Have you visited the Web site Restaurant.com? It lets you search for participating restaurants by Zip code or region, offers descriptions and menus of the restaurants you’re interested in, and then you can purchase gift certificates online and print them from your computer for immediate use.

The gift certificates can be purchased in different denominations, at a steep discount. Right now, they’re offering $10 gift certificates for $4, and $25 gift certificates for $10 apiece. This is a pretty good deal, but it’s about to get sweeter: I’ve found a secret promotional code that lets you buy a $25 gift certificate for TWO DOLLARS. And there doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of certificates you purchase!

Spoiler: yes! Yes! YES! Longer Answer: Yes indeed.

I purchased a farm share in early May (and wrote about it on Wallet Blog on May 11th). My main motivation was twofold: helping local farmers while encouraging my family to eat better. For $15.38 a week, I would receive one small box of mostly local vegetables, which I’d pick up at the Tuesday afternoon farmers’ market in my city.

Want to save 40 to 80 percent of the cost of a domestic Total Knee Replacement, heart procedure, plastic surgery, or another, typically high-cost medical procedure?  You might look into medical travel, which can save you up to 80 percent of the typical costs for an equivalent procedure in the United States.

“If the procedure you’re considering costs more than $6,000 in the United States, it might be worthwhile and money-saving for you to evaluate a medical travel option,” said Patrick Marsek, Managing Director of MedRetreat and co-author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Medical Tourism.”

In late June President Obama signed into law the “Car Allowance Rebate System” or (CARS) or as it’s also known: “Cash for Clunkers.” This is a program that encourages people to trade in their cars for more efficient models.  It also helps to stimulate the economy (similar to the first time home buyer tax credit) at a time when car sales are lagging. The program runs from July 1st through November 1st 2009. Cars traded in during that time could be eligible for a credit of either $3,500 or $4,500 depending on the car and the increase in mileage the new vehicle provides.

Today, I received an email from the California Society of CPAs that provides a lot of valuable information in regards to the steps consumers can take to participate in the new program:

If you’re eager to get rid of some of your unwanted items/wedding gifts/whatever, Amazon is one of many companies that will allow you to hold an online tag sale. One way to do this is to sell directly on Amazon.com, but another option, particularly if your items are books, videos, music, or video games, is to use Amazon’s Easy Sell with Fulfillment by Amazon. The programs are quite different from one another.

When you sell directly on Amazon.com, you will be notified when an item has sold, but you have to mail it yourself.  The company gives you a $3.99 shipping credit and takes a small fee. This is the option to choose if you’re really looking to make money, though it takes more time because you need to pack and ship the item yourself, which can be a pain if you are selling a large amount of items.

I recently found a great high-yield savings account. United Federal Credit Union has introduced a 6.01% APY Interest Plus Checking account on balances up to $25,000 for qualifying members. The rate is guaranteed “until at least 2010,” and the account also includes “free ATMs nationwide.”

Unfortunately, I don’t qualify for this credit union. I can’t become a member based on this list, nobody in my family is a member, and I don’t do business in their geographic area on a regular basis.

Campbell Norwood has written a book that will be of great interest to our Wallet Blog “Deals” readers. Titled Recession $urvival Guide: Low-Cost and No-Cost Strategies to Spend Less, Save More!, her book is full of low- and no-cost opportunities for stretching one’s household budget.

“I wrote the Recession $urvival Guide from the perspective of knowing that there are a lot of families in our area, and around the US, who have never dealt with economic recession. They’re scrambling, embarrassed, and don’t know what to do,” Norwood said. “My goal is that readers will be empowered to make no-cost and low-cost changes.”

The Senate’s “Cash for Clunkers” bill passed Thursday, as an addenda to the war-spending bill. It was approved by the House last week. The bill allows for trade-in vouchers of up to $4,500 for owners of gas guzzlers who want to buy or lease a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.   If signed into law by President Obama, the program is likely to go into effect in August.

