My first experience with the restaurant.com gift certificate coupon...

Yesterday, I posted about the Dinner of the Month Club promotion offered by Restaurant.com. Basically, you are paying $2 for twelve,  restaurant gift certificates valued at $25 each. Go here to learn more about how the program works. Visit my post from yesterday titled "Restaurant.com: $25 Certificates for $2 (80%) Off!" here .  By purchasing the package I scored two additional gift certificates valued at $25 each for FREE. I decided to use one today at Wow Café & Wingery located in Waldorf, Maryland. Let’s just say the experience was great; the food was amazing and the service was superb.  Please be aware there are a few stipulations that I would like to point out regarding the gift certificate being honored by the restaurant such as the following:

1. The coupon (gift certificate) is only valid with a minimum food purchase of $35.

2. 18% gratuity and tax are added to your check prior to the discount being applied.

3. You must present your certificate prior to placing your order.

Please be aware the stipulations vary for each participating restaurant. So be sure to check this out when purchasing your restaurant gift certificates.

The total cost of the meal was $51.64. My out of pocket cost for the meal was $26.64 which included the 18% gratuity charge of $7.50 and tax.

My Meal Breakdown:

Total cost of the meal (includes 18% gratuity & tax) $51.64

Gift Certificate (credit) $25.00

Balance (out of pocket) $26.64

I think this was a pretty good price for a party of two. Needless to say, this turned out to be way too much food for two people so we left the restaurant with plenty of food to enjoy later.

Just think, even if this was one of the certificates valued at $25 dollars purchased from the Dinner of the Month Club promotion the meal would have been $28.64 out of pocket which includes the 18% gratuity charge, tax & the $2 fee that you paid for the gift certificate itself...you really can't beat this deal.

I was very pleased with how this worked out. I am really looking forward to receiving a restaurant certificate each month from restaurant.com valued at $25.  This will allow me the opportunity to try out various restaurants in the DC metro area for very reasonable prices. 

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ING Direct: $121 in FREE Money for Signing Up TODAY

If you are not familiar with ING Direct -Electric Orange, they are a online checking account that yields higher savings than a regular checking account at a bank. If you sign-up today 11/27, you can get $121 deposited into your account 50 days after you open it! All you need to do is make three signature transactions within the first 45 days!

Go here to sign up and use code EOSAVE.

Amazon: $5 Black Friday Magazine Subscriptions!

Amazon is offering up a total of ten $5 Black Friday magazine subscriptions deals! You can check them all out here. I'm most excited about the 1 year Real Simple magazine subscription priced at just $5 thru December 1st--down from $54! This is my favorite magazine ever. Magazine subscriptions always ship FREE, and as an added bonus, they help you qualify toward the $25 mark to score FREE Super Saver Shipping on the rest of your order! Magazines make for excellent inexpensive Christmas gifts that keep giving all year long! I may snag a few subscriptions for neighbors. You just can't beat the $5 price tag!

Couponing 101: A Crash Course in Couponing

Get Some Coupons!

• The Sunday newspaper is a great source of coupons. Buy the newspaper with the largest circulation in order to get the best coupons. You can sometimes get them cheaper by buying a double pack.

• Pursue the Internet. There are many great online printable coupons to be found!
• Check the store circulars & brochures. There are many varieties of coupons that you can find in the store.

Organize your coupons!

• Envelopes. You can start by clipping and putting them all in an envelope or check file. But, once you’ve been couponing for a few weeks you will need something bigger.

• File by insert. With this method you just file your inserts by date in a box and use an online coupon database to find the coupon you need. This method doesn’t require much work but you might miss out on unadvertised deals by not having all of your coupons with you at the store.

• Coupon Binder. With this method you would clip all of your coupons and file them in baseball card holders in a three-ring binder. With this method you can carry your binder to the store and have all your coupons with you while you shop. You can see my coupon binder here!

Know your store’s coupon policy!

• Loyalty Cards. If your store offers a loyalty card then make sure to get one. Some stores only give the sale prices to card-holders. Loyalty cards are Free!

• Double/Triple coupons. Double/triple coupons is when the store will take your 50¢ coupon and double it making it $1. This is done automatically at the register, you do not have to do anything to take part in this promotion. First, find out if your store doubles/triples coupons. If they do then find out the maximum double/triple value and how many they will double/triple.
• Stacking coupons. Some stores will allow you to use one store coupon (the discount is provided by the store) and one manufacturer coupon (the discount is provided by the manufacturer) per item.

• Internet coupons. Find out if your store accepts Internet coupons.

• Competitor coupons. Some stores will accept competitors coupons.

• Expired coupons. Some stores will accept expired coupons!

Make a plan!

• Weekly Ads. Read the weekly store ads to see what is on sale and which stores have the best prices on the items you need. If you don’t get the weekly ads delivered you can usually view them on the store’s website.

• Coupon Matchups. See if you can match coupons to the sale items to get an even better deal! Some websites do this for you.
• Pricematch. Some stores, like Walmart, will pricematch. This means that if grapes are on sale for 99¢/lb at Harris Teeter, you can take the ad to Walmart and at checkout tell the cashier that you would like to pricematch the grapes. Show them the ad and they will sell you the grapes for 99¢/lb versus their higher price.

