How to Save Money When Eating Out March 19, 2009

I love eating out.  Especially now that I’ve assumed more of a traditional role where I’m responsible for putting dinner on the table every night, I love the thought of not having to worry about it and making my way to a restaurant instead.  Sure, there are the times we’ve gone for broke and enjoyed every last expensive gluttonous minute of it, but there are many more times when we’ll go out and try not to do any significant damage to our savings account.  How, you ask?

• Restaurant.com:  These guys have been running regular specials on their already-discounted gift certificates recently.  Normally, you can buy $25 gift certificates for $10, but lately I’ve seen them offered for as little as $2!  Sign up for their mailing list to ensure you’re getting updates about their latest specials, or do a quick search online for promotional codes.  Once purchased, they are good for a full year – just be careful to check the terms of usage (e.g., some are only good through the week or stipulate that you must spend at least $35).  I normally find that you’re better off sticking with  the ethnic cuisines or lunch hotspots in bigger cities (the certificates available for other restaurants are usually for places that are just okay), but smaller cities have a decent selection of very good restaurants available.
• Ebay:   Another good place to look – search for your city in the category “Gift Certificates” to see if anyone is trying to unload some unwanted Christmas or birthday gifts.  Ebay is also a good source for discounted gift cards to any of the national chain restaurants.  While I don’t condone the patronage of said restaurants, I understand that there are still times when it is necessary to go these places.  Couple that with some cashback through Microsoft’s Live.com or Ebates, and you’ll save even more.
• The Entertainment Book:  Again, much better selection of good restaurants for smaller cities, and good for ethnic/lunch options in larger cities.  We normally buy our Entertainment book in January or February, once there are some really good deals to be had.  The books are typically $20-$40, depending on where you live, but you can always get some sort of additional discount by purchasing through FatWallet or another cashback site.  The books contain a wide variety of coupons in addition to food & dining options (e.g., dry cleaning, golf, theatre, movie tickets, and more).  Make sure you register your card on the website to take advantage of printable online-only discounts as well.
• Make reservations online:  OpenTable offers a rewards program for making your reservations online – search for restaurants, book your reservation, then receive 100 points once you show up at the restaurant.  For every 10 reservations, you will earn a $10 gift certificate good towards any of the participating OpenTable restaurants.  Some restaurants even offer 1,000 points (that can be cashed in for a $10 certificate) just for eating there at certain times.

Ok, so you’ve checked out the above and have found the restaurant you want to go to.  Now what?  I could give you the usual tips here about saving money by ordering a few appetizers instead of an entree, skipping the soda or alcoholic beverages, and having dessert & coffee at home, but I honestly don’t believe that the key to enjoying a meal out is pinching a few pennies.  Enjoy yourself!  Personally, I consider the main entree, the service, & the atmosphere the crux of my visit, and consider everything else (appetizer, dessert, drinks) bonuses from which I can pick and choose to enhance my experience. With that said, here are a few tips to consider while enjoying your steak au poivre.

• Consider B-ing Your Own B: Beer & wine is notoriously over-priced at restaurants – you can expect to pay anywhere from 2-4 times the actual retail value of the bottle.  Call ahead to see if the restaurant allows patrons to BYOB, and if so, what they charge for a corkage fee.  Most restaurants will be fine with you bringing your own bottle of wine, and I have even been to a few places that encourage it!  I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re dining at a very nice place (again, you will not enjoy a very expensive meal any more by saving a couple bucks), but most places won’t care if you’re supplying your own vino.
• If not, buy by the glass:  There usually isn’t a significant savings when you buy wines by the bottle versus by the glass.  Unless there’s a special wine only offered by the bottle, or you and your dining companion(s) are into the same wine to complement your meal, then buying by the glass may help you save money by not forcing you to finish the whole bottle.  Personally, my husband and I never seem to have any trouble finishing the alcohol placed in front of us, but it’s sometimes nice to be able to try a few different wines instead of committing to one type.  Buying by the glass may also earn you a healthier pour than you would have normally gotten.
• You can take it with you: Think of giant portions as a possiblity to enjoy the meal tonight for dinner, and tomorrow for lunch.  Even if you only save a little bit of food, you can always add vegetables, rice, pasta, or make it into a salad for an easy lunch the following day.  I’ve also requested that leftovers like rack of lamb or other meat on the bone be wrapped up so I can make stock out of it later.

