Personworks Web Log

Friday's Deal Mail!

Hi Folks,

I won't have time to send a full deal mail today. In fact, I have almost no time at all between meetings and other craziness. I do, however, want to make sure that you all get something good in your inbox... But I warn ya' this is going to be really, really quick:

1. Great one-day only price on an all leather executive office Chair:
Raynor(R) Hampton Leather Executive Chair, Black - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000WA0VW/seattleot-20

2. A few folks asked me recently to let them know when the grill cleaner brush was back on sale. It is today at a great price: (63% off!)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004RALY/seattleot-20

3. People seem to love the bonsais that I've been featuring (I even bought one and I love it!), so here's a great deal on a lucky bamboo plant:
Brussel's Lucky Bamboo Plant - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DGF9W/seattleot-20

4. All Riedel Stemware (the really beautiful hand blown wine glasses) are on massive sale. Check it out:
Riedel Sale - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/297575/seattleot-20

5. As always, a great deal on a set of knives (83% off!!):
Sabatier Prosteel 7-Piece High Carbon Stainless-Steel Knife Block Set - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005BK8G/seattleot-20

6. A great deal on a really nice, programmable rice cooker that you can actually get a free carafe with (go to the product description page, scroll down a little, and click the "Buy Both and Save Button" to get both for $89.99 (this one might be today only.):
Zojirushi NS-KCC05 Micom Programmable 3-Cup Rice Cooker & Warmer - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004S57C/seattleot-20

7. And finally, a great end-of-season blow out sale on a portable radiator heater for 60% off!
DeLonghi DR18T Rapido Heavy Duty Oil-Filled Radiator - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000638TQ/seattleot-20

Friday's Deal Mail!


(4/23/04)We've got some great deals this week, and I'm a little short on time, so I'm going to jump right in. Don't forget folks, when I say its "Today Only", make sure you act fast... Lots of this stuff goes out of stock pretty quickly!
I'm going to start with an amazing deal that, while a little on the spendy side (as we used to say in Minnesota), is worth every penny. For those of you that want a digital camera, but were holding out for when the SLR models finally came down out of the $$ stratosphere, this may be your lucky week. One of the top items in our entire CE store right now is the Fujifilm Finepix S7000. This is a 6.3 MP digital camera with 6X optical zoom and more features than I can mention. It normally retails for about 900 bucks, but between the rebates and the great prices on it right now, you can get it for about half that! Check it out, along with the fantastic write-up and reviews.


Fujifilm FinePix S7000 6.3 MP Digital Camera w/ 6x Optical Zoom

The second deal is also a fantastic deal, but this one is today only. Amazon got a huge price break on a beautiful stainless steel set of pots and pans from Cuisinart. This set is normally more than $200, but is under $55 today. Its a five piece set from a major brand name at about a third of what you could buy it for at the department store. What more could you want, right?!

Cuisinart 5-Piece Stainless-Steel Cookware Set

As long as we have a few kitchen items in here, it's been way too long since I've featured a knife deal (and yes, I know you've noticed.) For those of you who are carnivores out there, there is a great deal on a full set of really nice steak knives from Wusthof. (Come on, you know you want to break out a set of these so people know you're serious about your meat!) 8 Knives, Pretty wood storage block, 81% off - What a bargain!

Wusthof Silverpoint 9-Piece Steak Block Set

Speaking of eating - Why should you have to head all the way to McDonalds to have fries, or anywhere else for that matter. Make 'em at home along with fried fish, onion rings, chicken...whatever! There's is a great price today only on a fryer from T-Fal - Its almost 60% off! To be honest, I never personally considered buying one of these before, but I always thought they were a whole lot more expensive. This one is under 40 bucks, which seems like a great deal.

T-Fal 62870 Magiclean Deep Fryer

One more knife offer I just can't pass up. If you really like to cook or know someone who does, you probably already know about Santoku knives. These are the incredibly sharp knives you usually see them using in Japanese restaurants to make the sushi and extremely thin vegetables. They are really hard to find on sale, because they are such a gourmet item. However, today only, Amazon has Wusthof's version for more than 55% off!

