Eating Out
by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 1, 2009 | Filed in Personal, Saving Money | 0 Comments
When I think about our sale and all that goes into it, I can't help but wonder how many other businesses can say that they truly help everyone that gets involved. This is and will always be our goal. In my blog, I will probably talk about some pretty random things, but the intent is always to provide some sort of benefit to people. With the primary focus of our business being children's items and clothes, obviously most people have kids and a family which means you are always looking to save a few dollars. I thought I would talk about something that is near and dear to many of us, this is eating out! I would love to hear what all tips you have on this subject also, so please feel free to comment.
One thing that our family could do better at is eating out. We eat out all the time! Sometimes it is hard to prepare, cook, eat, and then clean up the mess. After this whole process sometimes we think it would have been easier to just go somewhere and leave the mess there. Our family is also on the go a lot between different activities, events, and sales that we do. As a family, we have learned to eat out smart. This has become a necessity with four children! One of the biggest things that we do is finding out where kids eat free or for $.99. Right now many restaurants are having a hard time competing in today's economy. This means great deals for us! Where we live, we know what restaurants to go to on each day to get great deals for kid's meals. For those iPhone lovers out there, there is even app called KidsEatFree (opens iTunes Store) that tells you restaurants that have these specials in your area.
Along with that same idea, look for specials on adult meals also. Many chains are offering discounted meals during specific times like 3p-6p. Take advantage of this (I know what you are thinking, no you are not going to turn into your grandma if you eat dinner at 5:30!). Other restaurants are putting great coupons out for buy one get on dinners. I know that recently Ruby Tuesday had a buy one get one free coupon in the local paper. I bought 7 papers that day! You can't beat $.75 for a dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Many of these coupons are available online also. I set up an email account to sign up for many of these restaurant's special offers and they send many coupons to me.
One other thing that we do is many times we will make our big meal of the day lunch. I can think of two restaurants that we go to (Red Lobster and Famous Dave's) that we will not go to at night because of the difference in price. The lunch prices at these and many other restaurants are in line with fast food prices. One last thing that I try to do is drink water. I just can't bring myself to pay $2.50 for a Coke unless I really want it. Sometimes it doesn't matter, you are out and you want a Coke with your meal, I get that, but if you can drink water, do it. It's better for you anyway. My parents like to bring the packets of Crystal Light in an put them in the water and it works for them. Others ask for a big bowl of lemons and they make lemonade, it seems to work for them as well. For me if I order water, I just drink the water.
I hope this blog was helpful. So many times we end up paying so much for fast food when we could have gone to a nice restaurant for around the same price. With these tips you should be able to get much better food for a great price.