Who doesn’t like free stuff?

Posted on July 18, 2007
Filed Under Cool Stuff

My sister kicks ass when it comes to using coupons. I can’t tell you how many times she’s gone in to a store, filled up her basket with hundreds of dollars worth of products and walked out paying pennies on the dollar. It’s nuts. To coupon at the level she’s at certainly takes hard work. You have to do your homework, read a lot of fine print and sometimes you have to drive to 3 or 4 stores to get the goods. But, the savings can be substantial.

I realize I will NEVER be on the same level as she is when it comes to couponing, but, that doesn’t mean I can’t use a few of the easier ones to save a few bucks here and there. This sorta hit home with me over this past weekend when Chris and I went to a matinee movie and paid $10.00 each to see Harry Potter. Free movie tickets are pretty easy to come by. If you have never used the Entertainment Coupon Book, you don’t know what you are missing. The book has literally hundreds of coupons for discounts at restaurants, local businesses, concert tickets, hotels and yes, free movie tickets. They have specific books for just about every major metro area in the country. They put out a new book each November. I just found out that if you reserve your 2008 book right now, they will send you a 2007 book free. If you do NOTHING but order the free movie tickets, you will have save at least fifty bucks and get both books essentially free.

The only other coupons I use on a regular basis are those from restaurant.com. Sign up with them (free) and then search out restaurants in your area that you want to try out. You can then buy a $25 gift certificate for $10. That’s $15 in free food, no questions asked. Ahh, but that’s not all. The nice folks at restaurant.com send out emails about 2 or 3 times per month. They have promo codes listed that let you get 40%, 50% or up to 60% off the price of the coupon. So we’ve paid as little as $4.00 for a $25 gift certificate. There are, of course, a couple catches. There is typically a minimum on how much you have to spend. It’s usually $50.00. But, with 2 people having dinner and an appetizer, it’s not usually a problem hitting that number. Alcohol and tip do not count towards that $50.00 in most locations. You also can’t use a coupon for the same place more than once in a calendar month. So, no loading up on coupons for your favorite place and hitting them up 5 nights a week. But still, a cool deal.

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