LA Bargain Hunter: the best bargains, sales and freebies in Los Angeles

Tips for Thrift Store Shopping

2010-06-30T19:10:00.001-05:00

I love visiting thrift shops. I get such a thrill out of finding unique and gently used books, furniture and sometimes even clothes (last week I found an amazing brand-new, tags-still-on-it skirt for $4!). There are so many great thrift shops to visit in LA. I'll be posting a thrift shop tour post soon. In the meantime, I ran across this post today by Doe Deere where she shares her best tips for successful thrifting. I couldn't agree more with her advice. It's worth a read!

80% Off at Restaurant.com Thru 6/30

2010-06-26T12:14:00.001-05:00

The 80% off sale at Restaurant.com is back through June 30, 2010. Enter SUMMER at checkout to pick up a $25 gift certificate for just $2. Search for participating restaurants in your area here.

Enjoy!

Double Yum: Get Your 2nd DQ Blizzard for 25 Cents

2010-04-19T20:00:00.001-05:00

Through April 25, when you buy a Blizzard at participating Dairy Queen's you can get a second one for 25 cents with this coupon. The 25 cent deal is being offered in celebration of DQ's 25th anniversary. Find the DQ location nearest you at this store locator page.

Restaurant Deals That Ease The Pain of Tax Day

2010-04-15T09:37:00.000-05:00

There are plenty of companies offering to make Tax Return Day a happier occasion. Take a peak at these offers and enjoy!

McCormick & Schmick's
This evening they are featuring several $10.40 dinner specials at the bar like the 1/2 pound “Inflation” Burger and “Taxing” Fish Tacos. All guests at the bar tonight will receive a $10.40 dining certificate which you can redeem in the dining room any day of the week after 5pm between 4/17 - 5/30/2010.

PF Chang's
Enjoy 15% off your food purchases - all day long. No forms to fill out or coupons to print. The offer is good for dine-in or take-out.

Baja Fresh
Enjoy a $2 burrito today with this coupon, available on Baja Fresh's Facebook page.

Starbucks
This is an Earth Day offer, but it's today, so I'm reminding you here...you can get a free brewed coffee at Starbucks when you bring in your own travel mug.

Buy One, Get One Free at Jamba Juice Thru 4/25

2010-04-13T11:44:00.001-05:00

Through April 25, you can use this coupon to buy one and get one free (any drink or smoothie) at Jamba Juice. The company says the offer is to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Enjoy!

Free Coffee at Starbucks on April 15

2010-04-12T22:43:00.000-05:00

On April 15th, bring a reusable travel mug into your local Starbucks and get a free brewed coffee.

The offer is part of Starbuck's Earth Day program. To make your pledge to use a reusable mug instead of a disposable paper cup on April 15, click here. Starbucks is counting pledges and estimating the number of trees saved.

50% Off One Item at Michaels, Thru Saturday 4/10

2010-04-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

If you've been feeling the urge to get crafty with a new project, check out this 50% off coupon from Michael's. Through this Saturday, April 10, you can use it to score one regular-priced item for half price.

To find the Michael's nearest you, click here.

2 Free Cups of Coffee At Corner Bakery

2010-04-08T09:58:00.001-05:00

Fan Corner Bakery on Facebook and you can receive a coupon good for two free cups of hand-roasted coffee at any of its locations (there are three in LA). The catch is, you have to invite a friend on Facebook to a coffee date at a local Corner Bakery Cafe. The promotion runs through April 26.

Click here to fan Corner Bakery on Facebook and get your coupon.

Click here to find the Corner Bakery nearest you.

Free Cultural Events, Thanks to Target

2010-04-07T23:34:00.001-05:00

I've written before about Bank of America's Museums on Us program (free admission to many museums during the first weekend of every month).

I learned today that Target also has a program that offers the community free or discounted admission to arts organizations. Target says it supports 2,200 free events and reduced-price performances each year at more than 120 museums around the country.

Here in LA, this includes:

CAAM: California African American Museum (1st Sunday of each month is free)
Japanese American National Museum (Target sponsors several free Saturdays throughout the year)
LACMA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Target sponsors free Holiday Mondays)
Plaza de la Raza (get in free on 7/17/2010)

Click here for more details on Target's site and to search for free events beyond LA.

$84 Cruiser Bike at Walmart!

2010-04-07T13:02:00.002-05:00

Deal alert for beach cruiser fans! Walmart has a women's Huffy cruiser bike on sale for $84 (reg. price is $100). The color is mint green. If you select "ship to store" your bike will be shipped free to the nearest Walmart store and you can pick it up.