Wusthof Gourmet 4186 7-Inch Fine Edge Santoku Knife

If you didn't already stock up on bedding when I featured it before the Easter/Passover holiday, there's two good deals today that are even better now that the holiday is done. First, a great deal on a Queen/Double comforter from Pacific Coast Feather.

Pacific Coast Cozy Colors Full/Queen Down Comforter

And an even better deal on a nice sheet and duvet cover set to go with it!

Wamsutta Palm Tree Queen Duvet Set

Now that spring is, in fact, here for most of my readers, get a jump on the pruning. Amazon has the really high rated Fiskar's Powergear Pruner for half of right now. At $15, add something else to your order for the free shipping and you'll have an even better deal.

Fiskars PowerGear Pruner

OK, OK, I know that this week's mail is all over the map, but I had all these notes for great deals and...well...they're not really in order, so...Here's a fantastic deal on a really, really highly rated hair dryer from Panasonic. (THis is actually one of the top items in Health & Beauty today because of the price drop, which is today only. Check out the reviews, people are saying things like, "Best dryer I've ever used!" and "I was in AWE"...56% off today only.

Panasonic/Pantene Ultra Ionic Hair Dryer

Second to last item: A really, really nice option for a mother's day present from Crabtree & Evelyn. A complete spa sports bag with tons of goodies inside, including a candle, soaps, moisturizers...You name it. 57% off today only.

Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Spa Bag

Last product? In the, "I can't believe they make that!" cool category. There is a sale today only on a really amazing digital spy camera from ThinkGeek. This camera is built to look exactly like a zippo lighter, but takes amazing pictures, fits into you shirt pocket, and can even be used to transport data from one computer to another, instead of just pictures (it holds up to 310 pictures!!). Check it out (it normally goes for $99 but is about $20 off today only)

James Bond Stealth Camera

Friday's Deal Mail!

(4/16/04)We've got some great deals this week, but there's a few things I saw so I wanted to send the dealmail anyway. Don't forget folks, when I say its "Today Only", make sure you act fast... Lots of this stuff goes out of stock pretty quickly!

If you've been holding out for a Tivo and just waiting until it finally got rediculously cheap, today is your day. My #1 deal has been up for a large part of this week and is definitely a while supplies last situation. The 40 hour Tivo digital video recorder is on sale now for under $130 after rebate!!! This is a perfect entry level machine to get into and, unless you are a crazy-avid TV watcher like my friends, 40 hours is plenty of time for the amount of TV most people watch. (My wife and I have a 20-hour model from 3 years ago and we still hardly ever fill it up.) It comes ready to connect to your cable/antenna/satellite and either your existing home phone line or your home network, if you have one. So stop drooling over all of your friend's Tivo's and pick up your own!

TiVo Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder

The second deal is also a fantastic deal, but this one is today only. Our partner, Office Depot, is running a special sale today on an all-leather black office chair with a high back and full lumbar support. This chair is actually really, really nice and normally goes for $209!!! Today its 62% off and under $80!

Raynor Hampton Leather Executive Chair, Black

If you're like me, then you have a watch that you wear to work and most everywhere else and another that you don't care nearly as much about that you wear for hiking/swimming/other active stuff. There is a great, water resistant, basic Casio on sale today that has most of the everyday functions you'd need for this type of watch (timer, countdown timer, alarm, date, stopwatch, etc...) Today, it's 50% off at $12.47!!

Casio Sports 50 Meter Water Resistant

I can't remember if I've featured this one before, but I think its really, really cool and its at a great price so I'm putting it in today for the heck of it. Oregon Scientific makes a whole series of great clocks that automatically stay exactly on-time thanks to the national atomic clock (which they pick up the radio frequency for and set themselves.) This particular one is an alarm clock, combined with an atomic clock, combined with a weather forecasting unit that tells you the temperature outside, and all of that can be projected on your ceiling. Put this puppy in your bedroom and you don't even have to get out of be to know what the weather and temperature are like outside. Even better is the price. Normally these things go for hundreds of bucks (especially when you add things like wireless temperature/weather forecasters.) This one is 60% off for under 40 bucks today only!!

