Deals Deals Deals

I am huge about finding the best deal. I will go to great lengths to compare prices between stores to make sure I am getting the best price for something. It drives Dave nuts, cause I am always like, "Let me see what deals I can find first." Before I make any purchase. I normally am pretty good about finding deals. So here are some things I keep an eye out for that helps me save a buck or two here and there. It all adds up!

When going out to eat I look for student discounts, coupons online or early dine options.

We love Texas Road House and when we eat there we rarely spend over $27, tip included (we don't get appetizers, desserts, and don't get drinks) but Monday - Thursday if you eat there before 6pm they have early dine, and offer a lot of meals under $8. So we end up spending $20, tip included. I know a lot of restaurants have considerably cheaper lunch menus or lunch specials. Although avoid chef specials because if they have a chef special that usually means they are trying to use up food that is about to go bad...


Another favorite restaurant of ours is Costa Vida. They are a bit cheaper then Cafe Rio, never as busy, and the food is pretty much identical. I think Cafe Rio does this or something similar, but at Costa Vida you can get any daily special, any day with a student ID. The meal, plus a drink is $5.99 and we usually only spend $13. Who can say no to a $13 dinner? I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of places have student discounts that they don't advertise. Just ask!


Hit up the Google machine. I can find at least a few coupons for most places within a quick 5 minute search. Like Chili's coupons. Macaroni Grill coupons. Arby's coupons. Pap Johns coupons. Rumbi coupons. Also when I do any online shopping I search for coupon codes. Sometimes this will take a little longer because they don't always work in the system and I have to spend some time copy and pasting, but hey if I get free shipping, or get 20% or even 10% off that's sweet. Like AE coupons. Old Navy coupons. ELF coupons. Forever 21 coupons.


Sharing is Caring. Order large sizes and share. We loooove Rumbi. We usually get their rice bowls. Their large size is Huge. Huge. And only a buck or two more then the regular size. Saving about $8. Also with large sizes, at the movie theater the biggest thing for me is popcorn. I loooove movie theater popcorn. And I have never been able to find pop-at-home stuff that is as good. So you know when I am at the movies, I am having a huge tub of popcorn. At the Megaplex their large size is only $1 more, and you get one free re-fill. I don't ever use the re-fill, but if you had a large group, or a couple kids, that'd be the way to go.


Speaking of movies... We see a movie almost every Tuesday. Tuesday at the Megaplex theaters has matinee pricing all day. So rather then spending almost $20 on tickets, we only spend $12. Also, never buy your tickets online. They tack on a $2 convenience free, per ticket. We have never been to see a movie that was busy on a week day. Seriously, there are usually only 5 other couples/groups at max. I was told that Cinemark does this same matinee deal, but I don't know what day that is...


Check Amazon for online shopping, I always check Amazon. Amazon has crazy prices and sells pretty much everything. I buy pretty much all of my movies at Amazon. If you saw a movie in the theaters and are dying to buy it, 1, make sure you know the day it comes out on DVD. 2, don't pre-order. 3, jump on Amazon within the first 5 days it's on DVD and you can usually get a killer deal on it. We bought the new Sherlock Holmes on Blu-Ray from Amazon for only $13, normally $25. Walmart has good deals during the first week a movie is out, but Amazon always wins, and having Amazon Prime is awesome because you can get most products with free 2 day shipping. (and Amazon Prime --- you can get for 50% off as a student)

And finally -- sign up for emails and join customer programs. Soooo many places send out texts and emails when they have deals going on. And lots of places will allow you to build points, or give out punch cards. Beans and Brews and Megaplex being the ones we use the most, we are close to getting a free movie ticket and get free drinks from Beans and Brews frequently. Don't be stingy in giving out your email!

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