Today Only: 20 Free 4x6" Prints at Walgreens

2010-04-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

Today only, you can get 20 4x6" photo prints for free at Walgreens. You'll need to present this coupon when you order.

To find the Walgreens nearest you, click here.

$1 Off All-Fruit Smoothie at Jamba Juice

2010-04-05T20:49:00.001-05:00

Through April 10, 2010 you can enjoy $1 off an all-fruit smoothie at Jamba Juice with this coupon.

Free Baby Mozart Music Downloads

2010-03-30T20:36:00.001-05:00

If you have little ones in the family, head over to Munchkin's site to snag free downloads of two music collections:

Mozart: Wombsong Collection
Mozart for Toddlers

Enjoy!

$2 T-Shirt Designed By You

2010-03-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

Printfection, a company that lets anyone design their own t-shirt and will produce and ship it to you within a week, is running a promotion to introduce itself to new customers. For $2 plus shipping & handling of $5.95 you can have your own t-shirt design produced and shipped to you. There's a limit of 1 per person.

Donate A Pair of Shoes, Get 20% Off at Cole Haan

2010-03-26T19:28:00.003-05:00

Through Monday, March 29, you can receive 20% off your purchase total at Cole Haan when you donate a pair of new or gently worn shoes (any brand). Shoes will be given to the Soles4Souls charity and distributed to people in need around the world. What a great cause, and a 20% discount at Cole Haan is a nice bonus!

Click here to find a Cole Haan location near you. There are several locations in the LA area.

$50 Treatments During Spa Week: April 12-18

2010-03-26T12:55:00.001-05:00

More than 40 spas in the LA area are participating in Spa Week, April 12-18, 2010, and each are offering select treatments for $50. At many locations, this represents a significant discount off the regular price.
To get details about the $50 treatments being offered at participating locations (which I've listed below), visit the Spa Week site. You'll have to sign up (it's free and quick to do) to gain access to the information. Once you've found the deal you want, simply call the spa and make your appointment. Enjoy!

Aesthetic Genesis, A Medical Corporation
Agua Spa at the Mondrian Hotel
Aveda Color Salon & Spa - nelson j beverly hills
Beach Massage and Day Spa
BEBA Beauty Skin and Body Day Spa
Belle Visage Day spa
Better Health Medical and Day Spa
BHPS Inc. by Dr. Gabriel Chiu
Body Bar Spa
Body Wellness Clinic, The
Broadway Skin Studio
Cariño Massage
CHI nail bar & organic spa
CityLife Medical and Fitness Spa
Clarins Skin Spa at Nordstrom
Clarins Skin Spa at Nordstrom
Cosmetic Rejuvenation Medical Center
DermaPhil Laser and Skin Care Center
Epitome Salon
Exhale Santa Monica
Forever Your Glo
Geri G.® Skin and Body / Cosmetics
Humble Abode
In Touch Massage & Day Spa
Jurlique
Lauren's Salon Spa
MetaTouch Theraputic Massage and Wellness Center
Naya Fresh Body Spa
Nitespa
Ocean Cosmetic Medicine
Ocean Spa & Fitness at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
Recess Organic Nail Spa
Skinpeccable, Cosmetic Laser & Dermatology Center
Spa Xanadu
Thai Sabai Traditional Thai Massage
The Massage Garage
The Massage Therapy Center
The SkinSpa Institute
Tikkun Holistic Spa
Verabella Skin Therapy
Vered Salon
Vida Emanuel European Day Spa
Yolanda Aguilar Beauty Institute & Spa

45% Off Spring Sale at Barnes & Noble Online

2010-03-26T10:37:00.003-05:00

Barnes & Noble is hosting a Spring Sale with 45% off a range of products from books to toys/games and activity kits. If you're a fan of Melissa & Doug products, you'll definitely want to check out this sale as all Melissa & Doug products are marked down by 45%! This is the best discount I've ever seen for Melissa & Doug items. I'm a huge fan of this brand and regularly buy their products as gifts for my nieces and nephews.

Orders of $25 or more qualify for free shipping.

Free Tickets to CBS's Beat The Chefs Taping - 3/27 & 3/28

2010-03-24T20:02:00.007-05:00

If you enjoy food TV shows, check this out. Details are straight from the email I just received from OCATV (free tickets distributor). I've found them to be very reliable in the past, although please remember that you should arrive early for TV tapings that offer free tickets to ensure you get in!

