Borders: 33% off coupon, sneaky Rewards Plus trick.

I got a Borders coupon yesterday, and I'm seeing a disturbing trend. It looks like the golden era of the 40% rewards coupon is over — at least for us free-member peons. Now, it looks like the new regime involves a 33% coupon for Rewards (free) members, while the 40% off coupon is only for Rewards Plus paid members.

The Rewards Plus program is $20/year, and they usually offer some sort of incentive like $10 back in store credit to offset the cost, but given that they're having trouble paying the bills, a year-long paid rewards membership is probably not a wise investment. There are also rumors that Borders has been leaning on its employees to push these memberships, which is why we're all getting the hard sell now. RESIST!

Restaurant.com certificates 80% off.

Restaurant.com certificates are 80% off again, making the $25-off coupons just $2 and the $10-off coupons about $0.80. Use promo code LOVE through 2/14 to get the discount at checkout. (If you're not familiar with how this works, read this.)

In case you were planning to impress your thrifty valentine with your coupon savvy, though, please remember to check with the restaurant first to ensure that they'll accept the certificate on holidays. I got burned this way with a Restaurant.com certificate, even though there was nothing in the fine print about blackout dates, so call ahead to confirm.

Buy one Land o' Lakes Butter with Olive Oil, get a coupon for a free package by mail.

Land o' Lakes wants you to try their olive-oil-enhanced butter. How much do they want you to give it a whirl? So much that they're offering a coupon for a free second package by mail when you send in your receipt! BOGO your butter today...

BUY: One package of Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil



SEND: The original official mail-in offer form; and the original retail store cash register receipt dated between 02/06/11 and 04/30/11 with Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil. Postmark date must be on or before 05/31/11.


RECEIVE: A coupon by mail for FREE Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil (maximum value $2.99).

Groupon: Donate $15 to Greenpeace, get $15 in Groupon Bucks.

Groupon has been running some interesting offers lately, like this one, which allows you to donate to a nonprofit AND get something for yourself. When you donate $15 to Greenpeace through today's deal, you'll get $15 in Groupon Bucks back! Or rather, the first 6,667 will (says the fine print). The Groupon Bucks won't be available till April 15, so you have to have a little patience on this one, but think of the karma! And the whales!

Here's what Groupon says about why they're doing this: "While Groupon would love to match contributions for this campaign, we can’t because Greenpeace does not accept corporate donations of any kind, we’re counting on you to donate twice as much to make up the difference."

Zatarain's: Free Mardi Gras house party kit.

So I wasn't selected for the big fancy-pants Coffee-mate Free Flavor Friday party kit (not that I'm bitter about it). But it turns out that other companies have similar offers all the time: they'll send you a party kit full of supplies in order to have a themed party, and hopefully get some good word-of-mouth going if the party is a success.

Zatarain's (which makes New Orleans-style food mixes) is doing just that right now with a Mardi Gras party offer. The kit contains Zatarain's products, coupons, tote bags, beads and masks, and other fun stuff. Sounds like it could be a good start to a fun party, so get your bon temps over to the signup page if you're interested.

Facebook: Free bottle of Coffee-mate creamer.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the page has crashed. Coffee-mate says they are working to get it back online, so check in periodically if you want your free creamer.

All right, the much-hyped FREE FLAVOR FRIDAY is finally here... are you ready? Starting at 9:00 am PST (in just a minute), 100,000 of us will rush Facebook and mass-"like" Coffee-mate, in order to fill out the form for our free bottle of Coffee-mate creamer.



Click the "Free Flavor Friday" tab when you get there, and prepare for a flavor onslaught like you've never imagined.

Groupon: $10 for $20 at Barnes & Noble.

Perhaps inspired by Amazon's monster Groupon deal a couple of weeks ago, Barnes & Noble is doing the same thing today: $10 gets you $20 credit at Barnes & Noble, either in-store or online. (The deal is out of Chicago, but you can see in the fine print that it's valid anywhere.)

There's a limited number of coupons available and the deadline to buy is Feb. 7, so don't wait too long! You have until April 11 to use the full $20 and after that it goes down to the $10 purchase price, so time is of the essence with this deal.