Called “Handouts for Hummers” by critics, the program is less green than advocates had hoped, and will not do an extraordinary amount to limit the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. Car owners could get a $3,500 voucher for trading in an under-18 m.p.g car for one that gets at least 22 m.p.g., or $4,500 if the new car gets 10 m.p.g. higher than their existing vehicle. Truck, minivan, and SUV owners will receive a $3,500 voucher for buying a similar new vehicle that gets at least 2 m.p.g. higher; that voucher will increase to $4,500 if the new truck/van/SUV gets at least 5 m.p.g. higher than their existing vehicle.

ENERGY STAR is a government program to help encourage energy efficiency while reducing harmful greenhouse gases. Products stamped with the ENERGY STAR logo meet strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and the US Department of Energy. But you might not know that when you purchase ENERGY STAR-compliant products, you might also save a bundle of money, in the form of tax credits and deductions, and rebates from the ENERGY STAR partner corporations.

ENERGY STAR offers tax credits to consumers who make qualifying home improvements or purchase electric, hybrid, or other alternatively fueled automobiles. It also offers tax credits for home builders and tax deductions for energy efficient commercial buildings.  

Staycations are all the rage right now, and it’s no wonder: for a fraction of the cost required to go away this summer, you (and your nearest and dearest) can have a dynamite week at home! Here are my suggestions, under the subheads of On the Cheap, Party Fun, and Splurge a Bit, that will make you feel so happy that once you’re back to work, people will be envious of your new relaxed glow.

ON THE CHEAP

On May 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee formally adopted a White House / Congress compromise that includes a “Cash for Clunkers” amendment within the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act. The amendment is designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions while stimulating auto sales.

If ACES becomes law, the program will be authorized for up to one year and provide for approximately one million new car or truck purchases. ’Cash for Clunkers’ would offer vouchers worth $3,500-$4,500 to people who trade in old gas-guzzlers for new cars and trucks. Car buyers would receive a $3,500 cash voucher for trading in any vehicle that earns less than 19 mpg and purchasing one that gets at least 22 mpg. If the new car gets more than 10 mpg better than the old one, the cash voucher would rise to $4,500.

As the temperature rises, so do energy bills. Here are some simple tips that will help you limit your energy costs this summer.

DIY Energy Audits: No need to hire an expert for this one. Visit the Department of Energy’s Web site  and do a critical walk-through of the energy demons in your home.

Looking for a checking account that handsomely pays you back? Focus Bank of Missouri and Arkansas is offering a “MAXimum Free Checking Account” with no monthly service charges, no minimum balance requirements, and no direct deposit required.

Balances up to $25,000 earn a whopping 4.51% Annual Percentage Yield (APY). MAXimum Free Checking account holders also enjoy ATM fee refunds up to $25 per statement cycle, free wallet-style checks, free ATM/debit card, free 24-hour telephone banking, free online banking, free bill pay (with eStatement sign-up), and free direct deposit/automatic drafts. Additionally, qualified customers receive a $500 overdraft privilege, though if you’re earning 4.51% APY, I’d say that it behooves you to maintain the largest account balance possible.

Are you interested in saving money, while promoting your local economy and eating delicious, even organic food? Me, too. I’ve found a way that my family will get garden-fresh organic produce for half of what I spend at the  grocery store for non-organic fruits, veggies, and herbs. The answer? Purchasing a CSA FarmShare. Read on…

Look: I’m no hippie and I wear leather shoes – this was a purely economic and gastronomic decision. I want to eat good food that hasn’t traveled across the country to get to me, because when you can buy strawberries in Massachusetts in March, that’s a pretty good sign that they’re non-native.  As such, my requirements were stringent:  I needed local, weekly pickups of a box of food manageable to the size of my small family.

Term life insurance is temporary protection for people with limited budgets. You can get a great deal of coverage for a relatively low premium rate. It’s particularly appropriate for situations where your beneficiaries would need additional help – say, to pay off a loan or provide for the needs of your children – in the event of your death.

My husband and I signed up for term life insurance upon the birth of our first child and that was pretty much the first day I ever felt like a grown-up. He’d just quit smoking and I hadn’t lost my baby weight yet, so our rates were higher than I expected but worthwhile for the million bucks he or I would get if the other partner kicked the bucket.