• Make a List! Don’t go to the store without a list. Lists remind you what you came for and keep you from buying items you don’t need.

• Rainchecks. If your store is out of the sale item, get a raincheck! Go to customer service and ask for a raincheck for the item you wanted. They will fill out a piece of paper with the item details and price. Then you can come back another day (usually no more than 30 days) and buy that item at the sale price by giving the cashier the raincheck. This also gives you more time to gather coupons for the item! You can still use a coupon if you are using a raincheck.

Don’t be fooled!

• 10/$10 promotions. You do not have to buy 10 items to get the $1 price! The only exception to this rule is if the ad states that you must! Those times are rare and are usually for items that are buy x get y free, final price 2/$5, etc.

• Rock-bottom prices. Don’t go out and use your coupon immediately! If you use that 25¢ off toilet paper right away when it’s not on sale you aren’t reaching your saving potential! Wait until toilet paper goes on sale for $1 then use the coupon. If your store triples coupons then you could get the toilet paper for only 25¢! Matching sales with coupons is getting a great price. Combining sales plus coupons plus another promotion (rebates, double coupons, store coupons) is getting the best price!

• “One per Purchase.” I’ve heard this so many times! Most coupons say “one coupon per purchase” somewhere in the fine print. Cashiers will try to tell you that that means you can only use one coupon per transaction/day. This is NOT true! One per purchase means that you can only use one coupon per item purchased! So if you are buying 10 items and have 10 coupons then you can use them all!

• Leave the kids at home! Shopping with kids will distract you and cause you to buy items not on your list!

• Make a Pricebook. Start paying attention to prices and keep a list of items you regularly buy with the best and regular prices for those items. This will help you when you see that canned veggies are on “sale” for 10/$10 but the regular price is actually 99¢!

• Limits. Stores will sometimes put limits on the item to make you think it’s a great price! If cereal is just on sale 2/$4 you might not even notice it. But if it’s on sale 2/$4, limit 2! then you will likely think it’s a great price since they had to put a limit on it!

• Shop early. If you have couponers in your area then it’s best to get to the store as early in the sale as you can!

• “Bigger is better.” The cost per unit of the bigger box of cereal may be less than the smaller one but with coupons and sales the smaller box is likely a better deal.

• Watch the cashier. When checking out pay close attention to the price screen to make sure everything rings up at the correct price. Also, make sure that the cashier scans all of your coupons. Coupons sometimes stick together or get dropped or the cashier will scan the coupon but not realize that it didn’t go through. Kindly point out that they missed one and they will correct it.

• Check your receipt. BEFORE leaving the store look over your receipt to make sure everything rang up correctly and all of your coupons were scanned. If there is a problem take it to customer service immediately so they can fix it. If you leave the store and come back at another time then it might not be fixable. If the cashier missed a coupon and you notice right away it’s easy to see the mistake. But, if you come back later after several other coupons have been added to the cashier’s stack or the stack is gone then there is no way to prove that they missed a coupon.

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Restaurant.com: $25 Certificates for $2 (80%) Off!

Restaurant.com has a new 80% off promotional code:

Take 80% off of $25 Gift Certificates and pay ONLY $2!

Just use promo code SAVE thru 11/30!

For a total of just $2, you'll end up getting a $25 gift certificate! This is my first time purchasing gift certificates from this site. They don't expire for a year after purchasing, so you'll definitely have lots of time to make use of them. These would also make for inexpensive Christmas gifts too!

Or for an even better deal, you can purchase the Dinner of the Month Club. What's that? It's a 12 month package that comes with 12 $25 gift certificates and one FREE $50 gift certificate! The total for this package would be $120, but after you type in promo code SAVE--your total will drop down to just $24! Wahoo!  That means you're snagging $350 worth of dining certificates for ONLY $24!  I purchased the 12 month package earlier today.  I can't wait to try it out and see how much I can actually save.

The point of it all...

Welcome to my blog “Coupon Luv”. The point of me starting this blog is to have somewhere to chronicle many of the saving tips that I have learned from my parents over the years regarding “paying myself first”. Mostly, I want to help others out there, who like myself,want to see their money grow. I love couponing, catching sales at various stores, and anything else that will help me to save a few bucks. Not to mention I love to see my money grow.

I began to save at the age of 16. I was actually forced too by my mother. I began to work part time on the weekends at a local fast food restaurant. I remember receiving my first pay check and bringing it home to show my parents and wanting to cash it. My mother took me to open up my first savings account. I thought I was going to walk out of the bank with all of my money in hand…wishful thinking right :) My mother had me to deposit all of the funds except for $50 in my savings account. Every two weeks there after I had to continue depositing most of  my paycheck into my bank account.  At the end of the summer I was able to purchase all of my school clothes. But the best part about it all was that I still had quite a bit of money in the bank after withdrawing a substantial amount. I began to learn very early on regarding the value of money and saving.  Like many I have had my own struggles with money and still continue too at times. My goal is to gain financial freedom, and have as little debt as possible.

Just this year I started to hold myself more accountable of my spending habits. I value budgeting, and being a tight wad as some of my friends would say. I have no problem with pinching my pennies and getting the best bang for my buck. I am a strategic saver and strategic spender.

I hope that by reading my blog, you will laugh and hopefully find inspiration to “pay yourself first and save some money for yourself and your family as my father would say”.