Did you sign up for SkypeOut at the half-off rate when I told you to? Well did you? Gold star for those of you who did it. For those who didn’t, you may still want to sign up, albeit with the burning shame of knowing that you could’ve saved a whole lot….

Anyway, once you’re a SkypeOut customer, you can join them in celebrating Chinese New Year with 24 free minutes of global calling. You don’t have to do a thing other than visit the URL and claim your minutes. Easy peasy.

Unless you didn’t listen to me when I told you get the deal, earlier. Then it’ll be a bit more complicated. Oh well. Let this be a lesson to you, grasshopper.

You can always get the lowest prices and free shipping at Deep Discount DVD, and right now you can also use coupon code 20PERCENT to take an additional 20% off. (They only have coupons codes a couple of times a year, so now’s a good time to shop.)

Be sure to browse the collection of $5.99 Disney titles for the best bargains! They also carry video games.

I have it on good authority that Santa—who often leaves DVDs in the stockings—is known to stock up at DDD during the year. Just sayin’.

I don’t know if I’m really the candle type; I mean, I like candles, but I have some friends who are into candles the way I’m into chocolate. And I don’t quite get that. (Though I’m guessing that would make my diet a lot easier. Hmmm….)

Anyway. Maybe you love candles; maybe you’re making up some gift baskets or teacher gifts; maybe you actually have somewhere in your house for pretty tea light holders and such. I don’t know.

Anyway, right now you can take $10 off your $50 order and get free shipping on $75+ at Illuminations through February 28th, 2007. Be sure to check out the sale section; there’s some great deals in there. On candles. And stuff that goes with candles. But no chocolate.

Thanks to Jennifer for this tip (it’s not as good as $1.99 shoes, but at least you know it’ll actually come):

Right now at Coastal Contacts you can order two boxes of Focus Night & Day lenses and receive a rebate from the manufacturer for the entire purchase amount. That’s $100 worth of contacts for free! Offer expires February 22nd, and requires a recent eye exam.

I’d be all over this if I could wear contacts for more than an hour without wanting to claw out my own eyeballs.

I’m a little bit in love with this.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, there’s a great new offer from Restaurant.com. Use coupon code SWEETHEART to get 50% off, and every $25 certificate comes with a bonus $10 certificate, too.

Normally their $25 certificates are $10, so with the code you end up paying $5 for $35 worth of eats. Code is valid through February 14th, and the money you save can be spent on flowers. Now that’s romance!

Many thanks to Barbie2be for this tip: Apparently her local radio station is doing a promotion with Red Envelope where you can use coupon code Marla for $5 off of any order actually it appears to be giving $10 off. That’s fabulous because their coupons almost always have purchase minimums, but that one does not. Woo!

Shipping starts at $8.95. Check out the Winter Sale section for some good deals; they have a lot of baby stuff on clearance, as well as things like cute jewelry and a couple of different bocce sets (which, you know, I don’t know anyone who plays bocce, and apparently neither do they, because there’s always bocce sets on clearance there).

[Edited to add: I’m having trouble linking directly to it, but in the Winter Sale section they have Dragonology (and Wizardology, now, at 5:30ish) on sale for $8.99! My son has brought this one home from the library every other week ever since school started (and only because you’re not allowed to borrow it twice in a row). This is a gorgeous, interactive book sure to please medium-sized little ones, and would make a great gift, especially at this price.]

So, I get all of these deal alerts from various stores, and often they’re things I don’t really care about and suspect you don’t either (for example, I’m an affiliate with Nordstrom, for some reason, even though I’ve yet to find anything there even on final clearance which I think is worth the money).

Other times it’s something fabulous and I post it right away because stuff is dirt cheap and I think folks will be excited about it.

And then there’s the last category: Things which languish in my inbox for a couple of days before I think to myself, “You know, this might be useful.” So, if you’re looking to buy some art, it turns out that through Thursday, February 8th, Overstock is offering all of their fine art at a 10% discount. I love Overstock as much as the next person, but I wasn’t sure about this one. Art at Overstock? Would it be velvet clowns? Well, no. They have Picasso and and African art and everything inbetween.

Me, I’m wondering if I can find a way to work these two beauties into a room. (You think I’m kidding. I’m not. They make me laugh.)