90% off Restaurant.com

Steve Harms passes along a rare 90%-off deal at Restaurant.com. $25 Restaurant gift certificates for $1 via coupon code “WOW.” There are other money denominations available as well, although they all require a minimum purchase.

Note that up to 80%-off deals are fairly common, but not the 90%.

Free Cold Stone Creamery on Thursday

Restaurant.com 80% off again

As you faithful readers will know, Restaurant.com frequently has deals on their gift certificates. Through Wed. (9/22), use the code SHARE to receive 80% off. Need restaurant ideas? The nearby Andy's Mediterranean Grille is there, as is Caminetto Bistro in the Kingsgate Marriott and many more (151 in the Cinci area).

Groupon for food truck

Today's Groupon is for Cafe de Wheels, one of Cinci's food trucks. I've not tried Cafe de Wheels yet, but the menu looks good and I hear good reports about it. You pay $6 for a $12 certificate for the truck.

IHOP free meals

IHOP has a new email club, which apparently gives you 3 free meals (1 for signing up, 1 on your birthday, 1 on your sign-up anniversary). Some places on the web are reporting there will be additional deals as well. Note that the link above is on Facebook, so you'll need to be a member in order to sign up; if you're not on Facebook, you can find the deal here.

Free museum tickets

Michelle Witt passes along this offer for free museum tickets. Note that this is only for Saturday, 9/25, "Museum Day." It appears that tickets may be good for only 2 people, so check the details. But several area museums are participating (and don't forget to check Dayton, Lexington, etc.).

New thrift store

Mandy Buckland shares this news: "This week I discovered the best thrift store I have ever been to in Cincinnati. St. Vincent de Paul on Beechmont in Mt. Washington (a few minutes past the Lunken Airport exit on Beechmont) . It is definitely not as big as Village Discount Outlet, but it is in a central location of several very affluent neighborhoods. The store is really clean, everything is sorted by size (they even have a petite skirt section and a very nice maternity section)... everything is nice (maybe not a specific taste or style, but in great or new condition). Maybe I was just there on a good day, but I was so impressed. All of their clothing is $4.49, but they run daily sales that are 25% and 50% off as well as a tag color that is $.99. They also have a house wares and small furniture section. The staff was very friendly and helpful and told me to tell all my friends about their store, so I am just following orders!"

Labor Day deals

A couple of deals, one to feed your mind and one to feed your tummy.

Half Price Books is having a 20% off sale this weekend (9/2-9/6). Of course, this is especially good when combined with their clearance prices, which range from $1 to $3. There are 2 Cinci locations, plus 1 in Florence (a newish one).

Qdoba has a deal for Monday, 9/6, only: $5.99 for an entree and regular drink all day long, no coupon necessary. This is good at the 3 area locations (Blue Ash, Deerfield and Florence).

Rent a maid

Thanks to Michelle Witt for passing along this deal: $15.00 buys you $100 worth of Molly Maid services. But then husbands miss the joy of running the vacuum!

Cincinnati Museum Center for free

Each summer the Cincinnati Museum Center (which includes natural history, Cincinnati history and children's museums) has free Friday events. And this year, you can also get access to the traveling exhibit America I AM. There are two left for this summer, 8/27 and 9/17. While the museums are free from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., you still must pay for parking. Thanks to Lisa Profitt for mentioning this event!

Restaurant.com deals

Kristin Bird supplies a new coupon code for Restaurant.com (this link takes you to Cincinnati listings, but you might want to adjust the mile radius) to save 80% on their dining certificates. The code CLEARANCE ends August 31.

Esther Price... CHOCOLATE!

So if you're not already subscribed to Groupon.com for the Cincinnati area, you might want to sign up today. Now. 5 minutes ago. Today's deal is $20 worth of Esther Price chocolates (at either Cincinnati-area store) for $10.

The coupon does expire on October 1, but I see no reason not to celebrate Valentine's Day a few months early. Or Christmas. Or Thanksgiving. Even Hanukkah. And didn't Ramadan just begin? (Although I guess that would mean you have to eat the chocolate at night...)

You do have to sign up to get this deal, and you'll then receive daily emails (Monday through Friday) with coupon offers. Call me crazy, but that's a small price to pay for chocolate...

Restaurant.com

You can save 80% at Restaurant.com by entering the word big at checkout. You can get a $25 gift certificate for $2. It says the offer ends Monday 8/16 so act fast.

Cheap symphony tickets

The Cincinnati Symphony is offering some $10 tickets -- see here for more info.

Free fries

Thanks to Jodi Marshall for passing along an opportunity: free Penn Station fries (which my 3-year-old declares to be the world's best) on Wednesday, 8/18. See here for the info.

Free sticky notes

Thanks to Steve Harms, we can all get some free sticky notes! Hooray!

Free Shakespeare

Thanks to Josh Avery for pointing to this: the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company offers free performances via Shakespeare in the Park! There's still time to catch a performance of either Hamlet or A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Free Qdoba food

This Friday, 7/30, Qdoba is celebrating its (their?) anniversary with buy-one-get-one-free entrees at the 3 area locations. No coupon necessary. See info here, or Qdoba's menu here.

Half Price Books coupons

Half Price Books has some coupons for next week (week of 7/12).

Also, they have a great kids' reading program for the summer in which kids earn free gift certificates after reading (or being read to) for at least 15 minutes each day for 5 consecutive days.

Finally, the Florence location has 50% off all clearance books this weekend. And when we were last there, they had a good bit of clearance material.

Cheap(er) cheesecake

So apparently 7/30 is "national cheesecake day" (sounds to me like a holiday our culture really needs). Cheesecake Factory will be offering "any slice" for "half price" -- currently, I don't see many details, but I'm guessing it will be restricted to dine-in customers. (But hey, have an appetizer and get some cheesecake.)

Also, if you become a Cheesecake Factory fan on Facebook, you get a personal invitation to "preview day" on 7/29, with which you can purchase a slice of cheesecake for $1.50. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking this beats the "any slice, half price" deal.

See the info -- and "like" Cheesecake Factory -- on its Facebook page.