Every Day is Black Friday with Groupon Coupons

Lat year's Toys for Tots donations

When I was younger, my mother was a huge day after Christmas shopper. This was traditionally the day you could get half price deals on holiday cards, wrapping paper and ornaments. 

Then Black Friday became a thing. My youngest daughter, Nora,  is a huge Black Friday shopper and we have driven from Thanksgiving dinner to sports stores so she can stock up on running shoes, running tights and soccer cleats. She also gets up at 5am and heads into Soho with her friends to trawl for the hottest deals.

I often buy toys half price right after Christmas and donate those the following year at Toys for Tots events. So they aren’t the latest toys, but I get more bang for my buck and the toys are all new and shiny.

Haven't found a deal yet for this car

This year is going to Nora’s biggest Black Friday yet - she gets home from her first semester of college the day before Thanksgiving, and that early morning Black Friday shopping excursion will be the first time she has seen some of her high school friends since August.

I prefer to avoid the crowds and I recently found out about Groupon Coupons. This is a new (ish) venture for Groupon. Instead of buying a voucher upfront, and then strategizing about when to use it, you can get these free coupons for lots of retailers.

And you can use these coupons anytime - not just for holiday shopping. Nora’s birthday is right after Thanksgiving, so I can shop now at some of her favorite retailers and spend the day after Thanksgiving letting my pants out and running an extra 12 miles to work off all that Thanksgiving gluttony.

I did a quick check of what's available right now on Groupon Coupons and found deals at 2 of her favorite places: $10 off at Uniqlo and 40 % off at Adidas.

There are also travel deals at Orbitz and Travelocity and since we have not yet booked hotels for our next family vacation, I know I will be able to score some deals here.

The beauty of these coupons is that if you buy them and forget to use them before the expiration date, there's no buyer's remorse: you aren't out any money.  But you can definitely save some.

Note: this is a sponsored post. Opinions expressed are my own.

Fitness Challenge: Day 68

Almost every day, websites like Groupon, Living Social and Bloomspot offer bargain-hunting New Yorkers discount fitness classes. You can get yourself a nice assortment of gym passes and classes.

I just sampled NYC Boot Camp, an outdoor boot camp that meets in Coney Island, Battery Park City, and down the street from me in Prospect Park.

The founder, Alan, uses playground equipment, hills and steps in the hour long workouts.

My favorite exercise was a TRX-style chest pull, using the playground swings. Without kids on them. We also did pull ups on the climbing equipment, burpees and triceps dips from the benches, and walking lunges through the park.

The partner exercises get you invested in someone else’s success. In one innovative exercise, one person did crunches; the other,
holding her feet down, held a plank.

Your face was basically stuck in someone else’s sneakers, but since you are bear crawling across the playground and running in park where animals defecate, the smell of your partner’s feet is the least of your worries.

We got wet, (it was raining) dirty and winded. It was a great workout.