Oregon Scientific ExactSet Projection Clock with Cable Free Weather Forecaster

Now that Spring is finally here, I hope everyone is already longing to break out the barbeque. If you are and you just realized that you really need a new set of tools, there's a fantastic deal today on a 5 piece "prestige" set in its own case. These look really nice but hey, at 71% off who cares how they look? :-)

Mr Bar-B-Q 5 Piece Platinum Prestige Tool Set

Every once in a while I find something really nice in the jewelry area to feature. Today seems to not be the exception. I found this really pretty sterling silver bracelet with a "wave" design that is worth a look because its at a great price and its really a nice piece.

Sterling Silver Satin/High Polished Wave Bracelet, 7"

For those of you that have bought great digital cameras off of the dealmail (or elsewhere, heaven-forbid...) and need some more memory, there is a killer deal on right now where you can get a 128MB CompactFlash card for about 50% off after rebate. If you need one of these, stock up now!

Viking 128 MB CompactFlash Card

Two last items: First, because this seems like one of those things that sounds-so-crazy-it-just-might-work, the Acubead pressure point headache beads. Apparently, you put these pressure pads on your ear when you have a headache and they help reduce/eliminate it. I looked on the internet and it seems like a lot of folks think these really work. Since they were on sale, I thought I'd feature them... Hey, if you get headaches, might as well try this while its on sale rather than pay full price, right?

Acubead HeadacheBeads, Acupressure Strips

And the last item, just because I really, really want one and this is a killer price: How about a 17" widescreen flatpanel High Definition ready LCD TV for under 1000!? Don't like that? How about for under $600!?!?! This TV is a real thing of beauty and I can't believe they are finally coming in to the realm of what a sane person might call affordable. Check this one out with everything it comes with (including the stand, picture-in-picture...everything!)

GoVideo 17" Widescreen Flat-Panel HD-Ready LCD TV

Tips on doing the laundry

Sort laundry into four sections:
1. darks
2. lights
3. delicates
4. dry clean only

Keep laundry bins in every bedroom, especially your child’s room, make a game out of teaching them to put their laundry into the basket by giving them a gold star each week when they do so

Tip: a larger bin for kids is always better it has a better chance of actually making it into the basket!

Use a special bag for dry clean only and keep it hung in your closet, that way you can take it with you to work the next day to drop off at the dry cleaners

Take items out of dryer and hang them right away to avoid wrinkles and more ironing.

Tip: Have family members pick their favorite color hanger and keep the hung clothes organized by color of hanger

Be sure to allot time for laundry, I suggest picking one day a week to do it all, if this doesn’t sound doable, you can select days for certain people’s laundry

Don’t leave the washer or dryer running when you are not at home

Keep a tiny garbage can near by as a visual reminder to always empty out the lint from the dryer

Take things out immediately from the dryer and hang or fold

Tip: if you forget the dried items they will wrinkle, place a modestly wet rag into the dryer and set it to fluff, it should take most of the wrinkles out

Tip: if you leave the washing in the washer overnight, or longer, put them in the dryer and then re-wash it again to get the musty smell out of the cloths – hopefully this time consuming task will keep you from repeating this mistake!

LAUNDRY SPACE

Get rid of anything that doesn’t belong in the laundry room, for example, tools

Sort what does belong into categories, and place into bins, like laundry detergent – be sure to measure tallest bottle, if you decide to install shelving or cupboards to make sure they fit, fabric softener, stain removed, delicates wash…

Either toss or combine extra bottles of detergent, if you buy from a suplus store, be sure you have enough room for all of the extra supplies, if not, I suggest not purchasing bulk items


Other items appropriate for the laundry room:
• Cleaning supplies – keep in a caddy
• Cloth rags – keep in a bin
• Dog rags – keep in a bin, and wash after every use
• Mops, brooms – hand a utility rack on wall to keep up off floor
• Iron and ironing board – find an ironing board that can fold onto wall, that also holds the iron on it – you can fold it up when it is not in use

Friday's Deal Mail! 