And finally, a few things to NEVER scrimp on:

• Tipping the waitstaff: Please whatever you do, don’t make up some reason why the waiter or waitress doesn’t deserve at least 15%.  Unless they were truly terrible – which in my experience eating out happens VERY infrequently – they deserve at least 15-20%.  And, if they were terrible, speak to the manager in a polite, business-like manner and you are bound to receive better compensation than if you scream and curse.
• Doing your research beforehand: Trying a new place?  Check out the reviews first and you could save a bunch of money by avoiding a disappointing experience altogether.  I have a paid subscription to Zagat.com for restaurant reviews across the US and beyond, which has helped me decide where to go when I’m in the mood for say, eclectic Pan-Asian French in a lounge-like atmosphere.  For me it is definitely worth the annual fee because I know exactly what I will be getting for my money (plus there are always deals where you can get free access for filling out surveys or entering special promotions).  Also check out Citysearch, Yelp, and your local paper for reviews.

Man, I’m hungry now!  What other tips do you have?

How to Save Money on DIY Home Renovation March 18, 2009

Confession time!  I am addicted to HGTV.  I have been known to watch it for hours on end, just trying to glean more and more ideas from its non-stop litany of shows that turn ordinary rooms into magical wonderlands full of DIY projects.  Couple this with the purchase of a 70s-fabulous house full of shag carpet and floral wallpaper, and I have spent the better part of a year staring at walls and imagining the possibilities.  The possibilities, my friend, are truly endless.  Unfortunately though, those possibilities are also expensive.

Anyone who has tackled a DIY home improvement project in that past can relate here.  Usually by the time I’ve armed myself with all of the tools needed to get the job done, then motivated myself (or someone else) to actually do the work, I’m already a little financially deeper into the project than I had hoped which leaves little money left over for those final homey touches so critical to the finished project.

No matter how you cut it (or drill it, or hammer it…), home improvement gets expensive fast, and even faster if you don’t plan ahead.  We’re about halfway through our major plans for our house.  We’ve done a lot of the work ourselves, and there are a few things we’ve learned along the way.  Ready?

