Wallet Hacks
Who doesn't like eating out? Who doesn't like getting a good deal? But, who wants to go someplace "because" they have a special? Wouldn't it be nice to get what you want and get it at a great price as well?
Sometimes companies don't realize the "unintended consequences" of the prices on their menu. Here are a few example. If you know of others that you have used let me know!
Chili's: Three for Me $10 Meals. Choose an appetizer, entree AND desert for just $10
Outback Steakhouse: Walkabout Wednesdays for $9.99. Choose steak or chicken with fries AND a drink for just $9.99
Applebee's: 2 for $20. Choose between two salads (or one appetizer) as well as two main meals with sides for just $20
Subway: Chicken Teriyaki cold cut combo for $7.25 (Free cold cut meats and BACON) Yes... FREE Bacon!! (and cold cuts)
There are other hacks here as well... Steak and Cheese
Burger King: $1 Whopper special. Buy a Jr. Whopper Meal and the Whopper for a buck and essentially you bought a Whopper Meal and got a free Jr. Whopper.
Olive Garden's Unlimited Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks: Choose between ANY entree at Olive Garden and get unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks. Or you could just do the $6.99 option of unlimited Soup/Salad and Breadsticks.
Olive Garden $50 gift certificate promotion.
If you knew you were going to eat at the Olive Garden for a couple of date nights or a family meal. Buy $50 in gift certificates and get $10 free. By "Pre-Paying" the meal you get an extra $10 towards the price of the meal.
Going to Disney World soon. Stay at the "All Star - ____" line of hotels. They charge a premium to be in the main building with the tram/bus stop. However the "wing" buildings are across the street from the main building of the opposing group. Stay in the cheaper wings and walk across the street to the opposing main building. (Stay in All Star Music (North wing) and use the All Star Movie bus stop) OR (Stay in the All Star Sports (South wing) and use the All Star Movie bus stop.)
Like to chill while watching Netflix? Streaming is great but there are a lot of movies that are only on disk. Have a movie that you like, but keeping it is tying up your que? Try a "long-term-rental". With a $14 refundable deposit you can keep your favorite DVD's for up to one year. Simply report the disk as "You lost or damaged the disc and would like to pay for it." Netflix will charge your account the $14 then ship you the next available title in your library. Return the disk within one year and they will refund your $14. (Blu-ray's are $20 for 6 months)
Speaking of Movies, do you love movie popcorn but dread the high price. Go ahead and buy that Large with the free refill. Enjoy your large popcorn, leave the movie with your empty bucket. Next time you go see a movie take your empty bucket and claim your free refill at that time. (Freegan Bonus: Take home someone else empty Popcorn bucket and claim their unused refill on your next visit.)
BONUS: To keep YOUR wallet from being hacked: How to create a "cryptic" password for your online accounts.
Your new password will be made up of three parts: Base, Recipe, Scale
BASE: This is an ACRONYM of your favorite poem, saying, meme, whatever.
Rule: It MUST be at least 6 words long.
Use: If my Base was "The name is Page, Geary Page" my acronym would be "TNIPGP"
RECIPE: This is a Letter-to-Number conversion of the site you are creating a password for OR the name of something.
Rule: The word must be three or more letters long.
Use: You will use the first and third letters of the name. If I was creating a password for my Facebook account the letters would be F & C. Thus my password to this point would be "TNIPGPFC"
SCALE: Add a number to the end.
Rule: Simply start at 1
Use: Most password for work or school will require you to change the password periodically. Some will allow you to use the same Base and Recipe and simply move up to the next number. For others, you can place the number at the beginning of the Base for one cycle and then change it back to after the Recipe for the next cycle.
My completed password would be "TNIPGPFC1"
Some passwords now require you to have a special character. You can swap out a letter from your Base with a special character that looks similar.
For example: I could change "TNIPGPFC1" to "TN!PGPFC1"