(4/9/04) Between it being Good Friday and the fact that it's stunningly georgeous outside, I thought everyone would be taking the day off and it would be slow here. Instead its been crazy from minute one and the fact that I was out Monday and Tuesday having a great time with family doesn't make it any easier! Don't forget folks, when I say its "Today Only", make sure you act fast... Lots of this stuff goes out of stock pretty quickly!

My #1 deal this week has got to be one of the best deals on the site right now. This today only deal is an absolutely incredible price and promotion combo on a top-of-the-line breadmaker by Zojirushi. This breadmaker normally goes for about $250, but is 60% off at under $100 just today. In the proverbial words of Monty Hall, "But wait, there's more!" This sucker makes everything from bread to jam and pizza dough. *And* There is a deal on the site right now where you get a $20 Amazon gift certificate for a future purchase when you spend $99 or more in Kitchen. This brings the breadmaker down to an amazing $80 from $250!!!

Zojirushi BBCC-V20 Home Bakery Traditional Breadmaker

The second deal is also a fantastic deal that I'm pretty sure is today only. Made by Calphalon, this is one of those combined pot sets that lets you either steam veggies or cook pasta right in the pan and, when you're done, just lift it out and drain it. I have one from Williams Sonoma that we use all the time. Also, thanks to the glass lid, its really easy to figure out when you're food is done. This one is all stainless steel, is rated four stars, and is 74% off!!

Calphalon Stainless Steel Collector's Edition 4-Piece Multi-Pot Set

Last week, the noise cancelling mic/headphone for cellphones was by far the most popular item in my deal mail. Since folks seem to love these so much, I spent a little time this week trying to find standard headphones with good noise cancellation as well. These normally run in the $2-300 range, so it was a little tough, but I did find this great deal on some noise cancellation headphones by Sony. This pair is pretty small and folds up easily for travel. They normally go for almost 80 bucks but J&R is selling them on our site for a little more than $50...

Sony MDR-NC5 Noise Canceling Headphone

A few weeks ago I got some requests to make sure I let everyone know the next time the Dyson vacuums went on sale. So, this is pretty hard to do since they are still incredibly popular -everyone wants one of these things, so its hard to find a good price... One cool option: Amazon just got a load of factory guaranteed refurbished units. These are fantastic vacuums that actually look like an appliance you wouldn't mind leaving out (as opposed to the ugly vacuum you probably have buried in the back of your closet or laundry room now...) They also happen to have one about every award for quality out there. Check out the editorial review/write-up and the great price on these

Factory Reconditioned Dyson DC07 Upright Vacuum, Steel/Yellow

If you are in the market for a new receiver for your stereo system (or if you're just putting one together) there is a fantastic today only price on Amazon on an incredible Onkyo receiver with Dolby and complete THX 6.1 channel surround sound. I looked around on the internet and the deal for $500 on Amazon is about $130 less on this puppy than anywhere else I saw. Its a great receiver at a fantastic price.

Onkyo TX-SR701 6.1-Channel THX/Dolby Digital EX/DTS-ES Receiver

If you do end up picking up the receiver (or if you already have one you really like,) I checked and the complete KLH 6-piece surround sound system is still on sale for 82% off!! (I featured this one a few weeks ago and people seem to love it - It already is almost a five-star rated item!) Check it out in case you missed it, the price is incredible!

KLH HTA-9706 6-Piece 100-Watt Home Theater Speaker System

And now for something completely different: I saw this this morning and couldn't resist sending it out to everyone: In the health and personal care store, there is a travel manicure kit by Revlon for 53% off. Come on, you know that beach vacation is just around the corner!

Revlon Spa RVS1200P1 Impressions Travel Manicure Kit

Finally, and sorry again everyone that the dealmail is so short this week: My friend found an incredible price on one of those super-accurate radio controlled travel alarm clocks. With this gadget, you know your time is always dead-on accurate and, while it normally sells for almost 50 bucks, the price today is under $16!! A great deal to end with and a super gift for just about anyone...

Oregon Scientific Radio Controlled Travel Clock

# posted by Leslie @ 6:54 PM