Free Valentine's Day

I’m forever searching for a more frugal way to spend Valentine’s Day, as I find it hard to stomach the idea of shelling out $100+ for a special romantic meal that would probably just leave me with heart palpitations over the excessive waste of money being spent. Okay, maybe not a waste because I do love delicious food as much as the next person, but on my current budget, the thought of spending $100 bucks for one meal is just ridiculous.

That being said, I ran across a couple of freebies this morning that can complement your plans for this Valentine’s Day.

Redbox

Today only, Redbox is offering a code for one free night’s rental. The code is SWEET and can be redeemed online or at any kiosk. Find your closest location here, or text FIND to 727272.

Denny’s

Denny’s is offering free coffee today from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. No purchase is required and I’ve seen conflicting evidence if you need a coupon or not. Just to be on the safe side, here’s a link for a printable coupon to bring with.

Also, don’t forget you can still get $1 16 oz. Jamba Juice smoothies, today and tomorrow. My store was dead when we went in on Monday. Unlike what I’d expected, there was zero line and we were able to pick any smoothie and walk right out. They’ll also upgrade you to one of their larger size smoothies at a special price of just $2 per drink, and, they even applied the dollar price to a smoothie for my two year old!

Free admission to the San Jose Museum of Art

The San Jose Museum of Art is holding a special Community Day on Sat., Feb. 9^th to celebrate Chinese New Year. Each Community Day, the museum offers free admission to the public. Saturday’s free hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

According to the Chinese calendar, we are entering the year of the snake. As part of their Community Day, the SJMU will have special New Years’ events including some hands-on art making projects, live music, and a lion dance at 1:00 p. m. All ages are welcome, and admission includes all the museum’s regular exhibits.

If you’re planning on attending, don’t forget to budget for parking near the museum. Alternatively, you could always take lightrail to the Diridon station across from the Shark Tank and walk from there. It’s a short jaunt just shy of a mile. 

AHH! OMG! Win Season Tickets to the Sharks!

Shh, don’t tell everyone (because I want better odds of winning), but the Sharks are doing some special fan giveaways this week as a thank you for not boycotting them for abandoning us all fall. Today’s prize? SEASON TICKETS! Yeah, it’s a short season, and yeah, it’s only 24 games, but hello, SEASON TICKETS.

You actually have a few more days to enter, and can also still enter for the previous days’ prizes. These include dropping the puck on the home opener, having lunch with some of the players, and even going on a road trip with the team. Heck, even if you don’t like hockey (and if you don’t you’re weird) you should still enter because if you win, you could always sell your prize for the cash. Or you know, give it to me. 

Affordable culture: not just for tourists

I about freaked out when I discovered the SF CityPASS yesterday. It gets you into the California Academy of Sciences, SF MOMA, the Exploratorium or the De Young, the Aquarium of the Bay, a Blue & Gold Fleet Cruise around Alcatraz AND a 7 day pass for MUNI and the cable cars for the low price of $69. You can even upgrade your Bay cruise to take the boat to Alcatraz for just 5 bucks more. 

Okay, 69 bucks is kind of a lot of money, but when you calculate how much all that stuff costs on its own, this is close to half price. One adult admission to the Academy of Sciences alone is $30 for the day. I have been dying to go there ever since they remodeled a few years ago. Between the architecture that my husband keeps raving about, the exhibits, and the floor-to-ceiling aquarium, what’s not to like? Oh yeah, the $30 entry. Enter CityPASS! I'm assuming this was designed for tourists since it includes the 7 day MUNI pass, but San Francisco has such great museums that it is always worth a trip. 

So yeah, as soon as I have an extra $69, or let’s be honest, $138 because how much fun would this be to do alone, I am so all over this pass.

The fine print

Each pass is good for ONE admission to each attraction. When I first ran across the CityPASS I thought it was an annual pass. Of course not. This is the Bay Area, after all. For those of you who live in other areas, they also have these, for different rates and attractions, obviously, in a number of other major cities like Seattle, Chicago, New York and Toronto. Also, the Exploratorium is currently closed until April 17^th as they’re in the process of moving over to Pier 15. Until then, that CityPASS coupon is good for entrance to the De Young.