Groupon has a national deal this weekend that will get you five one-day rentals at Blockbuster Express kiosks for $2. The regular cost would have been $5. I don’t really get the limitation of one per person when you can buy seemingly unlimited as “gifts”.

Note: You can only use one free code per transaction. In order to use all five promo codes you must rent (and check-out) five separate times. I tend to use these Blockbuster kiosks more than Redbox ones simply because they are at Safeway grocery stores, but the idea is basically the same. You can return to any Blockbuster kiosk, not just the one you rented from.

If you are one of the six folks out there that doesn’t have a Groupon account already ;), please use my sign-up link, and I’ll get some Groupon credit for referring you. Then visit the deal link.

Valid through May 1, 2013. Limit 1/person, may buy more as gifts. Valid only at any Blockbuster Express kiosks and for online reservation for pickup at kiosks. Not valid on Blu-ray or Hot List titles. Groupon value reduces by $3 after 5/1/2013, except where prohibited by law.

I’ve written about Restaurant.com already in the past. As opposed to a gift certificate, these are essentially coupons. The standard offer is a $25 certificate for $10, which usually comes with a $35 minimum purchase + 18% required gratuity on full price.

However, if you’re patient (see below) you can usually get them for 80% off or better, which lowers the price to $2. Now the math might look like this:

I wanted to add few updates.

1. You can always find the current promotional code here, it is automatically updated. I don’t want to repost every time they run a different promo. I would wait unless it is at least 70% off, the max is usually 90% but that is somewhat rare. Currently, with the promo code LOVE you can get 80% off until 2/14. I’ll let you decide whether it’s actually a good idea to use it on V-Day, as opposed to saving it for another time. 😉
2. If you don’t find many participating restaurants locally, don’t forget to possibly use them while traveling. I went to Las Vegas recently, we were told about a nice white-tablecloth steak place called Austin’s Steakhouse inside the Texas Station Casino (off-strip). The steak is really good, and also they have a special that is $14.99 for prime rib, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Turns out there this place is on Restaurant.com. Here is a Chowhound link about good Chicago restaurants on their list.

Amazon.com is offering $2 in free MP3 downloads with the code VDAYMP3S. No purchase required. Enter code at this link. It should increase your gift card balance by $2 for music purchases only. You must redeem the code by February 14, 2011 11:59 PM PST. Limit one Amazon MP3 promotional credit per customer.

Not quite as good as Amazon.com, but Groupon is offering a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble for $10. Valid either in-store or online at BN.com. Valid on sale items. Expires 4/11, which means on that date the value goes down to $10.

You can usually get free shipping once you reach $25 total online as well.

Lowe’s has an upcoming promotion called their Tax Refund Card. Starting 2/8, if you buy a card with value of $500 to $4,000 – supposedly with your tax refund but they can’t tell and don’t care – then on 3/18 you’ll get an additional 10% of the initial purchase price on the card. Ends 3/14. Not bad if you’re already planning on shopping there. I’ll probably wait until March to see if I really need it, just hope they don’t pull the promotion.

Here is the link for the Tax Refund Card and a YouTube video explaining what I just said above in a visually appealing manner.

Best Western is offering 250 free American Airlines miles if you (1) sign up for Best Western Rewards or are an existing member, (2) register for the promotion at this link (expired), and (3) set your earning preference to American Airlines miles with your AAdvantage® number by April 11, 2011.

As usual, this is nice to reset the expiration date of your miles, which is currently 18 months from your last account activity.

LivingSocial is a group-buying deal-a-day website like Groupon, and I guess they want some attention too.

They’re offering a $20 gift card to Amazon.com for only $10, looks like at every major US city today. Over a million have been sold already, with about 10 hours left as of this writing. So hurry! (Sorry couldn’t post this earlier, I’m on the road…)