• Plan (and budget) for the unexpected… sometimes you can get off easy – the ‘unexpected’ is something you can fix with a bit of extra time and elbow grease (and some added frustration).  When we tore out the old warped pine planks in our house, we realized that the installer had both glued and nailed the boards to the subfloor, meaning that each individual piece had to be scraped off by hand, adding 2 weeks and a lot of splinters to our project.  Other times, the situation ends up costing more money, like when I stripped the wallpaper in the bathroom and realized that the walls underneath had never been primed or painted first.  The walls were damaged beyond repair, so I opted for a more-expensive-than-paint Venetian plaster application to cover up the various pits and holes.  Regardless, something is not going to work out how you envisioned so plan for it upfront.
• Wait for the right deal… We’re lucky to have a wide variety of home improvement stores near us – Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware, among others.  We’re regularly in and out of these stores anyway which has afforded us the luxury of cherry-picking items we love when they’re on sale.  Home Depot runs a Behr paint sale nearly every 3- or 4-day weekend, which has probably saved us a couple hundred dollars over the past year.  Home Depot & Lowe’s offer regular specials where you can receive a gift card of a few hundred dollars with any major appliance purchase.  Ace Hardware runs a free rewards program that allows you to earn points for your purchases, then receive monthly gift certificates to use toward your next purchase.  In addition, there are some “outlet” stores near us that buy seconds from the bigger stores, then sell them at a discount.  We bought a brand new dining room light fixture for $17, and enough marble to cover 2 of our bathrooms for about $300!  It’s worth it to take your time with your projects if you can – we’ve gotten some amazing deals just by forgoing the vision of a big “reveal” a la HGTV, and instead gradually adding/replacing as we go.
• Get discounted gift cards…. There is a bit of a risk involved here, but the payoff can be very worth your effort.  A few months ago, Microsoft’s Live.com cashback program was running a cashback promotion on Ebay purchases – purchase any item through the “Buy It Now” feature and you would receive 30% cashback on your purchase.   I was lucky enough to catch this promotion just at the right time, and ended up purchasing a $500 Home Depot Gift Card for $550, then receiving $165 back from Live, making my net cost $385, or about a 23% savings on anything purchased using that card.  You may not be able to find a deal like that, but you can still get some decent discounts with a little effort – there are still many sites that offer cashback for your online purchases through Ebay, or even directly through the home improvement store.  Also, check your airline and hotel reward programs to see if they offer gift cards in exchange for any ‘orphaned’ points you may not use anyway.
• Use what you have… Repurposing or reusing existing items can help you save a load of cash.  For example, we ended up giving a fresh coat of paint to things like bathroom vanities & cabinets, wall-mount toilet paper holders, ceiling medallions, baseboard trim, doors, and anything else that was still in good shape but needed to be freshened up.  We also tried to fix or adapt things to fit our needs instead of replacing it outright.  The existing sinks & cabinets in the bathrooms looked brand new once we updated the faucet and hardware.  Same thing with the freshly painted doors when we added new doorknobs and hinges.  And, when none of the above applied, we had a garage sale and actually recouped a nice sum for ourselves!
• Make quick fixes until you can afford what you really want… We based a lot of our home improvement timeframes around which rooms needed to have the ugly beaten out of them first, and trust me when I say there was a lot of ugly!  Sure, the kitchen is not my favorite, but then again it’s not my least favorite either.  To make it a little more palatable while we put aside money for a major overhaul in a few years, I made some simple fixes like switching out the cabinet hardware and covering or distracting from the color scheme with houseplants, wall decor, and a new light fixture.  In other words, unless it makes your skin crawl to even look at it, just go with it for a while.  In the end it’s worth it to have what you REALLY want and can afford, instead of going for the cheapest, fastest fix upfront, only to hate that in a few years and want to do it all over again.
• Don’t be afraid to buy used… especially when it comes to large furniture items and accessories.  Craigslist is perfect for discounted furniture and other household items – we bought a brand name, solid wood armoire for our living room for $350.  Sure, we had to pick it up and unload it ourselves, but it’s perfect for our room and we would have paid twice that for the most basic model available brand new.  Consider this:  like cars, the majority of furniture loses value the minute you buy it.  Styles change, your taste evolves, things get damaged, and suddenly that gorgeous dining room set that used to the centerpiece of your house looks tired and dated.  Scouring the local classifieds, garage sales, and thrift stores is a great way to save money AND inject a little personality into your place.  Who needs matchy matchy sets anyway?  Same thing for accessories – you’re bound to be tired of your displayed wall decor & knick-knacks even quicker than your furniture.  Thrift stores are especially good for finding frames, original art, material for reupholstering furniture or making pillows, and glass items like vases and candleholders.  Be creative!
• Lastly… Take a break.  Ask for help when you’re in over your head.  Make sure you always have a room free from any signs of renovation to relax in at the end of the day, because it can get pretty stressful at times.  Oh, and realize that the people on HGTV have a whole army of people off-camera who are helping to get these projects done!

Despite the setbacks, the injuries, the sleepless nights, and yes, the tears, I would buy this house all over again because the end results to our efforts have turned out pretty darn amazing.

How to Save Money when Shopping Online (Part 1) June 10, 2008

The time will come when you will inevitably need to buy something online.  Personally, I like online shopping.  Sometimes I’ll shop in the actual stores, then purchase the item online when I get home because I can get a better deal.  How?  Keep reading…

Note:  This is Part 1 in what will become a multi-part series.  Or not.  I don’t even know.  Onward!

Cash Back websites

The general concept behind these Cash Back websites is that they’re getting a cut of the profit from the store for referring you to that retail site, and they’re kicking a small portion of that back to you.  Before shopping at a retail site, go to the Cash Back website, click through to the store you want to shop at and do your thing.  After a few weeks, you should get some sort of confirmation that your purchase was credited, but that’s pretty much it.  It’s sort of like those “donate food to the hungry by clicking this link” websites, except that in this case the rice is a little extra change in your own pocket.  Greedy bastard, maybe just for good measure, you should click on one of those websites immediately following your own self-serving Cash Back click…

In the interest of full disclosure:  2 of the 3 links below are referral links, but they are also websites I’ve had personal success with.  If you’re happy that I’ve lit the way for you to visit these sites then sign up as my referral; if not, then I actually won’t ever know unless you tell me.

