Restaurant.com

I LOVE to eat out. Even with the frustrations that go along with taking three small children to a restaurant, I will always jump at the chance to go eat somewhere new. But it gets expensive to take The Five of Us out to a restaurant.

Luckily, my sister-in-law (thanks, Jen!) instroduced me to a website called Restaurant.com. At Restuarant.com, you can buy gift certificates to lots of different restaurants for a reduced price. For instance, a $25 gift certificate usually costs only $10. But it's still worth $25 off your bill at the restaurant! After you purchase, you just print the gift certificate right on your own printer - no waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Super convenient.

As a bonus, the website often runs specials that reduce the price of the gift certificates even further. You just have to stop in often (or sign up for e-mail alerts) to see what specials are running. For example, last week they ran a 70% off special... so I bought $25 gift certificates for only $3 each! With that kind of price cuts, I can afford eating out a lot more easily.

You do have to read the fine print before you buy... some restaurants require a certain $$ purchase before you can use the gift certificate (for example, $35 to use a $25 gift certificate). Some tell you up front that they will automatically add the tip to your bill when you use the gift certificate (so that you don't accidentally stiff the wait staff by not tipping based on the full price of the meal). Some limit the days of the week that you can use the gift certficate (Sun - Thurs is a common limitation). But for me, these are all things I can work around - and well worth it for the great discounts on a meal that I don't have to cook!

So that's what's working for me this week. Check out the Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival at We Are That Family to see what's working for others!