Gina - Beyond the Coupon

Ways To Save When Eating Out

July 5, 2011 by Gina

As part of sticking to a monthly budget, my family sets a dollar amount for eating out. We’ve tried avoiding it all together, and it doesn’t work for us. There are inevitably days where life gets chaotic, or we’re on the road, or for some reason we need to eat restaurant food. As much as I enjoy cooking for my family, eating our is a nice break, so we generally eat out about twice a month. To stay on a budget, I use these six strategies:

1.) Avoid paying for drinks: Switch to drinking water at restaurants; besides being better for your health than soda, it saves you $2-5 per meal. If you drink alcohol, consider a BYOB restaurant instead of busting your budget at a restaurant.

2.) Choose Lunch over Dinner: For adults, lunch prices can be much less expensive than dinner. We’ve even left the kids at home and had a nice (quiet) lunch out during the day, just the two of us, which saves even more money.

3.) Have the kids eat free: As a family of five, I appreciate restaurants that offer Kids-Eat-Free nights or send coupons for free kids’ meals. Some even offer up to two free kids’ meals per adult entree, which is great since we have more adults than kids.

4.) Join restaurant rewards programs: Check the website of your favorite restaurants, both local independents and the big chains. Several restaurants we like offer e-newsletters with coupons or rewards programs. Just by signing up, I get coupons for free appetizers or meals, or I earn points per dollars spent which can then be redeemed for savings at another time.

5.) Use discounted gift cards: Consider purchasing gift cards for restaurants you visit regularly at a site like GiftCardRescue. Saving 5-15% on the gift card, you can use it as payment along with any coupons from #4 for extra savings.

6.) Try daily deal or certificate sites: Take a look at Restaurant.com for local restaurants that participate in their program. You can score $25 restaurant certificates from anywhere from $2 – $1- depending on the promo they’re running. Be sure to read the fine print too, since often a $25 certificate must be used on a minimum $35-50 order. Keep an eye on the daily deal sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, and others for restaurants in your area. That has been a new source of savings for my family. Remember to always calculate your server’s tip based on the pre-coupon cost of your meal.

Since eating out is a reality for most people, it’s worth it to put some time and effort into saving money. Try making one or more of these tips a habit, and see how it improves your monthly budget.

3 Ways to Make Money this Weekend

June 17, 2011 by Gina

When you are feeling a little cash-poor, sometimes it’s just a matter of looking around your home to find some quick cash. A few times a year, I take an hour or so to do all three of these easy tasks:

1.) Collect Loose Change: Whether it’s a bowl or jar sitting around full of coins or a scavenger hunt through the couch cushions, my kids and I track down all the loose change in the house. Roll them and take them to the bank or use a Coinstar machine to redeem your coins for cash. It always surprises me how much money we end up with when we cash in our jar of change.

2.) Organize Store Returns: If you have shopping bags sitting around waiting to be returned? Get them together, find the receipts, and move them to the car. Set a date and time to run those errands and make the returns . You’ll end up with more cash in your pocket, or atleast credit back on your credit card. Make sure you check your receipts for the return policy (for most stores, it’s 90 days). Wait longer than that, and you are throwing your money away.

3.) Track down Gift Cards: If you have a habit of losing or ignoring gift cards, designate a place for them and use it from now on. Make a plan to spend each or decide if you are not going to use them at all. If you don’t want them, you can either re-gift them or sell your gift cards at GiftCardRescue for cash. You may want to check your state’s law on gift card; some can be redeemed for cash right away. For example. in California, you can for any gift card with a balance less than $10, so instead of getting your cash back, you can just ask for the change.

By keeping up with these habits throughout the year, I keep cash in my wallet instead of spread out around my house. Now, go get to work!

Living Frugal: How To Get Household Items For Free

June 10, 2011 by Gina

Living a frugal lifestyle means we never pay retail for anything. But what’s better than buying at a discount? How about getting household items for FREE?! I save several hundred dollars each year using these three resources:

Craigslist: Head over to Craigslist and look for the FREE section listed under the ‘For Sale’ category. Look up your neighborhood and see what is offered. You’ll find everything from construction leftovers to furniture to yard sale discards. If you need something specific, you may need to look for many weeks before finding it, however. I’ve picked up small furniture like nightstands and bookshelves, large outdoor toys for kids and craft supplies.

FreeCycle: If you’re not familiar with it, Freecycle.org is a local community group that saves items from going to landfills by sharing them through a Yahoo Group! You can post what you are giving away, and someone who needs or wants the item will contact you. You arranges pickup between you (usually, I just leave things in a bag on my front porch), and the person picks it up. You can also post a ‘wanted’ email to see who has your specific item hiding in their closet or basement. I’ve saved so much money doing this; when my twins were young, I wanted to try a white noise machine and could have spent $25 on a new one. I sent out the “wanted” email and got 7 responses back within a day. Through Freecycle, I’ve picked up kids’ winter coats, a king sized duvet cover with matching shams, and full-sized plants for my garden. Almost always, items are clean and in great condition.

Local Networks: Whatever social activities you engage in can be a great source of free items. Send an email out to your church group, preschool parents, or moms club asking for whatever you need. It’s likely that someone has one they’ll give away or let you borrow. Back when my twins were infants, I needed a second swing but didn’t want to buy one since it would only be used for a month or two. Another mom was happy to lend me hers and free up her garage while I used it. Recently, I’ve received coupons, museum tickets, and school uniforms from moms giving away these items through the groups.

When I participate in these community-wide services, I do my best to give back. When we’re done with kids’ clothing, toys and household items, I send them back into the community using Craigslist, Freecycle, and my social groups. It not only saves money, it helps the environment.

3 Tips for Returning Online Purchases.

May 6, 2011 by Gina

One of the perks of shopping online is being able to try clothes on in your own home, and on your own schedule. That, however, can lead to the need to return online purchases. Since each store handles returns differently, keep these tips in mind:

1.) Some retailers allow returns at their store locations: Bring the packing slip or print out your confirmation receipt to ensure that you are credited the amount you paid. Most stores will not refund the shipping fees, so when shopping online, use coupon codes and website promos to get free shipping.

2.) Other retailers offer free returns with a Pre-Paid mailing label: Be sure to follow the direction that come with your order or as instructed by customer service. Package your items in their original box, if possible, and affix the label correctly. Watch for an email from the company saying your items were received, and check you credit card for the credit to appear. If you haven’t heard anything in 2 weeks, email customer service.

3.) Check your recipients to learn the “return window”: Many stores offer a 90-day return window, the amount of time where you can return your items for cash back. Learn this information before you order, and open your packages right away to ensure enough time to return if necessary. We all get busy and errands don’t get done, but if you miss your return window, you’ve lost your money!

No matter how you shop – online or in the store – keep on top of the store policies about returns. It’s not a bargain if you end up with items that don’t fit, or you don’t want them, and you can’t get your money back.