Whether for business or pleasure, millions of visitors come to Chicago for a week, a month or more. Chicago and it's neighborhoods have a lifetime of surprises and treasures, but there's definitely many ways to save on the day-to-day basics.
Before getting to that, it's important to point out different ways to find accomidations. For those seeking out a visit for around a week, Priceline and Hotwire are two deep discount services that allow visitors to either bid or purchase a hotel room at a sharp discount. You don't know where you're going to end up until after purchase, but discounts are often impressive and you can at least pick the general area of the city where you'll be staying. In many cases, people have gotten four-star hotels for what a two-star would cost. Travelzoo.com is another site that frequently offers hotel deals for Chicago.
Additionally, Craigslist.com is a popular method of searching out apartment rentals for long or short term. Better yet, vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals By Owner) is a business that offers listings of apartments for rental for a day, week or more. Finally, short-term (1+ month) apartments can be searched for at apartments.com.
Now you've found where to stay, but there's the question of how to fill the refrigerator, simply shop for snacks or get other necessities. While of most use to long-term visitors and new residents, these are certainly tips that shorter-term visitors can use.
* CVS Pharmacy. CVS Pharmacy locations are popping up all over the city, and the store's Extracare card program can save you a lot. The program's prime benefit is that there are special card-only offers each week, with new offers starting every Sunday. However, that's certainly not all - card holders also earn 2% back on their purchases in the form of an in-store coupon that prints out at the end of the next quarter. However, if you're not going to be near a CVS when the quarter's over, you can go online and use your extrabucks at CVS.com. Additionally, on most weeks, there are additional special offers that allow you to get a certain amount of extrabucks if you purchase a certain amount of specific product/products. The Extrabucks earned from these special offers print out 48 hours after purchase. Finally, when you use your CVS card, additional coupons ($4 off $20 for example, or $2.50 off $10 of CVS brand products, but there's plenty of others - often on specific products) often print out with your receipt - sometimes as many as 6 or more. Extracare cards are free to sign up for online or in-store. You can check your Extracare totals online, see the latest flyer or find locations at CVS.com.
* Jewel/Osco. One of the city's two major grocery chains, Jewel's Preferred Card can be had for free at the information booth of any local Jewel store. Browsing any aisle of a local Jewel reveals a lot of sale tags, but you'll notice that the majority of these are for Preferred Card holders only. Scan your card at the express check-out or hand it to the cashier and the discounts will automatically be applied. Better yet, Preferred Card holders are also eligible for the Avenu program. Scan your card at the Avenu machine, and it'll activate and print out a list of special additional savings on a set of products based upon what you've bought recently. The sales are only valid until midnight, although you can extend them for an additional 48 hours online at jewelosco.com by clicking on the Avenu section. The nice thing about Jewel's program is that, if you have a newspaper coupon on a product, you can combine that with both the preferred card discount and, if there's an additional Avenu discount on that product, you can get that bonus, too. Osco Drug Store locations will soon close, but until then, the Jewel Preferred Card can also be used there, as well.
* Dominick's is the city's other major grocery chain, and their Fresh Values program is also absolutely free. Like Jewel, you have your card scanned at checkout and the discounts are applied. However, there's another bonus: every time you spend $250 on qualifying purchases with your Dominick's Fresh Values Card , you earn 125 airline miles. More information may be found on their site.
* Walgreens. Walgreens has their weekly sales available at walgreens.com, but the store has an additional program called Easysaver. Easysaver catalogs are available in-store or online and change each month. The catalog has a list of rebates available for that month and, each month, you send off your receipts to the address listed and await your rebate payment.
Also:
Those seeking out household items or clothing downtown for more reasonable prices should look into TJ Maxx (11 N State St), Sears (2 N State St), Bed Bath and Beyond (530 N State St) or Marshalls (600 N Michigan Ave # 1). Ace Hardware (24 W Maple St) is one of the first stops if you need paint, basic tools or other home/home repair items.
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Transportation:
If driving isn't a must, it's recommended that you not drive around the city. Parking is exceptionally expensive and traffic is often heavy.
CTA offers an unlimited ride 7-day pass for $20 or a 30-day pass for $75. You can find schedules, maps, route guides and buy passes on their site.
Metra commuter trains serve some of the outer areas of the city and many of the suburbs around the Chicagoland area. If you are traveling on a weekend, Metra has unlimited $5 weekend (Sat/Sun, although Fri as well in some holiday cases) passes. If you know you're going to be needing to ride the trains during the week, 10-ride passes (which save 15%) are available, as well as monthly passes (20% off). The Metra routes are split into chunks ("zones") Tickets are sold between zones (A to D, for example.) The further out your zone, the more the ticket costs.
Zipcar offers a great car rental alternative to the big agencies. Further, you don't have to go to the O'Hare. Information about Zipcar may be found here.