Beat the Chefs is CBS's new cooking show for anyone who loves food and the art cooking…and has a competitive nature. Beat the Chefs is a David and Goliath battle as the best home cooks in the country square off against celebrity chefs with egos, attitudes and accents.

We aren’t allowed to announce the celebrity chefs, but if you watch any of the main cooking shows on television you’ll know who they are. So get ready for the biggest, wildest PRIME TIME COOK OFF in television history. Talented amateurs with great family recipes versus pros with tons of training…Huge cash on the line. Huge drama. Huge stakes. It’s all about the drama, the action, and the food. And you can be in the live studio audience for free.

The show is taping two days only, this weekend, March 27th and 28th at CBS Studios in Studio City, California and the minimum age to attend is 18. For a show schedule and to print free tickets, please click here.

More Car Wash Coupons

2010-03-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

Many of you seemed to appreciate my last car wash coupons post, so here we go with round two!

Click here to find 315 coupons for car washes in the LA area. You can narrow the search by entering "car wash" and your zip code in the search area in the upper right corner of the site.

{Image credit: OlgaKay via Flickr}

$15 for 2 Weeks of Yoga Classes (Half Price!)

2010-03-19T10:26:00.001-05:00

Groupon offers some really nice deals at places around town. If you're into yoga and you haven't been to YogaWorks yet, you'll want to check out the deal available this weekend.

Through Sunday, you can purchase a 2 week pass for unlimited yoga classes at YogaWorks for $15. This is half off the regular price. YogaWorks has 8 locations around the city. You can get the deal here and you must use your 2 week pass by June 22, 2010.

Free Pastry Day at Starbucks on March 23

2010-03-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

Starbucks is hosting a Free Pastry Day on Tuesday, March 23. With the purchase of any handcrafted beverage, you can receive the pastry of your choice for free. You must present this coupon (printed or on your mobile device), and the deal is valid only until 10:30 a.m.

Don't forget that Tuesday, March 23 is also Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's!

March 23 is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

2010-03-16T12:46:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, March 23 is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's. Between 12 - 8pm, you can enjoy a free scoop (any flavor) in a waffle cone.

Click here to find the participating location nearest you. Be sure you select "participate in Free Cone Day" when you search.

* If you type in Los Angeles, CA to the search field, be sure to click "next" in the bottom right corner to see all LA Ben & Jerry's. There are quite a few locations.

Get A Free $10 iTunes Gift Card At Saks Fifth Avenue

2010-02-27T10:44:00.001-06:00

Saks Fifth Avenue is hosting a $10,000 Gift Card Sweepstakes. It's free to enter - you just need to fill in your name, mailing address and email. If you enter, Saks offers you a free $10 iTunes gift card, which you have to pick up by Monday, March 1, at a Saks Fifth Avenue store (it specifically states you need to go to the men's department).

If you're planning on being out and about this weekend, why not get the gift card? And you never know, you could win the $10,000 sweepstakes.

Click here to enter the sweepstakes (you can decline all offers and mailing lists).

After you hit submit, you should see this (see below), which you'll need to print and take to your local Saks Fifth Avenue store. Click here to find the Saks near you. In LA, the nearest locations are Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa and Mission Viejo.

49 cent Tacos at Calimex, Every Tues. & Thurs.

2010-02-24T10:41:00.001-06:00

I love finding a good hole-in-the-wall place to get yummy, inexpensive food. Today's find comes courtesy of LA Bargain Hunter reader Chris, who tipped me off to 49 cent tacos every Tuesday and Thursday at Calimex Restaurant. (Thanks, Chris!)

Here's the skinny:

Calimex is located in North Hollywood at 5342 Vineland Ave (just south of Chandler).

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you can enjoy tacos for 49 cents each. The tacos are made without extras as there's a salsa and garnish bar where you can load up on the toppings of your choice.

There are two decent reviews of the place on Yelp.

Where do you go for cheap eats? Leave a comment below or email me (greatdealsla AT gmail.com) and I'll post the best finds next week.

Free Pancakes at IHOP on Tuesday, Feb. 23

2010-02-17T09:33:00.003-06:00

IHOP is celebrating National Pancake Day on Tuesday, February 23 with a nice offer. Here are the details straight from its site:

Join IHOP to celebrate National Pancake Day on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., we'll give you one free short stack (three) of our famous buttermilk pancakes.* All we ask is that you consider making a donation to support local children's hospitals through Children's Miracle Network or other local charities.

If you really love IHOP, you might also want to consider entering its Stacks for Good Acts contest. (Deadline is February 19.) Share details about one of your good deeds in 2009 and you could win an entire year of free IHOP pancakes.