment with using a little less detergent for normal loads. If your clothes come out feeling stiff, lower the amount of detergent. For clothes that are heavily soiled, add a teaspoon more of the detergent..

Yield:
The recipe yields 2 cups of laundry detergent. If you use 1 tablespoon per load, you will be able to wash 32 loads of clothes.

Cost:
20 Mule Team Borax: $2.50 for 70 oz. – Cost per batch: .14 (4 oz needed for recipe)
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda: $2.50 for 55 oz. Cost per batch .18.(4 oz needed for recipe)
Fels Naphtha: $1.24 per bar. Cost per batch: .83 (2/3 bar of soap needed for recipe) *
Total cost to make: $1.15 Yields 2 cups which translates to 3.5 cents per load.

Please note all products can be puchased both on Amazon.com and at Lehmans.com (a site I’d never heard of before but a place full of tips and tools for old fashioned and self-sufficient living). I picked up all three items at my local Albertson’s grocery store so you might want to call your local stores and see if you can save on shipping.

Let me know what you think!

Edited to Add: I made this! To see my results click HERE

Do youhave a little girl in softball? or tball? well Buy.com has the perfect gear for a great price.

List Price: $49.99
You Save:  (80%) $40.00
Our Price:  $9.99
Shipping:   FREE (some restrictions apply)
Buy.com Total Price:  $9.99 

click HERE to check it out

**edited to add: if you go through MrRebates.com or ebates.com you can earn 1% of your purchase price back in cash. Those pennies add up fast! Click HERE for more info about rebate sites and shopping online.