Taos On The Cheap

Hot tub packages at the Japanese-style Ten Thousand Waves day spa on Monday to Thursday  save dollars and provide a good excuse to head to the City Different for a day trip. The 20% off deals are good value and I always walk (wobble) away from Ten Thousand Waves feeling like overcooked spaghetti. (In other words: very relaxed. And it takes  a lot to relax Mrs Cheap. Just ask Mr Cheap.)

If you missed our earlier post on the September 2010 special offer, here’s a reminder. You need the coupons at the links.

Ten Thousand Waves September package: 20% discount on Waves of Bliss on Monday to Thursday at $295.20, discounted from a total value of $407. The four and a half hour package includes a private bath, 80 minute Masters Massage, Yasuragi head and neck treatment, 55 minute custom facial and a salt glow treatment.

The coupons are on their Facebook page, but you don’t need to be a Facebook member to print them.

If you can’t splash out on these packages, regular admission to soak in the hot tubs with sun decks and delicious landscaping is very affordable:

• $18.76 admission to the mixed or women-only communal hot tubs, stay as long as you like, and they provide a kimono, sandals, and towels, and well-equipped changing rooms with toiletries and lockers.
• $99 punch card covers you for 8 visits from Monday to Thursday (saving over $50) and you can bring a guest – two people can visit at a time using the punch card.
• The Waribiki Rewards Club card for New Mexico Residents gives you a 20% discount on private baths, massage, and spa treatments on Monday to Thursday. You can’t use the card on the day you receive it, but if you’re at Ten Thousand Waves anyway, you might as well pick one up for future visits. Take your New Mexico ID.
• Half price for children 4 feet tall or under.

Ten Thousand Waves is located at 3451 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe

Get $50 worth of Gap gear for $25 – the offer is good on sale items too!  Deal details are simple, but you need to purchase today, then choose your clothes at Gap stores by November 19, 2010.

Buy the Gap $25 for $50 worth certificate from Groupon before tonight, midnight August 19, 2010, and then splurge on $50 worth of Gap apparel by November 19, 2010.  It’s valid on all apparel and accessories at all store locations nationally, including sale items. That includes men’s and women’s Gap, babyGap, GapKids, and GapBody.

Yes I know there are no Gap stores in Taos. But there are in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and presumably you might be heading down south in the next few months? Or if you’re visiting Taos, you probably have to travel through ABQ and Santa Fe to get here, or most likely have a Gap store in your home town. (Unless you’re coming from a town even smaller than Taos. In which case I can only throw the deal your way and hope you can do something with it.)

You can’t use the Gap Groupon Deal for Gap Outlet, Factory, or Generation, or for online purchases or gift cards. Otherwise, there are no major exclusions but all details are at the link.

Here are the nearest Gap stores to Taos:

• Santa Fe Place, 4250 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe
• Cottonwood Mall, 6600 Menaul Boulevard NE, Albuquerque
• Coronado Center, 10000 Coors Bypass NW, Albuquerque

Use the Gap Store Locator if you need a map!

My favorites are fleeces and comfy stuff, but people who don’t work from a home office and who actually have to look respectable every day in a Proper Office (and do they have to wear pantyhose too?) …. those folk shop at Gap for the smarter gear! You can also spend your deal certificate on jeans. It’s hard to go wrong there.

FYI : I’ve given you my Groupon.com affiliate link. If you feel like adding to our tip jar to support the Taos on the Cheap site, please use the link.

Pampered Chef Celebrity Cookbook for a Cause is a great deal – you can’t get much cheaper than free – and it also helps others in need. For each download a meal will be donated to Feed America, up to 140,000 meals. (That’s a lot of feeding people.) To get the free Pampered Chef celebrity cookbook, download it by September 30, 2010. The PDF cookbook includes recipes by celebs including Courtney Cox, Mario Batali, Alison Sweeney, Samantha Harris, and cookbook author Katie Lee.

Alabama Shrimp Skewers with Parmesan Grits sound good? David Arquette’s BBQ sauce? Cornflake-Crusted Chicken? Creme Brulee French Toast? Hungry yet? Enough with the questions.

Here’s where to download Cookbook for a Cause by September 30, 2010.

