It’s time to celebrate Friday with a few freebies and food deals.

 

If you don’t like these choices, Restaurant.com has its $25 gift certificates, good at local restaurants, for $3 each until Nov. 9 with promo code DINE. Be sure to read the fine print before you choose a restaurant because some of the coupons require minimum purchases, are good for dinner only or have other limits.

• Bing: How to save money on groceries

Remember that not all local restaurants participate in all national promotions. If you have doubts, call ahead.

 

Here are the latest food deals, courtesy of our friends at Cities on the Cheap:

 

Recently I almost paid what Dave Ramsey calls the "stupid tax." There I was in the university computer lab, trying to jam as many things as possible into the few available minutes: answer work-related e-mails, read a departmental notice, update my Twitter page, take down a voice mail message from a potential renter. Oh, and use my asthma inhaler -- I was breathless from having rushed across campus in order to get in as much computer time as possible before class.

I did a Swagbucks search and won, bringing my total to the 45 points that I needed for a $5 Amazon.com gift card. So I ordered it -- except that I was so distracted I wound up ordering an Amazon.ca card, good only in Canada.

Did I mention that I live in the United States?  

While extending unemployment benefits this week, Congress also made a few moves its members say are designed to stimulate the housing market. If you're planning to buy a house, this could be good news for you.

 

Congress took two significant steps that will benefit certain homebuyers:

• Extended the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers (defined as those who haven’t owned a home in the last three years) through April 30.
• Added a new $6,500 tax credit for people who buy a new home after owning and living in their homes five of the last eight years.

The president is expected to sign the bill, which you can read here. The National Association of Realtors also has put together a helpful chart comparing the new and old tax credit provisions.

 

This guest post comes from Frank Curmudgeon at Bad Money Advice.

 

There is a movement amongst earnest policy wonks that might be called Nanny State Light. It’s a compromise position between full-on centrally planned we-know-what’s-best-for-you control and you’re-on-your-own-kid libertarianism.

 

The idea is that instead of making people do the right thing or hoping that they do what’s best on their own, you give them a little nudge and hint in the right direction. This is, I am told, the topic of a clever and popular book, “Nudge,” which I haven’t yet gotten around to reading. (But I bought a copy a few weeks ago. That’s something, isn’t it?)

• Bing: Reviews of "Nudge"

The latest scheme along these lines to hit the media was in The Wall Street Journal this week. Apparently, all we need to do to get people to save more money is to send them a text message reminding them to save more money.

 

A United Airlines Red Carpet Club member -- a Best Buy corporate vice president, no less -- says he was denied a first-class upgrade on a flight last month because he was wearing a track suit.

• Bing: Try Bing Travel

The My Fox Atlanta Web site reported about frequent traveler Armando Alvarez, who was commuting from his Maryland home to Best Buy headquarters:

He said he used his miles to upgrade to first class on a flight from Dulles to Connecticut. Alvarez said the gate agent called his name and when he walked up to the counter for his upgrade, the agent said he was dressed too casually for first class. "I was humiliated and embarrassed," Alvarez said.

Alvarez wore the same Puma track suit during a Fox interview and, in the video, his attire is very neat -- much nicer than a lot of sloppy-looking customers we’ve seen on flights.

 

This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.

 

A memo leaked from Verizon Wireless confirms that the company is increasing its early contract cancellation fees to as high as $350 for what it calls its "advanced devices." That's double the current fee.

• Bing: Worst cell phone plans

The memo, obtained by tech blog Boy Genius Report, states that an advanced device's cancellation fee will drop by $10 for each month completed under contract.

 

Though the company did not specify what it meant by "advanced devices," Boy Genius Report's Andrew Munchbach speculated it was targeted at high-end smart phones like the recently announced Droid, which runs the open-source Android platform and was built by Motorola. It's scheduled to debut Nov. 15.

 

At least one store isn’t waiting until Black Friday to unleash its deals. Rather than leaking its ads early, Wal-Mart is starting its electronics sales early, plus offering $20 turkey dinners for eight.

 

Wal-Mart will begin the first of several one-week “electronics savings events” on Saturday, Nov. 7. Here are the first week’s deals:

 

This guest post is from Mr. GoTo at Go To Retirement.

 

If you have paid off your mortgage -- as we did earlier this year -- you have some new tasks to take over from the bank or mortgage company. One of those is paying the property taxes on your home.

 

We just received our first tax bill. There are a few rules and procedures to be aware of.

• Bing: States with the highest property taxes

As most homeowners know, when there is a mortgage on the property, the lender or lender’s mortgage service company usually pays the homeowners insurance and property taxes directly.