• Fat Wallet:  I’ve been a member of this program since at least 2005.  Great customer support and their payments are always timely.  No referral structure.
• Big Crumbs:  There were a lot of people who thought Big Crumbs was a scam when it first appeared.  I’ve been using it since the end of 2006 without any issues, and have found support to be very good.  Big Crumbs is definitely the best website I’ve found to get cash back on Ebay, Half.com and iTunes purchases.  Sign up as either a CrumbSaver (earn a higher percentage from your own purchases, but don’t get as much credit for referrals) or a CrumbEarner (earn a lower percentage from your own purchases, but get more credit for referrals).  You can always switch from a CS to a CE, but not the other way around.  No matter how much you’ve earned, payments are automatically sent to you via Paypal monthly, on a 2 month lag.
• Mr. Rebates:  You’ll need to accrue $25 before you can cash out.  I’ve personally cashed out once and was paid right on schedule.  Referral structure is one of the best – earn a flat rate of 20% back from each of your referral’s purchases.

One other place to check after you’ve decided what you want to purchase:  Ev’reward is a very useful website for figuring out who is offering the best deal, plus it will give you a list of other rewards you can earn (money toward college savings plans, airline miles, hotel points, etc).  I don’t mess around with the points programs (for the most part… I’ll save that for a later edition of conducting business online), and in my experience one of the above 3 Cash Back sites will usually be offering the best percent back offer.

That concludes Part 1 my friends.  You will NOT:  get rich from using these websites, be able to quit your day job from using these websites, or be able to refer to your children as “heiresses” from using these websites (that’s a good thing, truly).  You will, however, get a little bit of money back on the purchases you were going to make anyway - if you’re smart and avoid the lures of discounts on things you don’t want or other such nonsense.  Found money, woot!

How to Save Money on Coffee Drinks June 10, 2008

Ok, so you knew this topic would come up sooner or later.  Any time you hear about “saving money,” you inevitably hear about doing things like skipping the expensive $3-$5/day habit of buying fancy coffee drinks from Dunkin Donuts, that other coffee place, or your very own local hotspot.  “Just think of how much money that adds up to in a month/year/lifetime!” say the experts while, ironically, frothing at the mouth much like the coffee drinks they are against.

The bad news is that I actually end up following the expert’s advice, for the most part… now.  When I was working my typical 60 hours/week, well, that’s a different story – I was a walking poster child for Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.  Now however, I’m trying to stick to the experts’ advice.  The good news is that I usually end up doing so because I’m lazy.  Hooray!

A few years ago, my husband and I bought a Krups steam espresso machine that set us back about $50.  It’s the most basic of all espresso makers, and even though the true coffee elitists out there will disagree, the espresso that comes out of this thing tastes perfectly fine and has more than paid for itself over its short lifetime.  Plus, instead of getting in my car, driving to the nearest coffee place, waiting in line, then fearing the “barista” might have used whole instead of skim milk, I can just walk to my fridge and make it myself.  Maybe someday I will figure out how much money I’m actually saving per serving.*

Recently I’ve been brewing up a whole bunch of espresso all at once, then pouring it into some sort of container (not a Nalgene bottle) to store in the fridge until I’m ready to use it.  Pour it over ice for an iced coffee, add milk to that for an iced latte, or add chocolate syrup to that for an iced mocha.  Easy!

To avoid feeling too deprived, I allow myself the luxury of buying the good coffee.  We recently moved and are no longer anywhere near a Trader Joe’s which has the best selection for the best prices, but I can usually find a decent bag of 100% Kona coffee for less than $20.  If all else fails, the Dunkin Donuts take-home coffee is also delicious (don’t be turned off by their unfortunate choice for a spokesperson).

*Not actually a likely statement