Savings on plants and herbs at Petree Nursery as we roll to the end of the 2010 season. Petree Nursery is offering a bunch of specials on remaining plants and herbs to clear them out before they close up for fall. This week there are discounts on herbs – prices vary but I bought two large basil plants and a tarragon and it came to about $14 for the lot including tax. The basil plants will hopefully see me through winter cooking, although if you just used them to make and freeze big batches of pesto you’d save on the equivalent price of basil in the supermarkets. 

They also have huge rosemary plants – effectively rosemary bushes, several feet high – that with this week’s discounts work out to around $39. You need to keep these rosemary plants in their pots indoors over winter (I’m advised) so it’s best if you’ve got some floor space – they’re big brutes. But if you do have space, they’re gorgeous, fragrant, and a snip of rosemary is excellent to have on hand for winter roasts and veggies. Sorry I’m all about winter today when we’re still sweating through summer, but plan ahead and you’ll save dollars in the long run!

Special offers at Petree Nursery will change each week and according to remaining supplies. Check them out on Petree Lane off Blueberry Hill, toward the south end. The turning is well-marked on the east side of the road.
Here’s a Google map for Petree Nursery in Taos.

Hot tub packages at the Japanese-style Ten Thousand Waves day spa on Monday to Thursday in August and September 2010 save dollars and provide a good excuse to head to the City Different for a day trip. The 20% off deals are good value and I always walk (wobble) away from Ten Thousand Waves feeling like overcooked spaghetti. (In other words: very relaxed. And it takes  a lot to relax Mrs Cheap. Just ask Mr Cheap.)

To get these special offers for each month, you need the coupons at the links.

Ten Thousand Waves August package: 20% discount on the Buddha Treat on Monday to Thursday at $183.50, discounted from a total value of $259. That gets you: a 55 minute private bath, a 55 minute massage, a deluxe herbal wrap, and a salt glow body treatment.

Ten Thousand Waves September package: 20% discount on Waves of Bliss on Monday to Thursday at $295.20, discounted from a total value of $407. The four and a half hour package includes a private bath, 80 minute Masters Massage, Yasuragi head and neck treatment, 55 minute custom facial and a salt glow treatment.

The coupons are on their Facebook page, but you don’t need to be a Facebook member to print them.

If you can’t splash out on these packages, regular admission to soak in the hot tubs with sun decks and delicious landscaping is very affordable:

• $18.76 admission to the mixed or women-only communal hot tubs, stay as long as you like, and they provide a kimono, sandals, and towels, and well-equipped changing rooms with toiletries and lockers.
• $99 punch card covers you for 8 visits from Monday to Thursday (saving over $50) and you can bring a guest – two people can visit at a time using the punch card.
• The Waribiki Rewards Club card for New Mexico Residents gives you a 20% discount on private baths, massage, and spa treatments on Monday to Thursday. You can’t use the card on the day you receive it, but if you’re at Ten Thousand Waves anyway, you might as well pick one up for future visits. Take your New Mexico ID.
• Half price for children 4 feet tall or under.

Ten Thousand Waves is located at 3451 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe

Getting to Taos? How did you land here? Find out how these three writers arrived in Taos (and other far-flung destinations) at a free reading tonight.

This sounds like fun. Three writers read from their travel memoirs tonight August 17, 2010, in an event titled Getting to Taos: Travel Memoirs of Taos Women in Middle Age. Readers are Phaedra Greenwood, Heather Antonissen, and Jan Smith. Greenwood reads from her new memoir North With the Spring about traveling in Europe with kids. Smith reads about her travels in England, Canada, and America. Opera singer Antonissen apparently arrived in Taos by car after a journey without map or plan. But, as we all know, that’s no hindrance once you actually arrive, as maps don’t work here and the concept of planning in Taos is, well…. touching. If not hilarious. Go for it Antonissen! She’ll be reading from her travel memoir/novel in progress.

Turn out to hear the stories of these writer dames, and you’ll get refreshments too. It’s free, although you can always make a donation.

• When: August 17, 2010
• Time: 7 pm
• Where: Enchanted Mountain Studios at 114 Los Pandos Road, Taos. Park at Smith’s supermarket or on the corner of Montoya and Los Pandos.